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A bell-ringing ceremony was held at Borsa İstanbul on March 8, 2017 with the participation of the UN Global Compact, United Nations Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Unit (UN Women), World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), Women in Exchange Traded Funds, Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (SSE) and a World Bank Group corporation International Finance Corporation (IFC) in order to invite the business world to improve gender equality and support the empowerment of women economically.
At the ceremony, Minister of Family and Social Policies of the Republic of Turkey H.E. Dr. Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya said, “Our target for 2023 is to increase female employment rate to 41%”.
40 Stock Exchanges from all over the world, including Borsa İstanbul, are hosting bell-ringing ceremonies in the first week of March.
In order to raise awareness on the importance of gender equality and empowerment of women economically for the business world and sustainable development, UN Global Compact, United Nations Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Unit (UN Women), World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), Women in ETFs, Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (SSE) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) have jointly organized events under the title “Ring the Bell for Equality” at stock exchanges of the world during the first week of March since 2015, prior to the International Women’s Day.
This year, 40 stock exchanges from all over the world, from Australia to Toronto, and from London to Hong Kong host bell-ringing ceremonies.
A founding member of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (SSE), Borsa İstanbul hosted the bell-ringing ceremony in 2017 for the third time. Minister of Family and Social Policies of the Republic of Turkey H.E. Dr. Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya; Borsa İstanbul Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee Himmet Karadağ; İman Ali and her daughter Revan Ali, who formerly lived in Damascus and were forced to migrate to Jordan and then to Turkey following the bombing by Russia; UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Representative to Turkey Ingibjörg Solrun Gísladóttir; IFC Turkey Director Aisha Williams, Global Compact Türkiye Chairperson Mustafa Seçkin, SUTEKS Group CEO and WEPs Business Advocate Nur Ger; and master of ceremonies Jülide Ateş rang the bell for gender equality.
Dr. Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya: “Our target for 2023 is to increase female employment rate to 41%”.
Minister of Family and Social Policies of the Republic of Turkey H.E. Dr. Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya said, “In order to allow women to take a more active role in the economy, politics and decision-making mechanisms, we introduced positive discrimination both in the government and the Ministry. Through incentives, we ensure that women take a stronger place in the business world. The female participation in the work force has increased to over 33%. Our target for 2023 is to increase female employment rate to 41%”. Kaya stated that women showed to the world on July 15 that women are the guarantee for democracy and freedom and went on to say, “I would like to dedicate this International Women’s Day to all female martyrs and survivors. We will never forget them. They are the real heroes of the International Women’s Day”.
Kaya said that they ring Borsa İstanbul’s opening-bell for women, gender equality and justice, adding, “I do hope that the whole world, from the East to West, hears this sound. Let this sound be the voice of woman entrepreneurs, woman workers. Let it be the voice of labor and justice. And let it be the voice of our self-sacrificing women and mothers whose husbands or sons were martyred for their country”.
Karadağ: “A country cannot develop without equal opportunities”
Borsa İstanbul Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee Himmet Karadağ, host of the opening-bell ceremony for gender equality, said, “While we are working to ensure justice and equality for all our women in every area from social life to health, and from education to business life, I would like to draw attention to the importance of one point. All this effort must never be evaluated as a favor or a one-sided benefit. On the contrary, all the steps taken are for our country and for all of us since it is not possible for a country to develop without social justice and equal opportunities. Within this framework, it is very important to strengthen the existence of ladies in every area of life. Especially, ensuring equal opportunities in business life and increasing their participation in the work force does not only mean accepting their rights, but also investing in the future of our country. As Borsa İstanbul, we will continue to support every project that focuses on equal opportunities and to cooperate with our stakeholders. We will continue to contribute to practices that will add to the awareness on the side of our companies and investors”.
UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Representative to Turkey Ingibjörg Solrun Gísladóttir said, “Turkish women perform the longest hours of unpaid care work in the OECD. Consequently, labour force participation rate becomes the lowest! The unpaid care work burden is perhaps the biggest obstacle to their participation in the economy as paid workers with secure and productive employment. So we all really need to support the building of a social infrastructure of care both to reduce women’s unpaid domestic and care work, so they can participate in labour markets, and also to create decent jobs for women.”
IFC Turkey Director Aisha Williams said, “Globally, companies with gender diversity perform better in terms of corporate governance and are generally more competitive, innovative, and sturdy. Today, we see numerous countries lose a significant part of their work force and potential due to gender inequality. IFC cooperates with more than 1,000 financial institutions globally to ensure gender equality in the private sector, supporting female entrepreneurs and participation of women in the work force”.
Global Compact Türkiye Chairperson Mustafa Seçkin said in his speech, “Ensuring that women take a larger place in every part of the society and every phase of the working life means a fairer and more sustainable development and stronger economy. Therefore, we say #eşitlikkazandırır# (#equalitymeansbusiness).
SUTEKS Group CEO and WEPs Business Advocate Nur Ger said, “When we look at the history, we see no inequality has been settled in a short time. Therefore, I don’t buy the equality that, according to research, will come in 170 years.” Ger added that social gender equality is not a matter of social responsibility but economy, and that the 7 signatories of WEPs are well aware of this.
74 Companies sign Women Empowerment Principles
Following the ceremony, which is a part of the call of UN Women Unit “Target: Gender Equality until 2030: Take Action” to all UN member countries to speed up the gender equality endeavors, improve the women’s and young girls’ rights, and ensure gender equality by 2030, the new signatories of Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) was announced and the 74 new signatories were congratulated.
“Women Empowerment Principles” (WEPs) is one of the most important global initiatives of the private sector aimed at empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors and throughout all levels of economic activity. The Women’s Empowerment Principles Platform is the product of the collaboration that was established in 2010 between UN Women and the UN Global Compact and offers the private sector the key points that they must take into consideration for gender equality in work places, markets and in the society in general. WEPs requests business world leaders to clearly guarantee 7 principles toward creating company policies that will enhance social gender equality.
At the ceremony, Minister of Family and Social Policies of the Republic of Turkey H.E. Dr. Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya presented a gift to Jale Usta, a survivor of the July 15 coup attempt, while Borsa İstanbul Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee Himmet Karadağ presented gifts to İman and Revan Ali.
