DataTurkey: Gender Gap

Inspired by the recently published WEF Gender Gap Report 2013, we have brought together Turkey’s data on gender equality compared to the 14 other emerging markets that we follow. As stated in the report, closing gender gaps is thus not only a matter of human rights and equity; it is also one of efficiency. Especially now that Turkey needs to gear up productivity gains in order to sustain high growth rates, a more efficient use of nation’s human capital endowment in necessary. With such poor scores in gender gap, empowering women in Turkey is a necessity for growth sustainability.

• In WEF’s Gender Gap Index 2013, Turkey ranks 120th out of 136 countries. In sub-categories, the worst ranking is in economic participation. According to the sub-rankings, it lseems that Turkey invests more in the health of its female citizens than their education.

• Turkey has one of the lowest female labor participation rates in the world, as shown by the tables below. Rising the participation rates is necessary to keep the potential growth at above 5% for the next 10 years.

• According to WEF’s figures, Turkey was able to improve its Gender Gap position compared to 2006, but it was not sufficient to improve its ranking compared to others. Turkey needs to improve the position of women in educational attainment and economic participation for an overall index improvement.

• In UNDP’s Human Development Index, in the sub-category gender inequality index, Turkey does not do as bad as the WEF index but it is still in the lowest 6 in our 15-country EM sample.