WOMEN BRIDGING GLASS CLIFF: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GENDER EQUALITY IN WORKING LIFE

Women Bridging Glass Cliff: International Conference on Gender Equality in Working Life, the fourth basic component of our SAGE in Work project, was held on November 15, 2019 at Galatasaray University, Aydın Doğan Hall.

This conference created a platform to gather European and Turkish business and professional women with ministries, universities, municipalities and CSOs; and helped to establish and/or improve networks, exchange experiences, build new partnerships and develop common strategies to cope with inequalities. We organized the conference within the scope of the project to come together with local and foreign specialist speakers for finding a common approach to increase our rank in gender equality indices and to take a step further to acquire and create awareness and insight about gender equality in work life. During the conference we analyzed gender equality in work life in terms of opportunity, income and power, we shared good practices, experiences and stories with both those Turkish people known for their studies regarding gender equality and speakers from the most gender-equal countries that constitute the best examples in the world in terms of economic and political participation, and gained clues about their successful fighting practices.

Women Bridging Glass Cliff Conference started with registration and welcoming at 9:00 on November 15, 2019 and a successful organization was accomplished with 6 European, 11 Turkish speakers and panelists, 2 governmental representatives, 2 moderators as well as 240 attendants.

The work of the project team on the conference started in February; it took months to set the date, determine the conference hall, create the agenda, list and invite the possible local and foreign speakers, decide on an organization firm with which we will hold the conference together.

As a result of its researches, the project team carried out preliminary meetings with approximately 10 organization firms, mutual meetings were planned with six of them. We shared the specification documents introducing the project briefly, describing the objectives and targets of the conference and our expectations, with firms prior to the meetings. As a result of the meetings, we decided to work with the firms Node Mice for conference organization, and with Brand&More İletişim Danışmanlık for management of the press and public relations aspects of the project and conference.

Node Mice has undertaken planning the travel and transfer of our national and international speakers, all technical and administrative infrastructure for completion of the conference without deficiency, hall arrangement, simultaneous translation, sound and video recording, and organization of the treats. Frequently coming together with the project team, it successfully implemented the decisions made together. Brand&More ensured us that high visibility will be achieved in newspaper, magazine and internet mediums by carrying out a successful promotion campaign with the press meeting held before the conference, and prepared press releases and made interviews during and after the conference.

The conference agenda was planned to include both key-note speakers and panelists to allow the speakers to share their experiences in the best possible way and to deepen the discussion with questions and answers.

Our member Emine Erdem, who has served as Vice President of the Soroptimist International of Europe (SIE), contacted the representatives of those countries whose experiences in the context of equality can be taken as an example among SIE member countries. Iceland, which has been in the first place for more than a decade in the gender equality rankings; Rwanda, having the highest representation of women in the world in terms of political participation; Denmark, standing out with its parental leave practices; and SIE’s President, Vice President, President Elect, and Special Assignment Advocacy, accepted our invitation.

Prof. Dr. İnci Erdem carried out a diligent work with the local speakers of the agenda. She undertook invitation of successful women especially from science, engineering, technology (STEM) fields, who have strongly bridged the gender gap, and male speakers, whom we thought that they could convey the inequality in business life from men’s eyes. Our Association President Melek Sine Berkem specially invited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Family and Social Policies, European Union Delegation, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for the opening speeches, and the executives of district municipalities and representatives of various CSOs for attendance. Around a thousand Soroptimists in Turkey and all KAGİDER members were invited to our conference. While we had targeted to call 400 people in average so as to reach at least 80 attendees, we invited thousands of people, and ensured thousands of women get aware of the conference by means of press and social media.

The presentation and reflections of the conference at home and abroad had results beyond expectations. A doctoral student from France requested the speech summaries. Statements of our speakers who honoured the Women Bridging Glass Cliff: International Conference on Gender Equality in Working Life with their precious contributions, the statements of whom found a place on national media, were significant cornerstones for our project to achieve its targets. 

Melek Berkem: “Turkey ranks 130th among 149 countries.” Delivering the opening speech of the Equality in Work conference, Melek Berkem, President of Association of Business and Professional Women of Etiler Soroptimist Club, stated: “As the Association of Business and Professional Women of Etiler Soroptimist Club, we have put our signature on projects with the aim to improve the lives of women and young girls, make a difference and influence the national and international domains for 30 years. Today, at our Equality Conference at Galatasaray University, we plan to determine a road map with expert national and international speakers by examining gender equality in business life on the basis of opportunities, income and power. We are aiming to create awareness with our conference so that our country which unfortunately ranks 130th among 149 countries in the gender inequality ranking of the World Economic Forum, to rise to the upper places in the gender equality ranking.”

Paolo Scialla: “The glass ceiling must be broken.” Paolo Scialla, Deputy Head of Civil Society, Fundamental Rights, Judiciary and Internal Affairs Department of European Union Turkey Delegation, stated: “As the EU, we provide financial support for women’s education in Turkey, equality of political power rights, increase of participation in business life, and prevention of all kinds of violence. We believe that the glass ceiling must be broken. The EU undertakes important effort for participation of women in the labour force. Pecuniary support was provided to families through the projects involving child care in Turkey. We cooperated with many CSOs through or project aimed at preventing violence.”

