Turkey ranks 55th ‘best place to be a girl’

ISTANBUL

Turkey has ranked 55th out of 144 countries in a new study on the well-being of girls in 144 countries around the world, with lack of women’s public representation being the most pressing issue the country faces, followed by child marriage. 

The study conducted by the Save the Children NGO, titled “Every Last Girl” and published on Oct. 11, the U.N. International Day of the Girl Child, contains an index that statistically evaluates the general well-being of girls around the world based on five criteria. 

The report’s Girls Opportunity Index studied five indicators, namely child marriage, adolescent fertility, maternal mortality (as an indicator of girls’ access to good-quality healthcare), women MPs (relative to male MPs), and secondary school completion rates. 

The low percentage of women MPs was Turkey’s weakest criteria, followed by child marriage, adolescent fertility, secondary school completion and maternal mortality. 

The Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Finland and Norway topped the list with their high percentage of women parliamentarians and secondary school completion rates. The African countries of Mali, the Central African Republic, Chad and Niger came bottom of the list, with high rates of child marriage, adolescent fertility, maternal mortality and low rates of women MPs, as well as a high proportion of women who have only completed lower or secondary school. 

The study’s index explained the scope of the women MPs as providing “insights into the prevalence – or absence – of women’s voices in public life and the likelihood of girls taking on political leadership roles when they grow up.