Socio-economic importance of the women poverty: Comparison between Turkey and European Union

Phenomenon of poverty is one of the most hotly debated topics in recent years; and particularly the female poverty has received significant attention in academic and policy discussions. The aim of this study is to compare Turkey and EU countries in the context of women's poverty and the political, social and economic indicators which may affect female poverty. For this purpose, we employ a comparative analysis as a research methodology and use data of female poverty and related socio-economic and socio-political indicators for the period 2000-20015, extracted from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) databases. This study is mainly a collection of three chapters. Specifically, in the first chapter, we analyze the phenomenon of poverty in a general to specific procedure. In this context, we first discuss the conceptual framework of poverty, the types of poverty, poverty measurement methods, and poverty criterion in sociological and economical context. Then, in the following sections, we examine the importance of female poverty, the place of female poverty in economic theory and the changes in female employment. The second chapter compares men and women in Turkey in terms of the extent of poverty and employment, share in income distribution, the average pay, per capita gross national income, education, health, human development and political indicators. In this context, on the other hand, we assess the economic, social and political causes of women's poverty in this chapter. Finally, the last section of the chapter discusses the policy recommendations to combat female poverty. The third chapter focuses on Turkey and European Union comparison for women's poverty. In this sense, first of all, we analyze essential policies of EU against women's poverty. Then, we compare Turkey and EU in terms of female poverty. Particularly, first, we compare Turkey and EU based on female poverty according to median income groups. Second, Turkey and EU are compared in terms of poverty risk rate according to age groups to determine if women are at risk of poverty even though they work. Third, we compare Turkey and EU considering income gap between richest and poorest women as well as estimations regarding to per woman gross national income. We also make a comparison, to determine the economic status of women, with respect to employment, female employers, self-employed workers, female employment rates in agricultural, industrial and service sectors, and female unemployment rates. On the other hand, to determine the social status of women, another comparison is made in terms of women's participation in workforce, unemployment rates, the proportion of women with lower level of education than primary and secondary education, the proportion of women with bachelor and equivalent schools degree, the proportion of women with graduate and postgraduate degree, the rates of social exclusion of women, fertility rates, life expectancy at birth, the rates of maternal death, death rates due to AIDS and HIV, and the level of human development for women. Finally, in the last section of this chapter, to determine the political status of women, we compare Turkey and EU according to the rate of seats hold by women in the parliament and the rate of female ministers. Finally, the concluding section of this study presents the findings of the comparative analysis, and discuss the economic and social policy recommendations to reduce female poverty in Turkey.