Welfare and equality related: Yalçındağ

VIENNA - Doğan News Agency

Doğan TV chairwomen Arzuhan Doğan Yalçındağ speaks at an event in Vienna. DHA photo

There is a strong correlation between economic welfare and equality between men and women, according to Doğan TV chairwoman Arzuhan Doğan Yalçındağ.

Central governments and local administrations in developed countries are carrying out active and planned efforts to improve women’s employment, Yalçındağ said at a prestigious women’s conference titled “Woman, Power Change” organized by the Austrian media group Styria in Vienna last week.
The event, which was organized under the auspices of Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek, Austria’s family and social policies minister, was first held last year to mark the 25th anniversary of Wienerin magazine.

SMEs lack women executives

Quoting a recent study by global management consulting firm McKinsey, Yalçındağ said companies managed by women and men were 56 percent more profitable than those managed only by men.
Eight percent of publicly traded companies in Turkey are managed by women, Yalçındağ said, adding that this figure was just 3 percent in the 27-member European Union.

However, women manage only 7 percent of small- and medium-sized businesses in Turkey, lagging behind the 33 percent figure in the EU.

Women who are university graduates participate in working life equally with men in Turkey but female employment for women with less education is still problematic, according to the businesswoman.
Turkey aims to become one of the top 10 economies around the world by 2023, and women’s participation is crucial to reach such a goal, she added.

Along with Heinisch-Hosek and Yaçındağ, German scientist and author Kristin Raabe; Iceland’s Birgitta Jonsdottir, who took active role in preparation of the country’s media law; Georg Kapsch, the Vienna chairperson of Austria’s Industry Federation; IBM Austria General Manager Tatjana Oppitz, as well as Vienna University Business Administration Faculty Vice Chair Regina Prehofer also addressed the event.
Ayşe Sezgin, Turkey’s ambassador to Austria, was among the event’s 350 attendees.