Thanking KADEM and its associates for their efforts to protect women’s rights, Erdoğan said: “We are members of a civilization which regards human to be the most honorable being of all beyond all differences, including gender, and believes there can be no superiority except by piety. The problems about women’s fundamental rights and freedoms are entirely caused by social norms which are the products of the era and circumstances. It is rather difficult to establish a healthy and sustainable balance in this issue unless we see woman, with her qualities as mother, wife, sister and daughter to be one half of human and man, with his qualities as father, husband, brother and son, to be the other half.”

Underlining that KADEM’s efforts focused on such notions as democracy, justice, rights, responsibility, representation and violence, Erdoğan said: “Women’s rights can be advocated not by patronizing, commodifying or reducing the issue to merely a few topics, but with a spirit of handing women their natural rights as humans. Without this perspective, it is inevitable for women to face problems, difficulties, discrimination and injustice.”

“We have increased women’s employment to 10 million from 6 million”

Noting that his administration advocated women’s rights since his very first day in the office, Erdoğan said: “We have achieved great progress for women in every field, including social, economic and political ones. As a result, we have raised women’s participation in labor force to some 34 percent from 27 percent. Similarly, we have increased women’s employment to 10 million from 6 million. We have provided all our girls with access to education, supported and facilitated their education at all levels, and almost totally removed this topic from our list of problems. We have also ensured a noteworthy rise in women’s participation in decision-making mechanisms.”

Stating that the proportion of women in the parliament of Türkiye rose to over 17 percent from 4 percent, Erdoğan said: “The proportion of women academics in our universities has neared 51 percent. The men-women ratio in numerous professions, including architects, lawyers, teachers, medical professionals, has to a great extent balanced out.”

“The Law no. 6284, which is a historic revolution in the fight against violence against women, is an exemplary legislation in the world in terms of its scope and effectiveness. In order to protect victims or possible victims of violence, various measures have been taken, including opening of guest houses, establishment of monitoring centers, psychological and financial support, and restraining orders,” Erdoğan said. (ILKHA)