"Structural Nature of Work in Turkey" by Ramazan Ege Solak

Structural Nature of Work in Turkey over the last ten years among Organization for Financial Co-Operation and Advancement (OECD) member countries in Europe. Such claims were made by Turkey’s Minister for Labor, Social services and Family at a UN Congress held in March 2019. In addition, since 2006 there has been a ten percent increase in the female employment rate in Turkey according to World Bank statistics. The reason for this increase in women in the workforce is possibly related to educational improvements. The campaign “Haydi kızlar okula (Girls! Let’s go to the school)” conducted by the government during the 2000s offered financial support to female students with book and uniform expenses and elevated educational standards of girls in rural areas. In addition, the raising of the duration of compulsory education from 5 to 8, and then to 12 years, significantly affected literacy and numeracy levels in Turkish society. Despite these positive developments female participation in Turkey’s labor market remains low by international standards. In this essay I will examine the structural and societal reasons that prevent women from playing an active role in the economy.

When we look at successful companies and institutions in Turkey, we rarely see women in senior management positions. This is also true in more developed countries. Of companies making up the 2018 Fortune 500 list, just 24 of their CEO’s are women. In certain sectors such as industry, tourism and logistics, female employment is even lower. However, in countries including Turkey where the economy relies more on the service sector, we actually see women are more involved than men in some business fields. There are actually several reasons for this situation. We can group these reasons under two reasons. First one is the family structure and cultural reasons and the second one is available employment types.

Getting married and starting a family is seen as positive in Turkey both culturally and religiously. The average age of marriage for women is about 25 while for men it is 28. But the average marriage age in many westernized countries is above 30. For liberal societies, women often pursue career goals rather than marriage. However, there remain positive attitudes towards the institution of marriage in conservative societies like Turkey. Marriage naturally imposes responsibilities on women and men, the most important of which is giving birth to children and taking care of them. In Turkey, the average number of children per family is two. Giving birth to two children around the age of late 20’s and mid-30’s, the most important ages for career development and caring for them represents a major factor for women falling behind men in business life. From the perspective of companies or institutions, during this most productive period, female employees take maternity leave and the firm pays wages without contributions to productivity. This is why men are ‘secretly’ preferred for management positions. Moreover, success of employees is linked to communication with fellow professionals and personal networks. The masculine environment in established companies causes difficulties for women in creating connections. Speaking of networking and working conditions, this issue should be emphasized a little more. Because it is a concept directly related to employment types; this is the second reason why women are seen less in the work force.

When we look at the general situation, we can subdivide existing job opportunities into two groups according to the firm’s basic values. The values of some countries and societies concentrate only on disciplined work conducted within a given period. In such working conditions, a limited time is left for family or personal affairs. Despite this, in some societies, working conditions have been softened to create ‘warm’ working environments. People can then work according to their life philosophies. These moderate working conditions abolish the concept of fixed working time and people enjoy a life-work balance and increase productivity. Turkish companies agree on the same goals in principle. However, due to conservative family and working structures in practice combined with outdated provision for child care, employers do not provide a suitable working environment for female employees. For this reason, family and company values are in conflict.

To summarize, there are a few reasons men dominate the workplace, even if women have higher multitasking abilities than men. Based on the arguments above, the reasons for women’s lack of involvement in the workplace are related generally to unsuitable working conditions and conflicts between personal values and corporate values