İşte Eşitlik

We succeeded to have 333 (98%) completed surveys out of 340 students. Majority of students were female (80%); 266 female and 67 male students replied the surveys. It was remarkable that the majority of the managers and founding members of the student clubs were also women. Numeric results of the activities are listed below.

Table 2. Knowledge Level on Gender Equality

Before

After

%

%

1-4

14.6
3.7

5-8
63.3 25.2

9-10
22.1 71.1

Total

100

100.0

The rate of students who think they have a high level of knowledge (9-10) on gender inequality has increased from 22% to 71% after the activity. Rate of the students thinking that they have moderate knowledge decreased from 63.3% to 25.2%.

Table 3. Gender Equality Awareness Level

Before

After

%

%

1-4
6.7 3.7

5-8 53.9 16.1

9-10 47.3 81.6

Total

100

100

Gender equality awareness level of the students has increased from moderate levels (5-8) to upper levels (9-10). The number of students thinking that they are fully aware has increased by 73% in all students, from 47.3 to 81.6. When we looked at the female students’ rate, realized improvement is much higher; self-expressed awareness level of women was increased from 43% to 84.2% representing 95% increase. Although it was enough to elevate awareness level of students by 20%, we were able to increase awareness level by %73 in general and 95% in female students.

Besides, questions about several indicators concerning gender equality were asked to measure the current basic knowledge of the students. The answers given to some of these questions are summarized below.

Which of the following do you think is related to the gender?

While only 12% of 333 students answering this question expressed that the gender stereotypes can be changed prior to the activity, after the event 33% concluded that it is changeable. The rate of students expressing that gender is an innate personal trait was 9% at the beginning, whereas 97% of the students expressed the opposite after the event.

In your opinion, what is the rank of Turkey in the gender equality indexes?

Turkey ranked at the 130th place among 149 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Gender Gap Index, when this question was asked, among the last 20 countries of the list. Evaluation of pre-tests showed us that the students were not too pessimistic about the extent of gender inequality in our country in terms of numbers. Rate of the students thinking that Turkey is “among the first 50 countries” was 20%. Following the activity, 87% of the students stated Turkey’s rank “among the last 20 countries”.

In your opinion, what is the most important factor in remuneration of the employees?

Gender-based income disparities is simply defined as not receiving equal payment for equal work, and it is very common. According to TURKSTAT, women earn less than men regardless of their educational levels, that annual income of even university graduate women remains around 75% of the income earned by men (Toksöz & Memiş, 2018, p.128). The data of another research demonstrated that gender is the most important distinctive factor in remuneration of the employees (Özkan & Özkan, 2010).

However, gender-based income disparity is over-shadowed due to the fact that wages are generally kept private, and transparent wage policies are not common in corporate culture. This question has been added to the questionnaire as the awareness of the students about wage inequality is important to understand the problem and to find solutions.

Before the activity, students ranked the factors that affect the wage as gender (34%), proximity to the employer (30%) and political view (22%), whereas rate of the students who found gender to be more determinant increased to 65% following the activity.

Thinking of your mother or your other relatives doing housework, how much salary you will offer?

Since labor and time spent by women in house are not recognized in a tangible manner, housework and other free care labor can be perceived as the natural role of women. We asked this question to the students to make care works visible. We wanted to draw their attention to this unpaid labor of women that requires a considerable time and create a barrier against participating in work life, yet it may be lightened if the chores are shared equally.

As we expected, more than 70% of the students offered to their mothers “absolutely more than minimum wage” both before (72%) and after (77%) the activity for their unpaid labor.

What may be the impediments to the participation of female university graduates in the labor force?

The students stated that the first impediment to their participation is “unsupportive behaviors of father, spouse or partner (48%), that “women’s care responsibilities” was in the second place (37%).

What do you think about political representation levels of women?

Under-representation of women in the political field is an important indicator of gender inequality. Although women acquired the right to elect and to be elected in Turkey much before (1930-1934) than in many countries of the world, under-representation is an important problem that still remains. According to the results of the last election (June 2018) held in Turkey, women’s representation in the parliament stood at 17.4%. Only 2 of the existing 16 ministries are woman. As a result of the March 2019 local elections, only 4 (5%) of 81 metropolitan municipalities were elected as women presidents, only 1071 (2%) of 50.157 mukhtarships were won by female candidates.

We observed in nearly all universities that students did not know the representation rates of women were so low and made very optimistic estimations. Distribution of the answers given to this question complied with our observation. In the pre-test, only 30% of the students stated that highest political representation of women was at the parliament. After the activity, this rate increased to approximately 64% with the information gained. Since we covered lack of equal political participation problem in almost all activities, students increased their awareness while proposing solutions.