Women in Turkey want daycare to return to labor force: Poll

ISTANBUL

Some 60 percent of Turkish women who quit their jobs after giving birth would return to work if necessary conditions are provided for a healthy office-home balance, including daycare centers for their children at work, according to a new survey.

The survey, conducted by Ipsos for Danone Turkey and the Women Entrepreneurs Association (KAGİDER), showed that some 66 percent of women “want a considerate manager and/or employer” and 59 percent “want a day care center at the office for their children” in order to return to the workforce.

According to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK), only 29.5 percent of women in Turkey work full-time, amounting to around 8.9 million women.

Around 40 percent of this small female labor leaves the workforce after giving birth, according to the survey released on Oct. 11.

The survey, conducted with 583 women, as well as their children and husbands in four big cities in Turkey, showed that 60 percent of women who left their job said they “missed their work.”

Among the most striking results of the survey was the finding that 40 percent of women who quit their jobs after giving birth did this because they could not afford to pay for daycare center services or a babysitter.

Some 58 percent of the participants said they lost their social circles after they had quit their jobs.

Nearly half of the women also said they do not want to spend any money for their own personal needs because they do not earn any money.

Speaking about the survey, KAGİDER President Sanem Oktar said Turkey’s national income would be 30 percent higher than it is today if there had been equal participation of men and women in the labor force.

“Some 49 percent of the women who participated in our survey said they quit their jobs when they were pregnant. More than half of them are willing to return to work if the appropriate conditions are offered in childcare,” Oktar said.

“Some 59 percent of them said they would go back to work immediately if their employer offered a daycare facility,” she added, noting that “millions of women” could return to the labor force “if a few very easy steps are taken.”