With the support of TÜRKONFED, which represents Turkey’s most inclusive women’s power in the business world with 50 women’s associations under its roof, with the cooperation of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and BASİFED, the Women and Economy Congress from all over Turkey was attended by more than 100 women’s association presidents and representative attended.

Speaking at the congress held at Izmir Adnan Saygun Art Center, TÜRKONFED Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Women in Business Commission Reyhan Aktar said, “We must achieve equality of opportunity with a fully egalitarian approach in order to adopt and maintain an understanding that women are not confined to the institution of family only. Our call; to the public that will implement fully egalitarian policies, to the private sector that will fully implement gender equality from discourse to action, and to the unions that will defend the rights of women in the business world.

The Women’s Congress, organized by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on February 2, 1923 to draw attention to the place and importance of women in the social development process, took place again on the same day, a century later. Within the scope of the Second Century Economics Congress, the Women and Economy Congress, which was held in cooperation with the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and the Federation of Western Anatolian Industrialists and Businessmen’s Associations (BASİFED), with the support of the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TÜRKONFED), was attended by the public, the private sector and all over Turkey. More than 100 women’s association presidents and representatives from her side also attended.

Reyhan Aktar: “We have positioned the empowerment of women at the center of our Turkey Dream”

Reyhan Aktar, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of TÜRKONFED and Chairman of the Women in Business (IDK) Commission, made a speech at the main forum where institutions and organizations working on women’s rights and working for women shared their ideas, suggestions and projects for the construction of the economic policies of the ‘Turkey of the Future’. Saying that the responsibility we bear as we enter the second century is more than in the first century, Aktar said, “Because we have shortcomings that we do not want to carry into the next century as well as the important achievements we have achieved in the process of women’s attaining equal opportunities and empowerment in economic and social life. As TÜRKONFED, which represents the most inclusive business world women’s power spread all over the country with 50 women’s associations under our roof, we have positioned women’s empowerment at the center of our Turkey Dream with this responsibility. We are aware that any policy, action plan or development program that does not include gender-based equality of opportunity cannot be sustainable.”

“A woman’s story is the story of the geography she lives in”

Emphasizing that as those who fight for equality of opportunity based on gender, they do not only serve equality of opportunity for men and women, Aktar said, “Human rights, individual freedoms, democracy, law, access to justice, development, welfare and employment are among the outputs of this struggle. We know that the story of a woman is the story of the geography she lives in. With this struggle, we want to make all these indispensable in this geography. Even though our road is long, difficult and grueling, we are just as strong and determined.”

“We can initiate social transformation, men and women together”

Stating that as TÜRKONFED, they organize projects, training and mentoring activities that will realize the Dream of a strong Turkey with inclusive collaborations with a focus on women, Aktar continued as follows; “With our actions as well as our discourse, we demonstrate that we can initiate this social transformation together, women and men, in order to break the glass ceilings in front of entrepreneurial women and to establish a fully egalitarian understanding. We carry out studies to contribute to the approach of women’s presence to the levels of developed countries in all areas of life, from employment to entrepreneurship, from management levels to politics.”

Aktar gave information to the participants about the report “Building Gender Equality Mechanisms in the Workplace” and the “Women Power in Entrepreneurship” project, which was implemented to help women entrepreneurs adapt faster to the digitalization processes of the changing world. On the other hand, noting that the share of women-owned businesses does not exceed 1 percent in the total supply worldwide, Aktar also closes the “Gender Sensitive Procurement Handbook”, which they aim to facilitate the participation of women-owned businesses in public and private sector tenders and procurement processes. announced that they will share it with the public at the same time.

“Fast and effective reforms that will accelerate social transformation should be implemented”

Saying, “We must achieve equality of opportunity with a fully egalitarian approach in order to adopt and maintain an understanding in which women are not confined to the institution of the family alone,” Aktar concluded with the following call; “We can achieve the big picture we want to see by implementing fast and effective reforms that will accelerate our social transformation, just as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and our founding staff did. Achieving a future where we put an end to gender-based violence, where we make sure that working principles based on human rights are adopted in all of our 81 provinces and in every business, where we increase women’s employment in the business world, and where we increase women’s participation and contribution to policy-making processes at all levels, from local governments to our parliament, depend on the response of our call. This call is for the public that will implement fully egalitarian policies, the private sector that will fully implement gender equality from discourse to action, and the unions that will defend the rights of women in the business world. In the age of transformations we live in, we can be a society that shapes the changes, rather than being swept away by them. The most important proof of this is our Republic, which emerged from the ashes of a collapsed empire and preserved its dynamic and youthful spirit like the first day by displaying its will to catch the future 100 years ago.”

About TÜRKONFED:
TÜRKONFED, which has more than 60 thousand companies over 30 federations and more than 300 national-international associations under its roof, provides 83 percent of total (non-energy) foreign trade and 55 percent of registered employment in agriculture and non-public sector with its member base. Istanbul, Western Anatolia, Marmara and Central Anatolia, Thrace, Western Black Sea, Central Black Sea, Central Anatolia, Northern Anatolia, Eastern Black Sea, Central Anatolia, Southern Aegean, Eastern Marmara, Western Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean, Southern Marmara, Çukurova, Northern Marmara, Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, Southeast, Zafer, İpekyolu, Cappadocia, Mevlana, Doğu, Serhat, Dicle and Fırat Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Federation, as well as the Federation of Sectoral Associations, the Fashion and Ready-made Clothing Federation, and the Construction Products Manufacturers Federation are members of TÜRKONFED. TÜRKONFED is a member of the European SME Union (SMEunited), which is the umbrella organization of European SMEs and represents 12 million companies and 55 million employees.