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Essay: Achieving Gender Equality & Human Development in Turkey with Training, Infrastructure & Financial Incentives

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  • Published: 1 April 2019*
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Human development and gender equality are still an issue in Turkey. In 2013, Turkey ranks 69th

according to United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Index and

Gender Inequality Index. Although there was significant improvement in 2012 compared to

the previous year, improvement in 2013 is negligible.

Labor force participation is an important component of Gender Inequality Index and means the

percentage of working-age persons (15 and above) in the economy who are either employed or

unemployed and looking for a job. Employment rate represents persons in employment as a

percentage of the population of working age (15-64 years). Employment rate includes both

formal and informal employment.

Urbanization in Turkey started in the middle of last century. Share of urban population reached

to 75% today, compared to 25% in the 1950s.

Last decades, services sector became the primary source of increasing demand for female labor.

Improvements in the educational attainment of women after 1990s, as a result, elevated age of

marriage, reduction in fertility and the increase in retirement age are believed to reverse the

negative trend in women participation.

Women entrepreneurs are often comprising employers or business owners with at least 30%

share, top managers, self-employed with or without employees.

Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) ratio of GEM compares the entrepreneurship

the level of 82 countries.

3.a- Familial Obligations

Most of the working women faces the difficulty of balancing their work and familial obligations.  

Traditional division of labor at home affects women labor force participation decision at

particular stages of life.

Unmarried and married Turkish women have different priorities while seeking jobs.

In Turkey, decent and reliable childcare is rare to find and the reliable ones are very expensive

Like many others in the world, Turkish women are traditionally expected to be housewives and

take care child or elderly regardless of their level of education. Owning a business or working

outside home is still perceived to be against society’s values.

Lack of support from the family is a main source of discouragement.   In Turkey, even though

women have a work before getting married, they tend to quit their jobs after being married or

having child.

The labor market in Turkey is more flexible today but has not reached the desired level.

Temporary, part-time or work-at-home type of works is not built-in the labor market or social

security system yet.  

Women have continued to primarily work in services sector, in labor-intensive manufacturing

sectors and agriculture. Gender segregation has also been observed in promotions and work

sharing.

Furthermore, pressure of large number of unemployed men, existence of informal economy and

the possibility of quitting due to family reasons keep the price of female labor low.

3.e- Access to Finance

Access to finance in Turkey is known as a major barrier to establishing small business both for

women and men.

These problems are also related to the fact that most women who attempt to start businesses

do not have sufficient experience and education.

On the other hand, familial obligations of women have an impact on the businesses they

choose.

Gender equality in employment gained importance in Turkey’s public policy framework since

1990s. MoFSP officials list the major legal reforms last decade as constitutional amendments

and changes in the Civil Code, Labor Law and Penal Code. Accession negotiations started in 2005

with the European Union and the screening process between 2005-2006 created a momentum

towards gender equality, not only in the labor market but in all areas of life.

MoFSP officials state that Prime Ministry circular in May 2010 titled "Increasing Female

Employment and Ensuring Equal Opportunities" is another milestone.

4.b- Training & Technical Assistance

There are many training programs initiated by public or private institutions.

MoNE also works on adapting entrepreneurship concept to the fundamental education system.

Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB) has coordinated the

process. TESAP targets:

 Developing an entrepreneur-friendly regulator environment

 Supporting innovative entrepreneurship

 Developing and implementing a sustainable incentive system in general and for women,

young, environmental, social and global entrepreneurship

 Enhancing the entrepreneurship culture

 Expanding the early-age entrepreneurship education and developing consultancy

system for entrepreneurs

 Easing the access to finance

64 actions in total defined under these strategic targets. 4 of these are related to women. First,

the regulatory framework will consider women entrepreneurship perspective. Second, "Women

Entrepreneur Ambassadors" project will be extended. Third, education need for women will be

analyzed. And finally, research will be carried out for women entrepreneurs’ problems.

Starting from the late 2000s, Turkey put a special emphasis on the support to entrepreneurs. As of

today, incentives from public funds, venture capital, angel investors for start-ups, public or

private bank funds, capital markets, leasing or factoring and credit guarantees are the major

tools for the financing of entrepreneurial activity in Turkey.

On the other hand, "Financial Access, Financial Education, and Financial Consumer Protection

Strategy and Action Plans" were announced in June 2014. Strategy aims to enhance financially

inclusion through education and awareness rise, and also improve the quality and use of current

financial products.

