![]() Women protesting in Turkey | |
General Statistics | |
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Maternal mortality (per 100,000) | 20 (2010) |
Women in parliament | 20.1% (2023) |
Women over 25 with secondary education | 26.7% (2010) |
Women in labour force | 29.7% (employment rate OECD definition, 2020)[1] |
Gender Inequality Index[2] | |
Value | 0.272 (2021) |
Rank | 65th out of 191 |
Global Gender Gap Index[3] | |
Value | 0.639 (2022) |
Rank | 124th out of 146 |
Women in Turkey |
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Women in society |
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Women got full political participation rights in Turkey, including the right to vote and the right to run for office locally in 1930 (nationwide in 1934). Article 10 of the Turkish Constitution bans any discrimination, state or private, on the grounds of sex. It is the first country to have a woman as the President of its Constitutional Court. Article 41 of the Turkish Constitution reads that the family is "based on equality between spouses".
The Turkish feminist movement began in the 19th century during the decline of the Ottoman Empire when the Ottoman Welfare Organisation of Women was founded in 1908. The ideal of gender equality was embraced after the declaration of the Republic of Turkey by the administration of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, whose modernising reforms included a ban on polygamy and the provision of full political rights to Turkish women by 1930.
Turkish women continue to be the victims of rape and honour killings, especially in Turkish Kurdistan, where most crimes against women take place.[4] Research by scholars[5][6] and government agencies[7] indicate widespread domestic violence among the people of Turkey, as well as in the Turkish diaspora. There are many historical examples of Turkish women involved in public life and activism, however. It was estimated in 2012 that 40% of women have experienced physical sexual violence.[8] About two thirds of Turkish women do not have personal income, silmotenously, the participation of Turkish women in the labour force stands at about 24 percent.[8]
Women in Turkey face significant discrimination in employment, and, in some regions, education. The participation of Turkish women in the labor force is less than half of that of the European Union average and while several campaigns have been successfully undertaken to promote female literacy, there is still a gender gap in secondary education. There is also widespread occurrence of child marriage in Turkey, the practice being especially widespread in the eastern and central parts of the country.
In 2018, Turkey ranked 130th in the World Economic Forum gender gap index, out of 149 countries.[9]
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