United Nations Development Prog-ramme (UNDP) Human Development Report 2006 demonstrated that there is still a long way to go to empower women in Turkey.
According to human development indicators such as life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, combined gross enrollment for primary, secondary and tertiary schools and GDP per capita, Turkey is ranked 92nd among 177 countries in the Human Development Index. Norway is the first country in the list. Turkey was 66th in 1995 and 85th in 2000.
According to the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI), Turkey is placed 71st among 136 countries that are evaluated mainly according to literacy, school enrollment, income and life expectancy. Turkey was the 45th in 1995 and 69th in 2000. Norway is ranked first according to GDI.
Considering Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) indicators such as seats in parliament held by women, female legislators, officials and managers, Norway ranks first among the 75 countries and Yemen last. Turkey ranked 72nd out of 75 countires.
The weak performance in gender issues in Turkey confirms the realities illustrated by statistics.
The female illiteracy rate is 20 percent, where the male illiteracy rate is 5 percent. Estimated earned income according to purchasing power is 11,408 USD for men while it is 4,038 USD for women. This means women can make only 35,4 percent of what a male can earn.
Combined gross female enrollment in primary, secondary and tertiary schools is 63 percent, and male enrollment is 75 percent. Only 4,4 percent of the seats in parliament are held by women.
Only 7 percent of the legislators, officials and managers are women. There is only one women minister in the cabinet. Female participation in the workforce is 23 percent, which falls to 17-19 percent in cities.
According to the Hacettepe University Population Studies Institute 2003 survey results, infant mortality rate is 29 deaths per 1,000 live births and 70 out of 100,000 women die while giving birth. 30 out of 1,000 women at the age of 15-19 had at least one child. 43 percent of women apply modern birth control techniques. 83 percent of births are made under the supervision of a health worker.
According to World Bank figures, 23 % of women have a paid job, compared to 56% in the EU zone. The female employment annual growth average in Turkey is -2,5 percent where the OECD avarage is 0.4 percent. |
