Further work is underway to improve the legislation
with provisions in the Labour Law for preventing gender
discrimination including the prohibition of discriminative
actions directly or indirectly due to gender or pregnancy when
signing, implementing and terminating labour contracts and
prohibition of offering women lower pay for the same jobs due
to their gender.
In Turkey, current laws safeguard women’s access to economic
resources, acquire and control land and other types of
property, financial services, inheritance and access to natural
resources. In this respect, practices need improvement.
The preparatory work is underway for the project
“Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in
Turkey” to mainstream gender equality in all stages of budget
processes of the central and local governments.
In the context of preventing abuse and violence against
women, Turkey was the first country to sign and ratify the
Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating
Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul
Convention).
The Law on Family Protection and Preventing Violence
Against Women, which was adopted in 2012, elaborated the
preventive and protective measures that could be taken with
regard to the protected person and the perpetrator or potential
perpetrator of violence. The protected person may benefit
from the services including identification of accommodation,
temporary financial aid, psychological, occupational, legal
and social support, direct temporary protection and access to
nurseries. In urgent situations, law enforcement chiefs may
take protective measures without searching for any evidence
and document. A number of amendments were made in 2014
with an aim to increase the penalties for sexual crimes.
The number of Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centres
(SONIM), which provided support and monitoring services
to prevent violence and ensure efficient implementation of
protective and preventive measures since 2012, reached 80 as
of June 2019.
The project Women Guesthouses for Combating Domestic
Violence implemented between 2014-2016, strengthened the
efforts to combat violence against women in 26 provinces
through improved support services to victims of violence.
Under the project, training programmes were organised for
the staff of units which served women exposed to violence, and
efforts were made to ensure standardization of the services to
be provided.
The number and capacity of Women’s Shelters have also been
increased to ensure easy and quick access of female victims of
violence and their children. Specialisation efforts continued in
order to provide more efficient services to the different groups
of needs. Currently, there are 114 women’s shelters (with
3,454-person capacity in total) which work with the central and
local governments and NGOs to provide services. Models for
more specialised women’s shelters were developed; the guide
for service standards was prepared and piloted in Ankara.
Activities are continued to mainstream these practices across
the country.
In the context of promoting opportunities for women’s
participation in social, political and economic life, the
legislation adopted in 1934 provided the right to vote and stand
for election to women.
In our country, it is of major importance for political parties
to give more space to women in their decision-making bodies
as part of their gender-responsiveness policies. Since 1935,
when female candidates stood for election for the first time,
712 members of parliament have been women out of 12,416
members (5.7%). In the 2018 General Elections, the number of
female deputies was 104 and the ratio of female deputies in
the parliament was 17.45%. This number and ratio for the male
deputies were 492 and 82.55% respectively.
As of February 2019, the women’s participation rate in the
labour force was 34% and in employment was 28.3% for the
age group 15+ in Turkey, and these rates varied by level of
education. The highest participation rate of labour was 73%
for university graduates. Although the ratio of women in
management increased to 16.7% in 2019 from 12.2% in 2012,
this is still smaller than one-fourth of male managers.
Projects are undertaken to empower rural women socio-
economically, increase diversity of activities and generate
income. Rural women are also supported to establish
cooperatives. Women entrepreneurship is promoted in
agriculture-based businesses. Training programmes are
delivered to increase the knowledge and skills of female
farmers and the volume of quality products.
In 2018, 95,185 female farmers received socio-economic
development training programme and 2,881 female farmers
received cooperative system training in the scope of 12,273
activities conducted to empower rural women in terms of
their social and economic status and ensure that they are no
longer unpaid family workers. As of January 2019, there are 49
Agricultural Development Cooperatives established by women
with predominantly female partners.
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In this context, the “Programme for Strengthening Women
Entrepreneurship in Agriculture” launched in 2015 is an
example. Under this programme, certified and practical
entrepreneurship training programmes were delivered
to rural women with potential to be entrepreneurs in
cooperation with ISKUR/KOGSEB and help them develop
project with a business idea. A total of 4,211 female farmers
received training on farming in 63 provinces in 2014-2018
with 2,060 female farmers in 29 provinces. It is of major
importance to support women entrepreneurship in these
fields, providing necessary incentives in terms of technology
and mechanisation depending on the size of business and
developing special training programmes for women.
INNOVATIONS FOR WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN THE SOUTHEAST
ANATOLIA
SDG Targets
5.1 – 5.4 – 5.5 – 5.a -1.4 – 1.5 – 1.a – 1.b
-8.2 – 8.3 – 8.5 – 8.8 – 17.13 – 17.14 – 17.16
– 17.17
Executing Entity
GAP Regional Development
Administration, Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
and UNDP
Start & End Dates
2008 – 2017
The project aims to empower women through building personal
and social capacities, and management skills at enterprise level,
increasing opportunities for entrepreneurship, employment and
income while creating and sustaining a regional brand.
Support was provided to 44 CATOMs and 10 local enterprises on
capacity-building, market connection, procurement of equipment
and raw materials etc. Training was delivered to 1,012 women and
391 workshops organized drew 422 women under the project. The
factory built in Kilis employs 3,000 women workers hired through
CATOMs, and provides daycare services to working women. Koton
Handicraft Collection was created through which 6,500 women
manufactured products and earned income. Argande products are
on sale at Mudo stores and online.
The project is an example of inclusive business model and was
included in the G20 Inclusive Business Models Update Report (2018)
as one of the projects from Turkey. Through Argande initiative,
Batman become a significant centre for the apparel industry. The
project particularly contributed to the vulnerable segments in
terms of eradication of poverty and women’s empowerment with
future expansion.
