Overall assessment

• Author: Kadriye Bakirci
• Pages: 116-116

116

12 Overall assessment

The following transposition problems were mentioned in this report:

1. Although it is possible to observe important improvements in line with the EU acquis

on gender equality in Turkey between 2005-2010, unfortunately sinc e 2011 gender

equality has not advanced. Rather than fighting for progress, women are simply

trying to hold on to laws that were passed in the previous two decades.

2. Although Turkey was one of the first states to sign and ratify the Istanbul Convention,

we h ave se en a backlash against the Istanbul Convention. Some politicians claim

that Turkey should withdraw from the convention.

3. There are problems of harmonisati on with EU and international standards in the

wording, personal and material scope of the Turkish employment legislation.

Different strands of employment legislation and different levels of protection appl y

to three groups of dependent workers ( employees working under a private law

employment contract either in the public or private sector; civil servants; and public

officials working under an administrative law employment contract in the public

sector). Piecemeal amendment of related regulations has resulted in an ill-fitting

patchwork of legislation. As a result, Turkish employment law falls short of EU law in

relation to discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and/or victimisation.

4. There are several gaps in or problems with the legislation related to work-life

balance:

- unpaid care leave is only recognised for biological employee mothers and there

is no unpaid care leave for biological employee fathers;

- a leave of absence for employees in th e event of the illness of a dependent

family member is not recognised;

- there is no bottle-feeding leave for fathers of newly born children;

- there is no explicit provision recognising the right to return to work for

employees after taking leave; and

- the right to part-time work and the right to switch from full-time work to part-

time w ork is only recognised for women civil servants but not for mal e civil

servants.

5. The Turkish social security system strongly protects an occupational core, the le vel

of state involvement in the social realm is extremely low and a safety net in the form

of a social assistance scheme is lacking. The most significant common trait of the

welfare regimes in Turkey is the importance of the family as the main institution of

welfare.

6. The lack of reliable data on discrimination complaints/cases hampers effective policy-

making.

7. Male-dominated proceedings and institutions, as well as male officers including

judges, prosecutors and the police, aggravate the complaints of women or the follow-

up process. Therefore it is not sufficient to adopt purely paper measures . To enable

the application of these measures by their internalisation by men and even by

women, we need a change in mentality, starting from social mobilisation in

education.

8. An amnesty has been proposed for men sentenced for child sexual abuse, on the

grounds that they were falsely accused and their intercourse with minors was

consensual. If passed, the bill will allow for the release from prison of men guilty of

assaulting a minor if the act was committed with out ‘force, threat, or any other

restriction on consent’ and if the aggressor ‘ma rries the victim’. The proposal would

open the door for sexual predators and encourage ma rriage to minors.