Women shouldn’t have to wait forever
THE year is 2018. At least 11,000 years of known human civilisation have passed and the conditions for women do not seem to be any easier. Far too many of us still experience domestic and sexual abuse, and there remains a huge disparity in gender equality, with men receiving significantly higher wages and better work opportunities than women, a problem even in countries where such discriminatory practices — in theory — are banned.
Legislation in Britain now compels large companies — those with over 250 employees — to publish their internal pay structures according to gender. About 15 per cent of the expected 9,000 affected firms have already published these details ahead of the April 2018 deadline. Their data underlines what women have known for years: that where all things are equal, 74 per cent of firms still pay men more than women.
Interestingly, a few firms — 197 to be exact — pay women more, but the disparity between men and women’s wages is far lower than the 950 firms who pay men more. Among the worst offenders is Barclays International; the basic pay gap for its investment arm stands at 43 per cent. Their high street branch staff fare much better, with the gap between men and women’s pay at 14 per cent.
Travel giant TUI is another major culprit for gender discrimination. Their declaration showed that women based at its TUI Airways UK unit earn on average over 50 per cent less in hourly pay than men. At their head office, while 62 per cent of 3,308 staff are women, men are more likely to have better-paid jobs in senior management, and be employed in key departments such as engineering or technology.
The BBC, M&S and the UK’s largest charity, the Wellcome Trust, are all also guilty of paying men far more than women. One firm which took immediate steps to rectify the situation was easyJet, where the pay gap in some sections of its business is as high as 51 per cent. CEO Johan Lundgren voluntarily opted to take a £34,000 pay cut to match the salary of his predecessor, Carolyn McCall.
Over in Turkey, we know that social pressures mean the battle for many women is not over pay, but even getting a job at all. According to a story published by the BBC this week, just 34 per cent of women in Turkey work, by far the lowest of the 35 industrialised countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) where the average is 63 per cent.
Turkey currently ranks 130 of 144 in the gender gap index of the World Economic Forum, based on women’s access to health services, educational attainment, economic participation and political empowerment. Yet, according to a study by the consultancy firm McKinsey, if the number of women in the Turkish workforce increased to the OECD average, it could boost the country’s economic output by 20 per cent by the year 2025.
Sadly, political and social pressures for Turkish women to adhere to traditional roles as mothers and homemakers means the challenges for economic emancipation is as hard as ever. The country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made his feelings clear on the issue, describing women who aren’t mothers as “deficient”, urging them to have at least three children and denouncing those who use birth control as guilty of “treason”.
There are, of course, other important social problems that arise from women being financially dependent on their male relatives. Between 2003 and 2010 (when official records stopped counting), the number of reported domestic abuse cases rose by 1,400 per cent. In the last eight years, more than 1,900 females have been murdered, the majority by their partners or ex-partners.
Living in a patriarchal society, where religion and conservative values are used to limit Turkish women’s choices and freedoms, means this horrifying set of statistics is unlikely to decrease any time soon.
Feride Eralp, a women’s rights activist in Turkey, told the BBC that keeping women housebound is a significant factor behind the rise in domestic abuse: “The fact that women don’t have economic freedom is one of the major reasons why they’re unable to get away from violence in their lives.
“The mentality has to change here. From top to bottom, there’s a view that women are unequal by nature and their place is within the family. They’re expected only to be wives and daughters.”
Life may seem infinitely better for women in North Cyprus, but here too there are multiple challenges around sexism and domestic violence. The country is still waiting on its first state safe house and dedicated helpline for victims of abuse. Last year, research consultant Mine Atlı found that one in three women had experienced violence in the home: for them such measures cannot come fast enough.
One promising — and long overdue — development has come over the TRNC’s brothels, euphemistically described as “nightclubs”. As numerous local and international reports have indicated, the TRNC’s 30-plus “nightclubs” are used for prostitution. Even worse, that some of the women involved in sex work at these bars and late-night entertainment spots have been trafficked into the country.
Last week, the Mayor of Lefkoşa Mehmet Harmancı made good on a pledge he first made on International Women’s Day in 2016, closing four “nightclubs” on the outskirts of the capital, which were operating without a licence. He wants them all to be shut down and a newly formed Parliamentary Night Club Commission will surely aid that process.
The club owners are fighting back, though, claiming they are law-abiding businesses that pay millions in tax to the TRNC economy and that many staff, not just the women, will lose jobs if they close. That may be so, but until the TRNC recognises this industry exists and offers vital protection to those operating as sex workers, such jobs are just not worth having.
As we again approach International Women’s Day on Thursday, it is sad that, locally and globally, society still has so far to go on the fundamental rights of women.