Women's employment problem in Turkey: Social policies and recommendations to increase women's employment

Women, who are part of the disadvantaged group in Turkey, need to be improved in working life. Problems such as traditional mentality, housework and care responsibilities, gender discrimination, glass ceiling and wage inequality prevent women from empowering in working life and cause gender inequality to grow. Due to these problems, women's employment rates in the labor market are insufficient and it is not possible for women to become economically empowered. The solution to these problems is the implementation of effective policies. This thesis draws attention to the general appearance of women in the labor market and the problems of women employees. In this context, the labor force statistics of women in Turkey were discussed and the data were compared with the EU and OECD countries. On the other hand, by considering some countries that have exemplary policies in women's employment, the policies implemented by these countries for women in the working life were examined. Accordingly, the current policies in Turkey, which has the lowest women employment rate compared to the EU and OECD countries, were evaluated and suggestions were presented for increasing women employment. Keywords: Women Employment, Women's Unemployment, Women's Employment Problem.