"Not a coincidence, male violence!"
Click to read the article in Turkish
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu has shared the findings of his report "March 8 International Women's Day, Violation of Women's Rights in Turkey".
The report has shown that since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, 6 thousand 732 women have been killed by men. According to the report, 3 thousand children, including 800 babies under the age of 3, are staying with 17 thousand women prisoners.
The report of the MP has underlined that the judiciary does not protect women and normalizes male violence.
Tanrıkulu has also raised concerns about the insufficient number of women's shelters where they will be protected from male violence.
"Half of our 83 million population consists of women. But the capacity of shelters is only 3 thousand 482 in our country. Shelters do not have 1 vacancy even per 10 thousand women," Tanrıkulu has said.
Increase in income gap
Some highlights from the report are as follows:
* From 2013 to 2020, 
965 women lost their lives in Turkey in occupational homicides.
* Men's income is 31 percent higher than that of women in Turkey.
* Gender inequality in income is growing. The income inequality between wage earning men and women is rising. While the income gap was 12 percent in 2006, it increased to 20.7 percent in 2019. The income of self-employed men is 77.3 percent higher than self-employed women.
* In 39 countries, girls and boys do not get equal share from inheritance. 30 percent of women worldwide say that they are subjected to the physical and/or sexual violence of their partners.
* The top 5 countries with the highest gender equality are Iceland, Norway, Finland, Switzerland and Nicaragua; the bottom five countries are Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Chad.
* According to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) "2020 Gender Equality Report", Turkey ranks 130th among 153 countries.
* As for the labor force participation rate around the world, it is 63 percent for women and 95 percent for men. There are women CEOs in 6.6 percent of Fortune 500 companies. 41 percent of women around the world are getting maternity benefits. Women do (free) housework three times more than men.
* The rate of women parliamentarians around the world was 24.9 percent in 2020. 84 percent of single parents are women in the world.
Recommendations
The MP has also listed a series of recommendations in the context of Turkey. Tanrıkulu has underlined that the Law no. 6284 in the Protection of Women and Prevention of Violence Against Women and İstanbul Convention must be effectively enforced. He has also stressed that the concept of gender equality must be embraced and put into practice.
Raising concerns about impunity for perpetrators of male violence as well, the MP has emphasized that all public employees, ranging from teachers and healthcare workers to police officers and judges-prosecutors, must receive training on gender equality. (RT/SD)