Z. Gül Üstün: “One cannot fly with one wing.” Mentioning the targets of SAGE in Work project, Project Director Z. Gül Üstün stated: “Within the scope of our project, we implemented the ChangEquality University Activities, ChangEquality Ambassadors’ Programme, Mentorship Programme and Conference. Through our project, we aim to contribute to the endeavors to ensure gender equality in our country, increase awareness, change the gender stereotypes, equip the young with such skills to fight against discrimination, increase the participation and endurance in business life. We wish to tell everyone that one cannot fly with one wing.”

Emine Erdem: “More equality means more productivity.” Expressing that they have been working for 17 years with the dream of a world where women and men are equal, Emine Erdem, President of Women Entrepreneurs Association (KAGİDER), stated: “As we all know, women and men still cannot reach equal opportunities in the world. It is estimated that a growth of 12-28 trillion dollars will be realized in 2025 with the increase in the participation of women in the global economy. It is envisaged that the world economy will grow by 26% especially with the rate of participation of women in labour force reaching the equality level. Today, productivity increases by 3% to 25% when women get involved in the industries with mandominated production. Today, we exactly know that, more equality means more productivity.” 

Ufuk Tarhan: “Only Techno- Women can solve the inequality and non-diversity.” Futurist and economist Ufuk Tarhan, who is among the most influential female futurists of the world: “Shortage of women in science and technology underlies nearly all problems of the world. The chaotic situation that our world was pushed into by the systems developed with resources which are dominated by men’s mind and lacking women’s capabilities’ in sociological, ecological, political and economic terms is evident. We are in an age where even biology can be converted to digital, and women still have almost no say in science technology. If we proceed to 2050s without achieving equality between man and women, our dreams of flying cars, artificial-intelligent assistants, holograms, vertical farms, continuous travels to the Moon and Mars, never-ending energy resources, might be realized. However, we would have created a world that is much more unhappy, unhealthy than today. All countries, and Turkey which has a special importance especially with its young population, should channelize their resources towards girls, young-old women, to learn science and technology and to advance in these fields, declare mobilization to that effect.”

Hafdis Karlsdottir: “Although we are the most equal country in the world, we are still struggling for women to achieve full equality.” In her speech that she supported with a short inspiring documentary, Hafdis Karlsdottir, General Secretary of the Soroptimist International of Europe, stated: : “Gender equality does not become real by itself. We, the women, must put forth actions, solidarity and political will until full equality is achieved. One of the main reasons for the economic growth achieved in Iceland in the last 60 years is the increase of participation of women in labour force. Today, 78% of the women are part of the labour force. 38% of the parliamentarians, 47% of the municipal governments, 2 of every 3 university students are women. Child care, strong health system and parental leave have an important role in participation of women in business life in my country, which has been ranking 1st for the last decade in the Global Gender Equality Index. We need to emphasize at every point of the world that gender equality is a smart task.”

Appoline Kangabire: “Women were at the forefront in the social and economic transformation of Rwanda.” Appoline Kangabire, Rwanda Soroptimist Governor, one of the well-known names of the women’s movement in Rwanda, stated: “The genocide suffered in Rwanda in 1994 devastated the country in economic, political and social terms. Hundred thousands of people were victims of genocide. Women and children suffered the pain of savagery for years. The greatest success achieved since 1994 was that Rwandan women were at the forefront in the social and economic transformation of our country rather than playing the hopeless and the victim. Rwanda positioned the gender equality and women’s empowerment as the key development factor. Also, an extraordinary model was established to address the gender-based violence cases in Rwanda. 44 Isange One Stop Center provides free service on 7 days - 24 hours’ basis to the women exposed to violence and child abuse victims. Medical care, psycho-social support, legal services and aid services are offered at the centers.”

Elisabeth Nyadwe: “Little steps taken in favour of women in the political arena also triggered gender sensitivity in the workplaces.” Elisabeth Nyadwe, Soroptimist International of Europe Advocacy Special Representative, who also conveyed, during the conference, the successful examples concerning gender equality in Kenya, stated: “Women held 172 of the 1,883 elected chairs following the 2013 elections. In 2017 elections, women were elected as governor and senator for the first time in the history of Kenya. These little steps taken in the political arena triggered gender sensitivity in the workplaces.”

Press Meeting

For introduction of our project and mainly of our conference, we organised a Press Meeting with firm Brand & More İletişim Danışmanlığı on November 6, 2019. Hürriyet Newspaper, Cumhuriyet Newspaper, Yeni Şafak Newspaper, Yeni Çağrı Newspaper, Gözlem Newspaper, Para Magazine, Brand Age Magazine, and Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine attended in the meeting. At the meeting, Melek Sine Berkem and İnci Erdem introduced our association, Gül Üstün communicated the objectives and targets of our project and the information on the conference. Press kits were presented after answering the press representatives’ questions.