Only half of women employees are registered in Turkey: Association

Elif Ergu - ISTANBUL

Only 4.4 million of 8.1 million employed women in Turkey were registered, lower than the population of Turkey’s third largest city, according to the head of the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGİDER). 

“Around 3.7 million of the employed 8.1 [million] women are unregistered. This means that almost 4.4 million [of] the employed women are registered. The total unregistered women population is lower than the human population of the Aegean province of İzmir,” said KAGİDER President Sanem Oktar. 

The employment rate in the 15 and above age group was 46.2 percent in Turkey, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK). The share of male workers was 65 percent and of female workers was 27.8 percent. 

“While some seven of 10 work able men have a job, this figure decreases to three in ten in women,” said Oktar. 

“More than half of the 8.1 million women with a job work in unregistered conditions,” she added. 

The number of women entrepreneurs was around 110,000, which equaled 8 percent of the total entrepreneur population in Turkey. 

“Several global studies have showed that there is a rise in the number of women entrepreneurship, but the rising trend in Turkey has lagged behind the global average,” she said.

Oktar said a patriarchal mindset has constituted the biggest obstacle in front of the full realization of women employment and entrepreneurship potentials. 

According to TÜİK entrepreneurship data, some 31.5 percent of working women were classified as “unpaid family laborer,” and only 11.9 percent as “employer.”