The regional differences affecting women labor in Turkey: An empirical study

Countries want to use production factors efficiently in order to achieve their development goals. Efficient use of labor is also among these factors. In the employment dimension of labor, women are exposed to gender inequality, in addition, women who take on many responsibilities in home life with social influences try to balance home-work. In order to eliminate the gender inequality faced by women in all areas of society, effective policies of the state are required for social welfare and more efficient use of labor. In this study the regional differences in female labor force participation rate are demonstrated on the maps. The factors that influence the participation of women in the labor force in Turkey are examined by employing series analysis. Lastlypolicy recommendations are made in order to eliminate the regional differences were presented. To determine the regional differences of female labor force participation rate on maps, NUTS-1 12 regions' labor force data for 2019 were taken from TurkStat Regional Labor Force Statistics. ArcMap program is used to create Level-1 maps, whereas GeoDa program is employed to process the data into the map. The relationship of the female labor force participation rate with the male labor force participation rate and growth rate is explained with econometric modeling and time series analysis by running the data in Eviews10 statistical package. The female and male labor force participation rates for the 2000Q1-2020Q3 period are obtained from TURKSTAT, whereas the Gross Domestic Product data as a proxy of growth rate are taken from the Electronic Data Delivery System of Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. Keywords: Female Workforce, NUTS, Gender Inequality, ARDL, Multiple Linear Regression