wow! great discussion going on... I´ve read all the posts and i have to agree with Merih about the points she has said, my sentiments exactly about marriage life... and Deli is right about the headscarf issue.

 yeah, so sorry for bunch of evil western bikini wearing women disagreed with her.

if not the western influence the turkish women would be happy enjoying the wonderful family life. Ataturk was then wrong giving them equality and taking away their veils.

im tempted to add more comments to shock merih (&co) . but i will wait for a western support.

 Do it femme.....do it!! 

 no, i need a solid back up.

 Ohhh it looks like someone is still holding grudges!

 by the way i am a bikini wearing woman as well. and yes, I have all the money in the world, and yes I enjoy being with my family, rather than working for someone else... yes i come from a community where a working woman is valued more than a full time mum.  Because of people like you, being a full time mum counts as not working, so it means, i don´t know my rights, I am not given the opportunity to make choices, and I am not equal to men.

But YOU ARE WRONG... I am a strong woman who looks at life far from a different point of view.  And I think people will come to that point sooner or later.

"On a final personal note, I want to repeat a question I constantly pose in my teaching:  How many of their deathbeds wished they´d spent more time at the office - or watching TV?  The answer is, No one.  They think about their loved ones, their families, and those they have served.

Even the great psychologist Abraham Maslow at the end of his life, put the happiness and fullfilment and contributions of his posterity ahead of his self-actualization.  He called it self-transcendence"

Stephen Covey / 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

What I´m saying is that the man dominant world is showing us a wrong direction and people are mostly blinded by the very thought of becoming powerful in bussiness life, and they are brainwashed to think that the road to equality goes from working harder and harder...  And they start thinking themselves more valuable - like yourself Femme - and they get threatened if somebody comes up and says:  Hey, this is not equality....

Let´s say, in a household there are 4 major jobs:

cooking

cleaning

shopping

laundry

If just for the sake of being equal, everybody chooses the same thing, for example, cooking... what happens to the rest of the chores?  They stay undone...

The thing is the society humiliates the house chores, motherhood, etc.  So that´s why you people think you are better if you can stay away from it as much as possible.

What I say, let´s value all the efforts we woman put in, and change our approach to equality.

But unfortunately, we woman, ourselves don´t know how to value these things!!!

 I don´t forget.. I strongly believe, as we don´t know how to balance family and profession (but like I said, I am talking about woman who has partners and children, not singles, and single parents)

Well, aren´t we the first ones to call a woman a slut when they are easy.. so are you telling me that if a woman goes to a bar, picks up a man, takes him to bed for a one night stand... and you will call her a strong, educated and clever woman, or slut???

I will call it, making bad choices for the sake of equality, because I think the woman by nature is emotional, consistent and strong.  They like commitment and results... and the above example takes you where you feel more lonely than ever... temporarily it might be charming.. but until when????

Merih you are completely off the mark! The thing about equality is having the OPTIONS to CHOOSE what you want out of your life………..just like a man does.  The RIGHT to make your own choices and have those choices be of equal value to your male counterpart.

Not one person here has said a woman who chooses to stay home is less valuable than a woman who chooses to work! 

I think this equallity has something to do with the country´s circumstances as well. I come from a Scandinavian country, we are blessed with high salary jobs, even for uneducated jobs, good child care, and every 3rd month a ´child-check´(I dont remember how much money it is)free schools, and you are even payed a little less than 1000$ to go to school after the age of 18.(I could go on) Puls in most cases a 8-9 hour workday is very common. Which gives the people the possibility to choose what they want. So I really think that is why the Scandinavian countries are placed so high on this list.

Here in Turkey, where I live now with my husband, I am not working (my choise), and it is hard, we are struggling to make ends meet. My husband is working in a bank, he is well educated, and extremely clever.He is out of our home about 13 hours a day. The sallary level is unbelieveby low (I am compraing to my own country), 2 weeks vacation a year, plus we are sitting here, watching the news about how the prices on gaz, electric and water is going up, and how our whole salary is spent on bills. So I think it a hard decision for women in Turkey, because in this country I can really see how it can be hard to be a working mother: 13 hours a day, and 13 hours for your husband, prices are going up but salaries are not. You both come home from work, tired, and then start the house work, the child raising, and after all that spending some quality time with your life partner. Congratulations to you who are maing it work. On the other side is the housewife who is raising the children, making a home, but she is not earning money, and just a little here can mean a lot.

I guess what I wanted to say is that in this situation, comparing my country with my husbands, I must say that the reason we are in top, and Turkey is placed as nr. 123, in my eyes, is the circumstances, if you understand what I mean?

 errrr excuse moi i didnt say those who choose to wear bikini are evil No one is perfect duh. one can cover frm head to toe with cloth or fake tan but still what´s inside that matters. Ataturk is a superb political leader he gives women the right on how to practise their beliefs..Turks have free will to some point in history after he passed away...and then the ban on headscarf at some premises came about some 20 years ago.

To each its own.. some women find working more fulfilling for them and some feel doing housechores, feeding and disciplining their own kid is more fulfilling for them. Some can even do both.. work from home do small businesses etc. Dont look down on burqa women femme. Many are educated but its their personal choice to be housewives(they are satisfied with what they have and dont feel the need for another source of income.. Being materialistic is not in their hearts) There are those who are talented or have great skills too. Just imagine this..for example.. if they can sew their own children´s clothes.. when the child goes to school and the teacher ask who bought it for him.. he can proudly say his mother sewed it lovingly for him. i personally find that rewarding.

I know working mothers who after a hard day at work come back, cook dinner, check their children homeworks, wake up early morning, prepare breakfast, send their kids to school and head to work........ i have my utmost respect for them as well. Every family structure is so different.. Sometimes culture plays a role. There are also women whose aged parents are under their care.