At the meeting held within the scope of the annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Hanzade Doğan stated that natural disasters such as earthquakes deepen gender inequality and emphasized the importance of conducting aid and development activities in a way that empowers women and young girls.

Hanzade Doğan, Chairman of the Board of Hepsiburada, spoke at the annual meeting of the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women, which was held for the 67th time this year. At the roundtable meeting organized by the UN Global Compact, of which Hepsiburada is one of the signatories, the CEOs of the world’s leading companies and the representatives of the United Nations came together.

Hanzade Doğan was the only female leader from Turkey to attend the meeting held on March 15 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where work life based on gender equality in the digital age and the role of companies in this field were discussed.

Business leaders meet

At the meeting that started with the speeches of UN Global Compact CEO Sanda Ojiambo, UN Women Director Sima Sami Bahous and United Nations General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi, Hepsiburada founder and Chairman Hanzade Doğan talked about the effects of digitalization on gender equality and talked about the effects of digitalization on the entrepreneurship ecosystem of Hepsiburada. She talked about her work for women entrepreneurs.

Digitalization is both a threat and an opportunity for women.

Stating that digitalization has a high potential to empower women, increase their skills and offer new opportunities to women, Doğan warned against possible negativities and said, “Technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality may cause the disappearance of many business lines, and this situation affects the business lines in which women operate. may affect. There is also the risk that these technologies will increase established prejudices about gender inequality. On the other hand, digitalization provides the emergence of new professions and business areas. Therefore, we need to make sure that the opportunities and benefits of digitalization are accessible to women and do not increase gender inequality.”

Doğan also drew attention to the fact that the rate of women working in engineering and technology and the number of women entrepreneurs could not reach the desired level globally. Reminding that Hepsiburada is a company founded and managed by a woman, Doğan pointed out that although the rate of female engineers working in the field of technology at the company is 30 percent, above the world average, their target is 50 percent.

We achieved a strong solidarity in Turkey!

Hanzade Doğan, who spoke at the meeting in the special section devoted to the earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş that took place on February 6, stated that there was a great social solidarity, mobilization and unity in Turkey after the earthquakes. Doğan said, “It will be a long process for the region to stand up. Wounds will take time to heal. Houses need to be rebuilt and employment conditions need to be ensured.” said. Explaining that they started a long-term program as Hepsiburada, Doğan stated that they will provide a trade volume of 10 billion liras to 10 thousand tradesmen in the disaster area in two years.

Post-earthquake support should be in favor of women

Hanzade Doğan also underlined that after natural disasters such as earthquakes, gender inequality deepens and women and young girls are more vulnerable to the negativity created by the earthquake. Stating that support activities should focus on areas that will empower women and girls against difficult living conditions, Doğan called for solidarity and cooperation with the international community.

Doğan said that women entrepreneurs have a special place in the program they run in the disaster area and said, “We will continue the program until we reach 5,000 women entrepreneurs. I believe we will lift the region up by empowering women.” said.

Entrepreneurial women are changing the world with e-commerce

Explaining the efforts of Hepsiburada to support women’s inclusion in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, Doğan gave the following information: “We support women and women’s cooperatives with the Technology Power for Entrepreneur Women program, which we started in 2017. To date, we have expanded the businesses of 38 thousand women entrepreneurs and supported them to create employment. So far, we have enabled thousands of women to enter the business life and develop their businesses through e-commerce, with the alliances we have formed. In this way, we increased the rate of women entrepreneurs on our platform from 6 percent to 27 percent. Our program, which shows that when it is carried out with determination, a transformation and benefit in favor of women can be achieved, it also inspires and sets an example for companies in different countries.”

Source: (BYZHA) – Beyaz News Agency