Half of Turkish women lack jobs, school: report

ISTANBUL - Milliyet

OECD’s annual report shows that 52 percent of women in Turkey, aged between 15 to 29 neither work nor study, which is the highest among OECD countries. DAILY NEWS photo

Women ages 15 to 29 have the least access to work and education in Turkey out of the 34 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a recent study by the organization has found.

The study was done based on statistics from the year 2010. The annual report shows that in Turkey, 52 percent of women ages 15 to 29 neither work nor study. This figure is 20 percent for men. This is less than half of the figure for women, which is the highest among OECD countries. The OECD average in this category is 37 percent. Last year this figure for women was 55.4 percent, based on figures from 2009, also the lowest among the OECD countries.

The report shows Turkey is the country where women ages 15 to 29 spend the least amount of time in education. According to the research, in Turkey women between the ages 15 and 29 have spent an average of 4.3 years in school. For men, this figure is 5.2 years. The next lowest country is Mexico, where women 15 to 29 have spent an average of five years in school.

The report also says that women ages 15 to 29 in these two countries stay out of the workforce the longest. These women stay out of the workforce 5.1 years in Mexico and seven years in Turkey. Turkey ranks at the bottom in this category also. These low figures for Mexico and Turkey stem from the fact that women marry right out of school and don’t join the workforce.

Turkey ranks third from the bottom among OECD member and partner countries in the category of percentage of the population entering higher education as of 2010, the report shows. Brazil and China were after Turkey in the ranking. Nearly 20 percent of people in Turkey enter higher education after primary and secondary education. Brazil follows Turkey with 12 percent, while China remains at 6 percent. Turkey was third from the bottom in last year’s report as well.