ISTANBUL – Turkey is ranked 123rd in the attempt to close the gender gap between men and women among 130 countries worldwide, according to the overall ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2008 released yesterday.

Turkey has a seriously deteriorating gender equality issue, women rights activists said as they evaluated the results of the report for the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. Activists called on authorities to confront this reality, while women dealing with gender issues highlighted Turkey’s social atmosphere, which is gradually growing more conservative.

“Turkey has never been in a very good position [in terms of gender equality], but lately woman are much more harmed as narrow-mindedness within society increases,” said Professor Çiðdem Kaðýtçýbaþý from Koç University. “This is accepted as an ideology both by men and women. That is where problem occurs.”

“All the politicians and bureaucrats should accept the idea that men and women are equal. But they do not,” said lawyer Hülya Gülbahar, head of the Organization for Education and Support of Women Candidates, or KA-DER. The growing conservatism also affects the social democratic leftist and liberal segments of society, leaving women´s organization alone in their struggle, Gülbahar said.

Only Egypt, Morocco, Benin, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Chad and Yemen are below Turkey in the forum’s rankings. “Turkey’s performance relative to 2007 shows a slight improvement, driven by gains in education and political empowerment, but women’s economic participation has shrunk further with gaps in wage equality for similar work widen,” the report states. However, Turkey ranked 105th in 2006 among 115 countries, while it was 121st last year amongst 128 countries. It did not lose its position this year among these same 128 countries, but moved down to 123rd with the addition of the two new countries.

In terms of economic participation and available opportunities, Turkey ranked 118th last year; however, in the 2008 report, Turkey is in 124th. Turkey’s score for wage equality for equal work dramatically decreased in comparison to last year. It stood in 47th last year, while currently it is in 85th. However, its score for political empowerment improved. Turkey leaped two spots in terms of women participating in political life.

Turkey’s improvement concerning women’s participation in political life is a result of their campaign to increase the number of women in politics, said Gülbahar, adding that this improvement is not a real improvement. As a result of a giant campaign [during the last elections], a very tiny improvement was made, she said.

Gülbahar highlighted the significance of women´s quota for politics one more time. “It is so simple to change the image of Turkey in one night. Even a quota of 30 percent for women will change everything,” she said. Gülbahar argued with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan last year about the women´s quota. “Would you like to be like Rwanda?” Erdoðan asked Gülbahar, who called for a quota in politics. African country Rwanda had put a quota for female politicians in its constitution.

Political will is necessary to change this picture, said Gülseren Onanç, the head of The Women Entrepreneurs Association, or KAGÝDER. “The political will should realize that this is a problem,” she said.

Source: http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/10335385.asp?gid=244

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Hmmm, wonder if this article will end in a 15 page long topic......

Which country ranks first? =)

 Well, I don´t think the number of senators in the parliament shows the equality of men and women.. I think it is deep inside.  Like, if the women is working, equal with men, the same salaries and same positions, and when she comes back home, while the husband is lying down and watching the TV after a long working day and she is cooking dinner, washing the dishes, and blah blah, can you really say there is equality?

I think equality does not mean what we think.. if you were to put 2 glasses on the table and fill them with different amounts of water, then you can talk about not being equal.. But women and men are different, their natures, strengths and weaknesses are different.. i think the real equality is if you have power and influence in what you are strong at, and let the stronger get the lead for your weaknesses.

Well at least Turkey was ranked, The report didnt even mention Lebanon.

I beleive there is conspiracy , they studied all  neighboring countries, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, but they missed Lebanon.

Syria rank 107

Israel  rank   56

Jordan  rank 104

Here is the link to the full report, enjoy reading.

http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2008.pdf

"If Lebanon was not my country I would have chosen lebanon to be my country" Gibran Khalil Gibran

Cool. Thanks for the info Trudy. Anyway i dont think we can infer much from this statistic.. Turkey can rank at 123 so what.. smaller gender gap doesn´t guarantee better equality of happiness.. it could mean more stressful life for women as they climb the corporate ladder and wanting to outdo the men. So doesnt mean Turkish women are not happy with their lives yea

 Ofcourse. There always is.

 You have a point, however for woman who want a career this is concerning.  Turkey is right up there with the Saudis. 

=) And this brings us to the ban on headscarfs which prevents prospective successful and career-minded women from pursuing tertiary education to build a successful career..

lol lets just stop right here on the headscarf topic

 Nice explanation. I agree with every word of Merih´s quote. Things are more complicated in such a matter, i wonder how they researched this...