12 percent of Turkish CEOs are women: World Bank

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Vuslat Doğan Sabancı. DHA photo

The World Bank has published a report on its website that said 12 percent of CEOs in Turkey were women despite the low level of female employment in the country.

Only 24 percent of Turkish women were employed in the workforce, the report by Tunya Celasın said, even thought Turkey boasted the 16th largest economy in the world.

"We started years ago with tracking our own numbers in terms of women versus men in the workforce," Vuslat Doğan Sabancı , the chairwoman of Hürriyet Gazetecilik, was quoted as saying.

"Initially it was 20 percent, then we targeted 25, then 30 and above, so it was really continuously checking of our own numbers of women, what we're doing in terms of employees," she said.

The report also mentioned claims by equal opportunity advocates who said the political culture in Turkey blocked women from working. Women were reluctant to find work until they had powerful role models, Yeşim Mutluer from Women Entrepreneurs Association (KAGİDER) said.

"We try to give them the message that they're not just producing children. They should be more active in the economy," Mutluer was quoted as saying.

Women were more likely to enter the workforce as the level of education got higer, the report said. When only 22 percent of women with a primary education were employed, that number jumped to 71 percent for women with higher education.