In the next section, some of noteworthy public or private initiatives with financial support

There are three components of this program: Applied Entrepreneurship Training, New

Entrepreneur Support and BIC Support.

New Entrepreneur Support is in the form of loan or grant to the graduates of Applied

Entrepreneurship Training or similar programs, and owners of enterprises in the BICs. KOSGEB

gives priority to innovative, high value-added and export oriented business ideas.

The third and last component is BIC Supports in the form of a grant. This component targets

municipalities, universities, special administrations, development unions, professional

organizations and non-profit organizations who want to establish and manage their own

business incubators. Business incubators provide consultancy, networking, site and shared

equipment and services at early stages of enterprises.

The support program run by the Ministry of Family and Social Policy (MoFSP) as a poverty relief

instrument to eliminate dependency on social aid. The program defines its mission as social

the inclusion of the poor, turning them into productive individuals, ensuring sustainable income

through projects in the urban or rural areas.

Eligible projects should require skills, be labor intensive and fit the local conditions technically

and economically. The relevant product or service should have local sales and marketing

potential.

The loans are so-called soft loans, with 8-11 years of maturity without interest.

In order to assess the contribution of the program to social inclusion, MoFSP, and the Boğaziçi

University concluded an impact analysis study in December 2014. However, results are not

published yet.

Ministry of Labor and Social Protection (MoLSS), developed a program called "Human Resources

Development Operational Program" to increase efficiency in the labor market. There are two

projects prevailing under this program.

Promoting Women's Employment Operation: One of the priority axis of the Operational

Program is employment and under this axis the first measure is to promote women’s

participation into the labor market, and increase female employment, including those formerly

employed in agriculture. Within this framework, İşkur undertook "Promoting Women's

Employment (PWE) Operation" project during 2009-2013 period.

Including the grants provided by the European Union, budget of the project is about €27 million.

Geographical target of the project is east half of Turkey where labor force participation is low.

Like most of the other initiatives, there is no impact assessment study or follow up mechanism

about the project.

Child Care Support: Another EU–Turkey co-financed support program is launched in March 2015

by Social Security Institution (SSI) of MoLSS. Women Employment Support by Child Care Services

at Home Project is a pilot project to be run in three provinces. SSI will pay €300 each month to

the working mothers with child younger than 2 years old, in order to increase women’s labor

force participation.

(1) Turkish Grameen Microcredit Program-TISVA & Grameen Bank

Turkish Foundation for Waste Reduction (TISVA) and Grameen Bank founded a joint venture and

established its first branch in Diyarbakır, the biggest city of South East Turkey in 2003.

Program’s initial basic loan limit is TL1,000 (approx. €300) for the first year. If the recipient

repays the loan in 10.5 months, they become eligible for additional TL1,000 every year. TGMP

Ankara office representatives indicate that program achieved high repayment rate. Repaid

amounts are used for new loans, thus provide sustainability for the program.

(2) The First Step Credit-Halkbank

Halkbank is a major bank in Turkey that focuses on loans to SMEs.

In 2013-2014, the bank introduced a line of credit to women entrepreneurs that do not have

collateral. Semi-public Credit Guarantee Fund (CGF) of Turkey provided guarantee to the bank

for these credits.

Line of credit closed in mid-2014. The qualified businesses are mostly in services sector, like

preschools, catering, dry cleaning etc. Limit of the program was €30 million but a total of €4

million of financing is provided to 620 establishments, which is about 13% of the limit. MoSFP

experts claim that extensive paperwork and heavy conditions of CGF limited the interest for

entrepreneurs.

(3) Finance and Advice for Women in Business-EBRD

In October 2014, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Delegation of the

European Union to Turkey, MoLSS of Turkey and İşkur launched a new program called "Finance

and Advice to Women in Business". EBRD implemented the program first in Turkey.

5- PROFILE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Starting from 1990s, there were many attempts to indicate the profiles, characteristics and

problems women entrepreneurs by local or country-wide surveys. Better understanding would

lead to correct policy suggestions. In this section, findings of two most recent surveys will be

elaborated.

5.a – Middle East Technical University (METU):

METU academicians conducted a survey in 2014 among 304 women entrepreneurs supported

by Turkish Garanti Bank’s loans. According to survey, the main problems while establishing the

business are; implementing the work, access to finance, administrative burden, being a woman

and finally the balance between business and family life.

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