GYİAD will say ‘stop’ to gender inequality in the business world through the Equality Act
Young Executives and Business People Association (GYİAD) launched its Equality Act headed by the Women Working Group. During the event held on October 3, the details of Equality Act aiming to enable the women to be more active in the business life and to contribute Turkey for walking to the future with equal steps were shared at the event and Equality Time movie was introduced.
World is transforming rapidly. This transformation contributes to the reduce in equality between the genders with the effect of the technology and science. However, unfortunately, the participation of women in the economic and political life is not as rapid as expected. In fact, when the women forming the half of the society placed in the economic and social life and the decision taking mechanisms, social development is accelerated and transformation starts to realize. Moreover, the economic development requires the equal representation of the women and men. When the women and men use the resources and opportunities equally, the social and economic development grows. Having more women in the business world creates great differences.
The women see the world in a different manner than the men and this special perspective inspires the transformation of the society.
When looked at June 2018 data of TÜİK, the employment participation rate shows an increase of 0,4 percent compared to the previous year. However, when looked at women and men balance, employment participation rate of the men is 73.4 percent and the employment rate is 67 percent, while the employment participation rate of the women is 34.6 percent and the employment rate is 30.1 percent.
Women should be equal in employment, management and in all areas
Among the most established non-governmental organizations of Turkish business world, the Young Executives and Business People Association (GYİAD) activated the Equality Act project to draw more attention to this important issue and to be a solution. The Equality Act aims to ensure equal representation of men and women in business life, to ensure equal and fair use of resources and opportunities, to participate equally in decision-making processes and to have equal pay and benefits. A film was also prepared to increase the impact of the project and enable it to reach a wider audience. The film ‘Equality Time’, which includes leading names of art and sports in addition to the business world, can be viewed online and in cinemas. GYİAD Board Chairman Yiğit Savcı, GYİAD Board Vice Chairman İlkay Demirdağ, TÜSİAD Board Chairman Erol Bilecik, Akkök Holding Board Member and Chief Executive Officer Ahmet Cemal Dördüncü, chief Arda Türkmen, author and broadcaster Aslı Şafak, journalist and sports commenter Banu Yelkovan, Aksoy Holding CEO and Vice Chairman Batu Aksoy, Atlantic Council Turkey Representative and Turkey Program Executive Director Defne Sadıklar Arslan, Arıkanlı Holding and its Affiliates Company Partner Ebru Arıkan, Limak Yatırım Board Chairman Ebru Özdemir, Attorney Ece Güner Toprak, Nef Board Chairman Erden Timur, NG Kütahya Seramik Board Chairman Erkan Güral, Big Chefs Co-Founder & CEO Gamze Cizreli, actress Gökçe Bahadır, Denizbank Financial Services Group CEO Hakan Ateş, actor Mert Fırat, Fina and Fiba Holding Board Member Murat Özyeğin, Turkish National Volleyball Player Neslihan Demir Güler, actor Ozan Güven, Zess International Co-Founder and Zhaojia Technology International Independent Board Member Sevdil Yıldırım, Procter & Gamble Turkey and Caucasian Board Chairman Tankut Turnaoğlu take role in the film.
“We took the transforming power of women into the center”
Speaking at the meeting where the Equality Act was introduced, Yiğit Savcı, Chairman of GYİAD, said, “As the 16th Term Board of Directors of GYİAD, we have gathered all our activities under the vision of ‘Transformation. For us, ‘Transformation’ is a road map that starts from the individual, increases the area of influence with the corporations, and is ultimately expected to spread to the whole society. As we set out on this path, we identified a different title for each layer and decided to produce projects that would contribute to transformation through the focus of women, digitalization and art. While working on these three headings, which we call our Transformation Working Groups, we have centered the transforming power of women because the woman is in fact a very serious driver of the transformation of the individual in the elementary family.
We care about gender equality. We started with ourselves. When I became the chairman, I paid great sensitivity to this issue and determined that half of our list would be made up of female members and half of them would be from male members. We changed the name of our Association from "Young Executives and Businessmen Association” to “Young Executives and Business People Association”. We say that women are strongly present both in the employment and at management levels, as well as in equal employments with equal wages, in promotions, and they always have to be present. Under all conditions, we say that men and women are equal in business life and so we are launching the Equality Act. ”
“The perspective on women sets the future of all societies”
İlkay Demirdağ, the Chairman of GYİAD Women Working Group, talked about the starting point of Equality Act in her speech: “Women are the half of society, the key to development and the lifeblood of the economy. For strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive development; women owning the right place in working life, active participation in the workforce and having a say in management have a key role. Because the perspective on women sets the future of the entire society. That is why we need to grow stronger for our dreams and to walk the future with equal steps! Because without equality, societies cannot transform. That is why, as GYİAD, we are launching the ‘Equality Act’ headed by our Women Working Group in order to create a common standing, discourse and action plan for achieving gender equality in the business world.”
The night to which many people from the arts, sports and business world attended ended with the presentation of their plaques and closing speech.