THEY GATHERED FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

The Izmir Business Women's Association (IZIKAD), as part of the IZIKAD-UN Women Private Sector WEPs Meetings Project, held its inaugural event hosted by Izmir Free Zone (IZBAŞ). The event took place at the IZBAŞ Meeting Hall, featuring a presentation titled "UN Women Turkey and Private Sector Relationships in Focus on WEPs" by Pınar Akçayöz De Neve, the Team Leader for Private Sector Partnerships at UN Women Turkey. De Neve also moderated a panel where representatives from WEPs signatory companies, including Benay Dereli, Business Development and Sustainability Leader at Hugo Boss, Burcu Oğuz, Talent Management Leader at Hugo Boss, Utku Varol, Sustainability Manager at Sun Textile, and Nilhan Selçuk, Human Resources Manager at Sun Textile, shared insights into the contributions of being WEPs signatories to their corporate cultures.

In her opening speech, Özden Erten, President of IZIKAD, highlighted their commitment since 2008 to gather expert businesswomen who lead prominent organizations in their fields, emphasizing societal awareness and serving as role models. Erten emphasized that as a member of the United Nations Global Compact, IZIKAD aims to bring the business world closer to the UN's fifth Sustainable Development Goal, Gender Equality, through initiatives such as "Private Sector Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Meetings." She stressed the urgency of accelerating progress towards gender equality, noting that at the current pace, achieving this goal could take up to a century. She also recounted past achievements, such as receiving grant support from the European Union for the "Empowering Women in Business Project," awarding Izmir Business Women's Success Awards to female leaders, and significantly contributing to the leadership transformation of women in business.

Erten further highlighted that through the "Private Sector WEPs Meetings" project, they aim to enhance perceptions and realities of gender equality. They plan to repeat these meetings in other free zones and industrial zones to raise awareness among numerous companies and encourage those not yet engaged in gender equality initiatives to take action. She announced plans to hold the second WEPs Meetings in September and to create a continuously updated report on the impact and benefits of these efforts through one-on-one meetings with participating firms.

Under the leadership of IZIKAD, Erten emphasized their goal to expand the project nationwide with the support of the Entrepreneurial Business Women's Federation (GIFED), formed by eight businesswomen's associations from eight Turkish cities, aiming to amplify their impact.

In conclusion, Erten invited all participating companies to become corporate members of the Izmir Business Women's Association, stressing that the involvement of strong company representatives would accelerate their efforts and lead to faster progress towards achieving gender equality together.

In his address, Eyüp Sevimli, Chairman of the Board of Izmir Free Zone (IZBAŞ), lamented the fact that despite Turkey's early granting of political and social rights to women ahead of many developed countries, the country still falls far short of achieving desired levels of gender equality. Highlighting global statistics showing women's labor force participation at its highest historical level of 66%, Sevimli pointed out that this figure is still 14.8 percentage points lower than that of men. Specifically for Turkey, he cited that the country ranks 89th out of 190 nations in terms of legal rights for women, with only 40% of women compared to 78.2% of men participating in the workforce. The disparity in employment between genders stands at a significant 38.2 percentage points, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), where only 31.9% of women in the labor force are able to secure jobs, compared to 66% among men.

Sevimli underscored the necessity of confronting these realities head-on to generate profound and lasting solutions to the challenges faced. He concluded his remarks by reflecting on the essence of the 101-year-old Republic of Turkey, emphasizing that it was not just a story of transition from the Ottoman Empire to a nation-state but a revolutionary shift that acknowledged sovereignty arising not from divine or supernatural sources but from the will of the people. He expressed a fervent desire for Turkish women, who stood shoulder to shoulder with men in shaping the Republic's revolution, to have much greater influence and decision-making power across economic, social, political, and civil society spheres.

Following the opening addresses, Pınar Akçayöz De Neve, Team Leader for Private Sector Partnerships at UN Women Turkey, delivered a presentation titled "UN Women Turkey and WEPs in Focus on Private Sector Relationships," highlighting the significance of being signatories to the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs). She stressed that achieving gender parity in the workplace could contribute significantly to global economic growth, estimating that women's full participation could potentially add up to $12 trillion to the global economy. To contextualize this figure, De Neve noted that if this were a country's GDP, it would rank as the third-largest economy in the world. She further outlined the seven principles of WEPs, which include corporate leadership for gender equality, non-discrimination practices, workplace health and safety, support for women's professional development, enterprise and supply chain support, advocacy for gender equality, and scaling and reporting initiatives.

In the subsequent panel session, representatives from WEPs signatory companies, including Benay Dereli, Business Development and Sustainability Leader at Hugo Boss, Burcu Oğuz, Talent Management Leader at Hugo Boss, Utku Varol, Sustainability Manager at Sun Textile, and Nilhan Selçuk, Human Resources Manager at Sun Textile, shared their experiences and initiatives undertaken under the WEPs framework. They discussed how being WEPs signatories has contributed to their corporate cultures and provided examples of the journey of women employees in their respective organizations. Their contributions underscored the importance of concerted efforts in advancing gender equality within the private sector and beyond.