“We have taken many steps to broaden women’s rights”

 

Addressing the 7th Ordinary Congress of AK Party’s Women Branches, President Erdoğan said: “We not only lifted bans and restrictions. With the motto, ‘a society without women is incomplete,’ we have taken many steps to broaden women’s rights and ensure equal opportunities. We have initiated a new era by promulgating in 2004 a constitutional amendment that secures equality between women and men.”

President and Justice and Development (AK) Party Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a speech at the 7th Ordinary Congress of AK Party’s Women Branches in Ankara.

Drawing attention to the measures implemented to put an end to past practices that were incompatible with the Turkish nation and democracy, President Erdoğan said: “We not only lifted bans and restrictions. With the motto, ‘a society without women is incomplete,’ we have taken many steps to broaden women’s rights and ensure equal opportunities. We have initiated a new era by promulgating in 2004 a constitutional amendment that secures equality between women and men. We have boosted girls’ enrollment rate in education.  With the project, ‘Off to School, Girls!’ we have ensured that hundreds of thousands of girls receive education. Indeed, numbers stand testament to the fruits of our efforts. An important example is that the percentage of girls at universities has increased from just 13% in 2002 to over 53% at the present.” 

President Erdoğan stated: “If you take a look at employment figures, you can easily see the silent revolution taking place over the past 22 years. Women’s participation rate in labor force has increased from 27.9% to 37%. Women’s employment rate has risen from 25.3% to nearly 33%. Women have taken a leap forward not only in education and professional life, but also in politics. We have raised the percentage of women members of the parliament from 4.1% to 20%.”

President Erdoğan added: “Combatting violence against women has been another area we have handled uncompromisingly. Those who criticize us unjustly on this issue do not know the following point: Violence against women had not even been classified as a crime in our legislation until the comprehensive overhaul of the Turkish Penal Code in 2005. It was our government that defined violence against women as an aggravated crime.”