Ministries cooperate for female labor

ISTANBUL

Daycare centers at workplaces is a must, says Minister Şahin. DHA photo

The government is doing its best to increase the women’s employment in Turkey, Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin has said.

“In a regulation issued by the prime minister in 2008, we ensured that women were not discriminated against and applied the principle of equal pay for equal work,” Şahin said yesterday at an “Equality at Work Platform” meeting in Istanbul.

“At the time unemployment was high, but we announced that the state would pay the premiums of women employees for five years, and 1.5 million of the 4.5 million people who have found jobs since 2008 have been women,” she added.

Şahin said the Labor Ministry was also working on a project to provide social security to part-time workers, as well as those who work from home, which she said would contribute to the employment of women.

She also said there should be no barriers standing in the way of women who want to be both a mother and have a professional career. “The first step to ensure this is having daycare centers at workplaces,” Şahin said.