Progress and Initiatives: Turkey's Journey Towards Gender Equality in Employment

It is known that during the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the employment rate of women in business life was significantly low due to social norms and traditional gender roles. However, in the following years, Turkey has made significant progress in women's education and employment opportunities. Over the years, Turkey has implemented several initiatives to increase women's participation in the workforce. However, at this point, the main building block is the factor of access to education. The Tevhidi Education Law, which came into force on March 3, 1924 and ensured unity in education, and the Latin letters adopted at the end of 1928, brought about both unity in education and an increase in the literacy rate (Aycan, 2018: 236).
These regulations have helped eliminate gender-based discrimination and created equal opportunities for women to pursue careers. Teachers trained in the Village Institutes established in 1940 also contributed to the increase in the literacy rate in the society. Female students and adult women also benefited from the literacy campaigns that followed. Activities such as the literacy studies of the Turkish Armed Forces in 1940, the Functional Literacy Studies Project that started in the 1970s, the Literacy Mobilization that started in the 1990s, and the Eastern and Southeastern Region Social Development and Employment Support Project have greatly contributed to the advancement of education, especially women's education. has provided benefits (Önal, 2010, Cited in: Aycan, 2018). Increasing women's participation in higher education, which further increases their literacy rate, has also been an important driver of labor force participation. From the early periods of the Republic until today, women have made remarkable progress in pursuing higher education and have had the opportunity to compete on equal terms with their male counterparts. Recognizing the importance of gender diversity and inclusion, many Turkish companies have implemented initiatives aimed at attracting, retaining and promoting female professionals. Efforts such as mentoring programs, flexible working arrangements, and gender-blind recruitment policies have begun to bear fruit to enable women to compete on a fairer basis in the corporate world. The 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey is considered an appropriate time to promote and advance gender equality and women's empowerment. One of the most important elements of this is women's participation in formal education.