Overall assessment

AuthorKadriye Bakirci
Pages116-116
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.

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