‘Women bear the brunt of economic crisis’

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) İzmir MP Serpil Kemalbay has submitted a Parliamentary inquiry and demanded a Parliamentary investigation into the women's unemployment in Turkey.

"One of the characteristics of Turkey's labor market is that the women's participation in labor force is considerably lower when compared to the OECD or European countries," Kemalbay has underlined, reminding the Speaker's Office that Turkey ranked 130th among 144 countries in the World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report.

Women's unemployment rate: 45.3 percent

Kemalbay has also referred to a recent report released by the Turkey Representative of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) regarding the effects of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

As indicated by the MP, the report has revealed that Turkey has deteriorated in terms of women's employment when compared to 20 years ago:

"In the 'Unemployment and Employment Outlook December 2020 Report' shared by the Research Center of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK-AR), women's participation in the labor force has dropped by 8 percent in Turkey over the last year.

"The report has indicated that in May 2020, the broad unemployment rate revised by considering the effects of the COVID-19 was 35.2 percent among men while it was 45.3 percent among women."

'Women are made to pay the price for crisis'

Noting that women, both in Turkey and around the world, bear the brunt of the economic crisis caused by the existing and aggravating effects of the pandemic, Kemalbay has stressed that "women have been made to pay the price for this crisis both on the global and domestic level."

The MP has further stressed that "women have been forced to withdraw from workforce and employment and return home during the pandemic." (DŞ/SD)