Overall assessment

• Author: Kadriye Bakirci
• Pages: 116-116

116

12Overall assessment

The following transposition problems were mentioned in this report:

1.Although itis possible toobserve important improvements inline with the EUacquis

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

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

trying toholdonto laws that were passed in the previous two decades.

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

we have seen a backlash against the Istanbul Convention. Some politicians claim

that Turkey should withdraw from the convention.

3.There are problems of harmonisation with EU and international standards inthe

wording, personal and material scope ofthe Turkish employment legislation.

Different strands of employment legislation and different levels ofprotection apply

tothree 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 inanill-fitting

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

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

4.There are several gaps inorproblems with the legislation related to work-life

balance:

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

isno unpaid care leave for biological employee fathers;

-a leaveofabsence for employees in the event ofthe illness of a dependent

family member is not recognised;

-there isno bottle-feeding leave for fathers of newly born children;

-there isno explicit provision recognising the right to return to work for

employees after taking leave; and

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

time work isonly recognised for women civil servants but not for male civil

servants.

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

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

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

welfare regimes in Turkeyis the importance of the family as the main institution of

welfare.

6.The lack of reliable data ondiscrimination 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 ofwomen orthe follow-

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

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

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

education.

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

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

assaultinga minor if the act was committed without ‘force, threat, or any other

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

open the door for sexual predators and encourage marriage to minors.