87 percent of Turkish women want to work in paid employment: ILO Turkey director

ISTANBUL

Some 87 percent of women in Turkey want to work in paid employment, 17 percent above the world average, the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Turkey director Numan Özcan has said.

“Women in Turkey want to take an active role in the economy, more than other women in the world,” Özcan said on Oct. 22, speaking at a meeting organized to introduce the “Gender Mainstreaming Program for SMEs” launched by the ILO.

“The gap between women and men in Turkey in terms of participation in the labor force is higher than the world average. According to a research done by the ILO last year named ‘Towards a better future for women and working life: The voice of women and men,’ some 70 percent of women in the world want to work in paid employment, whereas 87 percent of women in Turkey want to work in paid employment,” Özcan said.

Özcan added that more works need to be undertaken to raise awareness regarding the importance of female labor participation and such works should target men.

“The progress of a country in a humanitarian way and economically is possible only when the women are equally represented in every area of life, including the working life, and when they are visible and powerful,” he added.