The use and production of technology contribute to economy,
support women’s active participation in life by facilitating their
access to information in their lives and increase the safety
of women in regions at risk. As of 2018, while the rates of
computer and internet use among men in the age group of 16-
74 were 68.6% and 80.4% respectively, these rates were 50.6
and 65.5% for women.
In terms of use and production of technology, there are also
differences among women based on their living conditions,
place of residence, age and education. It is necessary to
develop policies considering these differences and training
programmes should be mainstreamed with digital literacy.
In the context of reproductive health and rights, legal
regulations on sexual health and reproductive health were
included in various laws and regulations including the
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Constitution and international agreements and penal clauses provided against the breach of these rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was also adopted by Turkey, safeguarded all individuals’ right to decide on whether and when they would have a child and parallel regulations ensured that it was incorporated into our domestic law. Legislative arrangements were made for the institutions which would provide such services to the married couples who could not have children and while also outlining the means of these services. In our country, the share of marriage among girls at the age of 16 and 17 was 7.2% in total official marriages in 2008, and this rate decreased to 3.8% in 2018. One of the most important outcomes of the early marriage is childbirth at early age. The birth rates among the 15-17 age groups have been declining over years. While the adolescent fertility rate was 0.31% in 2012, it decreased to 0.19% in 2018. Service policies including “mobile healthcare services” will be developed for women, who require special policies/ services such as women living in the rural areas with limited transportation opportunities, seasonal agricultural workers, refugees, women under international protection or female applicants for international protection to ensure monitoring of 15-49 years old females, providing prenatal care services, delivery in healthcare institutions and postnatal care services. Further, cancer screening services will be mainstreamed to ensure the access of women, who need special policies/ services, to mobile healthcare services.
NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 5: • Mainstreaming the principle of equal opportunities for women and men into the in-service training programmes of public institutions and organisations, • Structuring the budgets of all institutions and organisations in a way that they will support equal opportunities for women and men, • Mainstreaming activities and studies for raising awareness to prevent all forms of violence against women, • Revising the current legislation for women and girls in the context of prevention of early and forced marriages, • Generating detailed data on early and forced marriages at regional and local levels, • Mainstreaming and increasing the efficiency of activities conducted to facilitate equal participation of women in politics and decision-making processes and ensuring that women may benefit from the opportunities and rights on equal basis. • Stepping up work to strengthen women’s cooperatives. 72 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals”
5.6. SDG 6. ENSURE AVAILABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WATER AND SANITATION FOR ALL Turkey has been placed on the list of water scarce countries with an estimated 1,400 m3/p/y (cubic meter per person per year) of water resources. The predicted effects of growing water demand, driven by drought, urbanization, industrialization, and climate change, are likely to aggravate water scarcity even further in Turkey. Sustainable management of water policies through the long term protection of water resources and the development of alternative sources of freshwater is critical to address the growing water scarcity problem. POLICIES In addition to NDP and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, SDG 6 is supported by the other key policy documents including the Basin Protection Action Plans, River Basin Management Plans, Basin Master Plans, Water Quality Action Plans, Drinking Water Basins Protection Action Plans, Climate Change Action Plan (2011-2023), Turkey’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan, Flood Management Action Plans, Drought Management Action Plans, Sectoral Water Allocation Plans, National Basin Management Strategy, Wastewater Action Plan, Drinking Water Conservation Plans, Action Plan For The Program on Enhancing Efficiency of Water Use in Agriculture. The main policies in line with SDG 6 are as follows: • Establishing an integrated water resource management model, • Developing a national basin-based classification system in a way that allows for the conservation and sustainable use of water resources, • Identifying and monitoring the quantity and quality of water bodies (both the groundwater and surface water) as well as the protection and improvement of water resources, the prevention and control of water pollution, • Securing the water supply system from source to tap for the entire urban and rural population, improve the water distribution networks to prevent water losses/leaks. • Ensuring financial sustainability in the provision of drinking water and sanitation investment and services, • Mainstreaming water treatment facilities and operate them in line with the standards based on the required environmental protection level and classification of water basins, • Promoting the reuse of treated wastewater, • Water savings in the basins by assessing the effects of climate change and all activities on water quality and quantity in basins. LEGISLATION Measures for the sustainable management of water resources in order to protect and develop the potential of groundwater and surface water, prevent pollution as well as access to safe drinking water and sanitation services are regulated in detail in our legislation. In general, legislative standards regarding water pollution and water quality are in line with the EU standards. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS With the integrated water management approach, SDG 6 is assessed on three focus areas: i. Access to drinking water and sanitation services; ii. Effective management of water resources; and iii. Preventing water pollution and improving water quantity and quality. In terms of access to drinking water and sanitation services, a very large portion of the population is served through the central and local governments’ investments. While the population using safely managed drinking water services was 95% in 2002, this rate reached 99% in 2018. In the same period, the rate of municipality population using safely managed wastewater and sanitation systems increased from 83% to 90%, the number of domestic wastewater treatment facility reached from 126 to 881 and the rate of municipality population using the services increased from 35% to 75%. Water and sanitation infrastructure projects are carried out by local administrations with the contribution of central government across Turkey. Under the Water and Sewer Infrastructure Project (SUKAP) launched in 2011, investments by local administrations are supported with the funds transferred from the central budget. Water and sanitation infrastructure projects are outlined below. 73 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals”