What does Global Gender Inequality Report 2022 say to Turkey and the world? Why are Iceland, Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden at the top of the Index while Turkey ranks 124th out of 146 countries? What is Turkey failing to achieve or doing wrong politically?
The Global Gender Gap 2022 report, also known as the Global Gender Gap Index, was recently by World Economic Forum (WEF). It benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment). It is the longest-standing index which tracks progress towards closing these gaps over time since its inception in 2006.
The report in which 146 countries are monitored with a scientific method, aims to benchmark countries and to highlight the most effective practices to reach gender equality.
So what does this year’s Global Gender Gap Report say to Turkey and to the world? It is predicted that at the current rate of progress, it will take 132 years to reach full parity. Accordingly, it will take 155 years to close the Political Empowerment gender gap, 151 years for the Economic Participation and Opportunity gender gap, and 22 years for the Educational Attainment gender gap.
Afghanistan ranks at the bottom in the Global Gender Gap Report 2022. Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Iran are one row ahead of Afghanistan, respectively. Turkey is also 101st in the gender equality index at education level, 99th in the index measuring the balance between genders in health and life expectancy, 112th in the representation of women in politics, and 134th in participation in the economy.
The report ranks 146 countries, of which the top five are Iceland, Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden, while the five worst ones are Afghanistan, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran and Chad. According to the Index, Turkey ranks 124th out of 146 countries. In the category of economic participation and opportunity, Turkey has a ranking of 134, a ranking of 101 in the category of educational attainment, 99 in the category of health and survival and 112 in the category of political empowerment.
The report, which received widespread media attention in Turkey, became a hot topic highlighting Turkey’s poor ranking or how it comes with countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia.
Yes, Turkey ranks 124th in the Global Gender Gap Report this year, lagging behind countries such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Ghana and Nigeria. Angola, Bhutan and Saudi Arabia are one step behind Turkey. Or Turkey ranks 133rd in last year’s Index; Although it seems to have gone up 9 ranks this year, the number of countries evaluated in 2021 was 156, and this year is 146. Therefore, it is only possible to talk about running around in circles, not a progress albeit a relative one for Turkey.
These numbers are not entirely trivial, of course. However, it shows only one side of the catastrophe we are going through. Perhaps the real question to ask is what kind of political setup is behind these numbers. Why are Iceland, Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden at the top when it comes to gender equality, while Turkey is at the bottom? What is Turkey failing to achieve or doing wrong politically?
Gender gaps in political representation
More women in political leadership tends to create a powerful role model effect as well as decisions that represent broader parts of the population. Data from the Global Gender Gap Index shows the progression of women in leadership in public office. Of all female heads of state globally, the longest serving ones have presided over Germany for 16.1 years, Iceland for 16 years, Dominica for 14.9 years and Ireland for 14 years. The global average share of women in ministerial positions nearly doubled between 2006 and 2022, increasing from 9.9% to 16.1%. Similarly, the global average share of women in parliament rose from 14.9% to 22.9%.
So, how is Turkey’s performance in terms of women’s leadership? There has been only one female prime minister in 99-year history of the Republic. Tansu Çiller, the one and only female prime minister in the political history of Turkey, held this position between 1993 and 1996.
The first female minister of Turkey was Türkan Akyol, the Minister of Health and Welfare. Until the 53rd term of government, maximum three women ministers were in the cabinet, while the 54th term of government had the highest representation of women. During this term, Tansu Çiller took office both as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Meral Akşener as Minister of Interior and Ayfer Yılmaz and Işılay Saygın as the Minister of State.
Under the AKP rule, maximum number of female ministers in the cabinet has been two.
Gender gaps in care work
he disproportionately negative labour market impact of the pandemic can be explained partly through the sectoral composition of the shock and partly through the amount of care work that fell on women as childcare facilities and schools were closed — a pattern of caregiving responsibility that was already pronounced before the pandemic.
Based on an analysis of 2019 data from 33 countries, representing 54% of the global working-age population, men’s share of time spent in unpaid work as a proportion spent in total work was 19%, while for women this was 55%.
