‘Housework barrier to female workforce'

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

In Turkey, 38 percent of employed women are working in the agricultural sector while 47 percent are employed in the service sector, an ILO official has said. AA photo

More than half of unemployed women in Turkey say that housework is preventing them from gaining employment, according to the director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) office in Turkey, Ümit Efendioğlu.

Some 60 percent of unemployed women in Turkey said that being occupied by housework is the main reason for their unemployment, Efendioğlu said, adding that low employment rates among women also decrease the overall employment rates in Turkey. The business sector does not have a female-friendly structure in Turkey. A lack of programs and laws that encourage female employment are other main obstacles to improving the situation.

She also said that 38 percent of employed women are working in the agricultural sector while 47 percent are employed in the service sector. The 90 percent of women working in agriculture lack any kind of social security, as they are unofficially employed as family workers. The overall educational level of employed women is low, with 62 percent failing to complete high school or illiterate. “This is why women are mostly employed in unskilled jobs, and unskilled jobs are mostly in the unregistered sector,” Efendioğlu said, citing data from the ILO and the Turkish Statistical Institute published in November 2012.

Businesswomen must be encouraged: TOBB

In a message released for International Women’s Day, Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu, chairman of Turkey’s Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), said that the number of female entrepreneurs should be increased for becoming a wealthy country.

The Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) also released a message addressed to women, stressing that goals relating to the economy and to democracy can be reached through collaboration between women and men. Main opposition Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kılıçadroğlu called on women to protect Turkey, peace, law and nature, in a message he released for Women’s Day.