UNDP Turkey and Gender in Development
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Although Turkey's achievements in gender equality date back to the 1930s, when Turkish women were granted full voting rights, it was the country's ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination again women (CEDAW) in 1986 that led to the establishment of a national machinery for the promotion of gender equity. Since then Turkey has increased its commitment to achieving genuine gender equality by passing milestone legal reforms that eliminate fundamental discriminatory provisions against women, including those on violence, poverty and economic exploitation.
While there is still much to be done in strengthening the national machinery for the advancement of women in both the public and private spheres, Turkey's potential to make great strides in the years ahead is clear given the good will of the state as well as the determination of academic and civil society organizations. Advocacy, awareness, and resources appear to be key: public attention to issues of violence against women, including domestic violence, honour killings and trafficking is limited. Women are often restrained in exercising their rights fully or are unaware of the scope of their rights. Organizations working to protect the rights of women need more support to be able to do so. Collaborative efforts between government (local and national), NGO's, labour market partners, media and private co-operations in the area of women's rights are virtually needed. What is UNDP doing to promote gender in development in Turkey? UNDP's contributions to gender equality in Turkey have been recognized by the Turkish Government, NGOs, academia, and beneficiaries. UNDP initiated its assistance in 1992, with the launch of the National Programme for the Enhancement of Women in Development. Over the years, this umbrella technical assistance programme has supported the capacity building of government offices (including the General Directorate on the Status and Problems of Women) as well as of independent experts to advance research in gender studies; awareness raising, advocacy and support for NGOs; and the establishment of international linkages. Since 2001, UNDP has been gradually adopting gender mainstreaming as its policy to combat gender inequalities in Turkey. In its next phase of country programming, 2006-2010, UNDP will remain committed to supporting gender equality goals in its programmes -- as well as through an active participation in the UN Gender Theme Group. UNDP will also continue to play a central role in advocacy and policy advice through the publication of its National Development Reports (2002, 2004), as well as the Millennium Development Goals Reports. How is gender included in our development programmes in Turkey? Gender is an important component in many of UNDP Turkey's ongoing programmes, within and across its three main focus areas of Democratic Governance, Poverty Reduction and Energy and Environment: Local Agenda 21 (LA-21) [Democratic Governance] has special focus on gender empowerment. The mechanisms and institutions of LA-21 have been advocating for increased candidature among women in local elections, as well as for legislative reform to increase women's participation and representation. LA-21 promotes the role of women in strengthening democratic local governance in Turkey through a participatory process built around transparency and accountability. Within this perspective, the LA-21 increases women's influence in decision-making first locally and later in the national decision-making structure. Within this context, specific and focused campaigns and festivals have been organized to promote the development and endorsement of common principles for the establishment and functioning of the women's councils, and the means of cooperation among women organizations in different cities. Several cities across Turkey have taken the lead to set up Women's Consultancy and Cooperation Centers and Women's Guest Houses. CEDAW Follow-Up [Poverty Reduction] aims to promote women's empowerment and gender mainstreaming in Turkey. Turkey's ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1986 has helped to popularise gender sensitivity. Under CEDAW, signatory states are required to establish a national machinery for the promotion of gender equality. Together with our partner, the women's organization Uçan Süpürge ("The Flying Broom"), UNDP Turkey is supporting members of Turkey's Grand National Assembly to advocate for CEDAW and to implement CEDAW in their day to day legislative work. Six members of parliament serve as CEDAW Champions. Small and Medium Scale Enterprise Development in Southeast Anatolia (GIDEM) [Poverty Reduction] includes a window developed by UNDP Turkey for the preparation of analytical study on women's entrepreneurship opportunities in southeastern Anatolia. It also examined which sectors the GIDEM programme could focus on in order to promote women entrepreneurship in the region. Related to this, GIDEM supported the establishment of a Women Entrepreneurship Center in Sanliurfa in partnership with the Governorate and Harran University. In Diyarbakir, GIDEM has also supported an internship programme for female University students to introduce them to business environment and to encourage their entrepreneurial potential. This activity was carried out in partnership with KAGIDER (Association for support of Women Entrepreneurship) and will be replicated in Diyarbakir and Sanliurfa in 2005. Reduction of Socio-Economic Disparities in the GAP region, phase II [Poverty Reduction] aims to strengthen both the production capacities of women and the networks among women NGOs across the region. This support will take the form of technical expertise in production, design and marketing, and will result in an improved institutional capacity of the women's organizations in the region. Linking Eastern Anatolia to Progress (LEAP) [Poverty Reduction] aims to support the limited number of women NGO's in this region, mainly in entrepreneurship support and income-generating activities. Currently, these activities are in Erzurum. Additional gender-related support will be implemented in Erzincan and Bayburt where entrepreneurship centers are being established. Global Environment Fund
Small Grants Project (GEF-SGP) [Energy and Environment]
endeavours to ensure the involvement of all stakeholders, particularly
women, particularly in its projects which have a community focus.
This is felt to be particularly important in those projects which
involve an alternative income-generation component, in order to
safeguard against proposed alternatives creating burdensome responsibilities
for women in the communities concerned.
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