When countries are compared, the United States, Austria and Turkey are at the top in terms of percentage of time dedicated to unpaid care work. In the Netherlands, Denmark and Italy, the percentage remains relatively low.
When we take a closer look at Turkey, we see that the gender gap in the share of time spent in
unpaid work as a proportion spent in total work is the highest among OECD countries. Housework and care services, in other words, unpaid labor activities are performed mostly by women and girls. This inequality remains high even if women work in a job that pays off in the labor market. According to the results of TUIK’s 2014-2015 Survey, working women spend 3 hours and 35 minutes on house and care work, while working men spend only 46 minutes a day.
Gender gaps in wealth accumulation
Skewed labour-market outcomes have an outsized impact on female wealth accumulation when calculated over a working lifetime. In addition, unequal access and control over wealth-building resources — such as banking, investment, inheritance and property — can contribute to the wealth divide.
According to an analysis carried out in collaboration with WTW looking at wealth equity for 39 countries, the most salient factors contributing to this gender-based wealth inequality are gender pay gaps, unequal career progression trajectories, gender gaps in financial literacy, and life events.
In addition, specific life events related to care responsibilities, part-time work and career breaks affect women disproportionately compared to men, as they lower the rate of workforce participation and/or time spent in employment – also affecting their employment-based contributions accordingly.
For frontline operational roles, the overall gender wealth gap amounts to 11%; for professional and technical type roles, the gender wealth gap nearly triples to 31%; and for senior expert and leadership roles it expands further to 38%.
Considering the combined impact of all factors on gender-based wealth gaps, some of the most equal economies with wealth equity above 80% are South Korea, Spain, Austria, Japan, Taiwan (China), Norway, Israel and Denmark while the most unequal economies with less than 65% of wealth equity are Nigeria, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey and India.
According to the data provided by the World Inequality Database, the share of women in labor force in Turkey has only reached 23.3 percent in the last 10 years. In order to understand how low this rate is, you can compare it with Bulgaria, which has an average revenue similar to Turkey, is 43 percent.
Gender gaps in lifelong learning and skills prioritization
In the last five years, women worldwide have been enrolling in and graduating from tertiary education degrees at increasing rates. In addition, the distribution of learners by field in 2019 showed that tertiary education continued to be segregated by gender. For example, between 2013 and 2019, the gender gap in ICT and Engineering and Manufacturing remained mostly intact. Women’s participation in Health and Welfare fields decreased, in contrast to Education.
This segregation has produced various concepts that have been frequently mentioned in the literature in recent years. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields with a higher female representation are called “soft science” while male-dominated fields are considered “hard science.”
However, in the last decade, increased opportunities for education and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines for women have created expectations that the wage gap between men and women will decrease, the ideal of equal pay for equal work will be achieved and sexist stereotypes will be overcome with the rising representation of women in STEM.
So how is the situation in Turkey? The number of women in academic positions has increased over the years since the proclamation of the Republic. Today, the rate of women in academia in Turkey is 45.4 percent, higher than the average of 40.6% women in European Union countries. However, the relative high number of female academics in science does not bring equality. Women often occupy lower positions in both academic and administrative positions. In other words, although it is possible to talk about a relative gender equality among faculty members in Turkish universities, there is a male dominance at professorship levels.
Gender gaps and income
Closing gender gaps remains a critical driver of national prosperity. Countries like Iceland, Luxemburg and Germany that invest in all of their human capital and make it easier for their populations to balance work and family life tend to be more prosperous.
According to the report, there is a positive relationship between gender parity and per capita income when comparing the Global Gender Gap Index and GDP per capita. While the relationship does not show causality, regardless of current income level, countries should invest in closing gender gaps in access, resources and opportunities. With an increasingly uncertain economic outlook, unleashing the creativity and dynamism of a country’s entire human capital is critical to overcoming the current crises and accelerating a recovery.
In the current situation in Turkey, men earn 31.4 percent more than women, while self-employed men earn 77.3 percent more than women. These data also show that income inequality between men and men is growing. As a matter of fact, the wage gap, which was 12 percent in 2006, has increased to 20.7 percent in 2019.