Barriers to women's employment and the extent of gender inequality in the labour market in Turkey

• Main Author: Gedikli, Cigdem
• Published: University of East Anglia 2015
• Subjects: 331.4
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.687874

This thesis investigates gender inequalities in employment outcomes in Turkey in the context of low employment rates of women, occupational gender segregation and gender wage differentials. The first empirical chapter of the thesis sheds light on the role of traditional or conservative social norms and culture on women’s employment in Turkey based on the data for the years 1998 and 2008. It provides evidence that traditional and conservative values, increasingly, reduce women’s likelihood of waged employment and they are also associated with an increased probability of women being in the informal segment of the labour market, either as unpaid family workers or informal waged workers. The second substantive chapter of the thesis points to the extent of occupational gender segregation in Turkey. It shows that women are more likely to be employed in lower-paid jobs and in lower ranked occupations, whereas men remain at an advantaged position both in terms of pay levels or the positions of the occupations they hold in the social hierarchy. The final empirical analysis of the thesis investigates the gender wage gap in Turkey and its evolution between 2002 and 2012. The results present a positive selection into employment for women, indicating that a small portion of women who are in waged work are actually those who have higher productivity levels than average. The thesis, therefore, argues that the relatively low gender wage gap figures for Turkey can be misleading and should be interpreted cautiously. Moreover, although women appear to earn more than men after the 40th quantile, they are still at a disadvantaged position as the labour market does not reward them to the same extent as men. The unfavourable situation of women with high earnings potential is found to be more pronounced in 2012.