Friday

22nd Sep 2023

Opinion

Turkey needs its women, Mr Erdogan

  • #womendigging is still going on Twitter (Photo: twitter.com)

Earlier this week, president Erdogan of Turkey spoke at the Women and Justice Summit in Istanbul.

His comments didn't exactly do justice to the name of the event.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

In general, he said he believes women and men cannot be equal. One of the examples he gave is that women are too fragile to dig holes in the ground.

The immediate public outcry included many pictures uploaded to Twitter of women digging. In fact, the stream of photos is still going.

Erdogan knew his comments would be provocative - maybe they were targeted at a part of his Turkish constituency. But as president he should address all the people of Turkey.

Sadly, his speech was more than simply rhetoric.

In the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2014, Turkey ranked 125th out of 142 countries. It shows that Turkey has a fundamental gender problem.

If anything, leaders should be trying to solve it.

The fact that women in Turkey don't receive equal pay for equal work or that they suffer widespread violence, including so-called 'honour killings', is sometimes justified as a cultural difference. This is not acceptable.

At the same time, Turkey is home to many powerful women in business and politics.

These women should be celebrated as a model for Turkish society, not restricted in their potential.

Women around the world have long-proved they can combine work and motherhood, if they choose to be mothers.

Erdogan’s comments are a slap in the face for people who believe that Turkey, as an economy and as a society, would benefit from increasing women’s participation in education, employment, and political leadership.

Some people downgrade women’s rights by calling the issue a "social problem".

But gender inequality risks holding back Turkey in the broadest sense.

Women's rights are not just women's issues.

Turkish men, and especially Turkish leaders, should be as vocal as women in demanding their inclusion in public life if they care about their country.

Wider context

Meanwhile, Turkey’s gender problems should be seen in the wider context of its violations of human rights and rule of law.

The violent crackdown on Gezi Park protesters and Erdogan’s restrictive Internet laws have shown that Turkey is not a mature democracy.

The Erdogan corruption scandal and his purge of law enforcement also laid bare deep divisions in society.

People no longer trust Turkish law to apply equally to all.

Turkey must solve these issues if it wants to play a more prominent role on the world stage and if it wants to move closer to the European Union.

The EU, in turn, must do better on confronting difficult subjects, such as human rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights.

But it can only do this if it shows commitment to Turkey’s accession process.

The EU needs to use its negotiating position to promote civil liberties in Turkey. But it doesn’t have a position if Turkey doesn’t believe the negotiations are real.

Marietje Schaake is a Dutch liberal MEP

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

EU officials target dictators with satire

EU officials wrote the German song mocking Turkey's hardman leader Erdogan in a covert pro-democracy project also linked to last year's "Gollum-gate" affair.

Latest News

  1. Europe's energy strategy: A tale of competing priorities
  2. Why Greek state workers are protesting new labour law
  3. Gloves off, as Polish ruling party fights for power
  4. Here's the headline of every op-ed imploring something to stop
  5. Report: Tax richest 0.5%, raise €213bn for EU coffers
  6. EU aid for Africa risks violating spending rules, Oxfam says
  7. Activists push €40bn fossil subsidies into Dutch-election spotlight
  8. Europe must Trump-proof its Ukraine arms supplies

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us