MaximsNewsNetwork: 07 October 2009 – World Bank: According to a new World Bank report, getting more women into the labor force in Turkey would cut poverty and spur economic growth.
Getting more women into the labor force in Turkey would cut poverty and spur economic growth, according to a new World Bank report. Moving Turkish women into jobs would mean better lives for them and for their children, but big hurdles remain to making that happen.
Just outside Ankara, a brand-new factory aims to turn household trash into clean energy. But whats interesting about ITC, the company here, is that a woman, Suna Arjun, is part of the management team.
As ITC grows, Arjun sees change in the surrounding hills.
SOUNDBITE (Turkish) Suna Arjun, Business Woman:
The neighboring area is starting to be a new region for housing, for shopping malls, a new center for Ankara.
Change needs to come to Turkeys workforce as well, World Bank economists warn. Only 23 percent of Turkeys labor force is made up of women, down from 10 years ago.
Turkey is home to fewer working women than any other country in Europe or Central Asia.
SOUNDBITE (English) Diego Angel-Urdinola, World Bank Group:
It is important for Turkey to increase female participation in the labor force because good gender policies, is smart economics. We actually tell in the report that by increasing the labor force participation of women from its current level, which is 23 percent, to government targets, which are 30 percent, will be very important for economic growth and will decrease poverty by 15 percent.
The Turkish government is encouraging women to get to work, but women here face challenges. Many dont have enough education to work outside the house, many face cultural taboos against such work, and the cost of day care for children is expensive.
SOUNDBITE (English) Diego Angel-Urdinola, World Bank Group:
Women in Turkey go to school much less than men. They actually under invest in education, which prevents them from getting good jobs. The second constraint relates to labor regulation. It still is very expensive to hire women in Turkey, especially if they have low levels of skills and education. And the third constraint is culture.
The stakes are high, if only six or seven percent more of Turkeys women started working full time, poverty rates would fall sharply. That would be good for the women of Turkey and for their entire families.
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