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Gender Equality & Women Empowerment

According to UN Women, gender equality means "equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities for women and men, girls and boys," and as the International Labour Organization (ILO) states, equality should be promoted "in all spheres of life" including the workplace, marketplace, and society.

While there have been various gender equality efforts across sectors and industries, overall progress has been slow. Indeed, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2021, it will take more than 131 years to achieve equality in terms of women's economic empowerment and participation.

According to the WEF’s annual Global Gender Gap Index, which assesses 156 countries and measures gender-based inequalities in different areas, Türkiye ranks 124th in gender equality, and 134th in women’s economic participation and economic opportunities for women  among 156 countries in 2022. These results confirm that gender inequality exists in all areas of life and leads to various problems and challenges for women in the worklife.

Additionally, existing multiple forms of discrimination, such as age, ethnicity, economic and social status, literacy, language, education, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, rural residence, and migration status, further exacerbate the victims of gender equality. Consequently, they are disproportionately and more severely impacted by the adverse effects of business activities.

Challenges faced by women include discrimination in the workplace, less pay for the same work, glass ceiling syndrome, difficulty in accessing justice and remedy mechanisms, workplace harassment and mobbing. For women workers at the bottom of the supply chain, these problems are compounded by informal employment, precarious working conditions, social and economic insecurity, being seen as cheap and flexible labour, and poverty. 

Alongside monitoring and reporting on gender equality, BHRTR works in collaboration with the private sector and civil society to disseminate human rights due diligence (HRDD) activities throughout supply chains to identify risks related to women's rights, and to develop and implement human rights policies and guidelines in line with international standards by adopting a gender sensitive approach.

BHRTR's approach to working with the private sector extends beyond internal company practices and encompasses the supply chains. Within this framework of HRDD practises, priority is given to risk analysis, regular audits and reporting, establishing effective and accessible internal complaint mechanisms, and developing remedial systems to address violations arising from business activities.

Particularly, companies operating in specific sectors such as agriculture and textiles, where women workforce is high, are encouraged to conduct a specialised process addressing women's rights and gender related aspects in the HRDD process. This comprehensive approach emphasises the importance of not only identifying human rights violations but also focusing on specific processes related to women rights, ensuring a more inclusive and equitable approach to HRDD.