The number of women in Turkey who have left the workforce for family and personal reasons has risen 81.5 percent in the past five years, revealing the growing impact of unpaid care work on women’s economic participation, according data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), Turkish Minute reported.
TurkStat data show that 21.19 million women were outside the labor force in the third quarter of 2025, up 295,000 from the same period last year. While 39.5 percent cite education, retirement or health conditions, the largest share, 44.7 percent, consists of women who are not working because of domestic duties or family-related constraints.
Within that group, 3.95 million women are classified as being outside the workforce for “family and personal reasons,” up from 2.18 million in 2021. Rights groups say the surge shows that unpaid caregiving duties at home continue to push women out of paid work.
The burden of carefiving duties falls overwhelmingly on women. In the third quarter of 2025, 540,000 women left their most recent job because of childcare or elder-care duties, compared to 33,000 men.
Women’s departure from the workforce is most visible during what should be peak career years. The number of women aged 30 to 34 outside the labor force due to family responsibilities has reached 734,000. The figure was 651,000 among women aged 20 to 24 and 602,000 among those aged 35 to 39.
More than 8.1 million women out of the labor force have never worked, a sign of barriers that begin in adolescence and continue into adulthood.
According to TurkStat’s labor-force statistics for the third quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate stands at 8.5 percent, with an employment rate of 66.2 percent among men and 32.1 percent among women.
The data come as the government declared 2025 the Year of the Family, with the Ministry of Family and Social Services promoting traditional family values and child welfare.
Women’s rights advocates say the initiative reinforces expectations that women should prioritize caregiving instead of improving access to employment, childcare or social support.
The trends coincide with persistent concerns over gender-based violence in the country, where women are killed, raped or beaten every day. According to figures from the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, at least 235 women were killed by men in Turkey between January and October 2025, while at least 247 women were found dead under suspicious circumstances. Many critics say the main reason behind the situation is the policies of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which protects violent and abusive men by affording them impunity.
Turkey’s 2021 withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention continues to attract domestic and international criticism. The treaty obliges governments to prosecute perpetrators of domestic violence, marital rape and similar abuse.
