Indicators of Target 4

9. Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education

10. Ratio of literate women to men in the 15-24 age group

11. Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector

Status and Trends

None of the Millennium Development Goals, which form the fundamental structure of global development, can be considered independently of one another; gender equality is not only one of these, but also plays an important role in the achievement of the other seven goals. The fundamental view on gender includes all policies, programs, administrative and financial activities of gender equality and their organizational processes, and is in the form of a strategy contributing to comprehensive institutional transition. The target is, by 2015 at the latest, to ensure equality in gender in all fields, and thus promote the empowerment of women by providing education at various levels for both sexes and having women participate in the non-agricultural workforce and administration.

Target 4: Eliminate Gender Disparity in Primary and Secondary Education, Preferably by 2005, and at all Levels of Education no Later than 2015

Indicator 9: Ratio of Girls to Boys in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education

Table 8a: Ratio of Girls to Boys in Primary School and Primary Education Table 8a. Ratio of Girls to Boys in Primary School and Primary Education

Source: SIS, Educational Statistics
(*) Statistics for 2003 and 2004 are provisional.
(**) The statistics between 1990-1996 were calculated with the data for 5 years primary school plus 3 years secondary school
(***) The 5-year compulsory primary education was extended to 8 years in 1997

Between 1990 and 1996, the ratio of girls to boys in primary school was almost stable at around 94%. Following the switch to eight-years of compulsory education, the ratio of girls declined from 93.84% to 85.77%. This decrease was a result of the significantly fewer girls who were attending the 6th, 7th and 8th grades. However, between 1997 and 2001, the ratio of girls to boys in primary education was dynamic. In a five-year period the proportion of girls in primary education had increased from 85.77% to 92.96%. Expansion of compulsory education had an impact on these rates. Turkey has almost reached its goal of eliminating gender disparity in primary school education.

Table 8b: Ratio of Girls to Boys in Secondary Education

Source: SIS, National Education Statistics
(*) Statistics for 2003 are provisional.

The gender ratio indicator for primary and secondary education shows that there are fewer girls than boys in the education system in Turkey in both primary and secondary education. Despite compulsory primary education, the 7% non-enrollment ratio of girls indicates a problem in this area. The increase in the number of girls continuing on to secondary school over time has remained low. Considering the young age structure and the size of the population the share of girls not taking part in secondary education is striking for the country, and the need for progress in this area is evident. Moreover, since the indicator is inherently based on enrollment information rather than graduation, it does not give a clear idea about what percentage of the girls who are currently enrolled in secondary school, and who account for a little more than three-quarters of their cohorts, will actually end up completing their secondary education.

Table 8c: Ratio of Girls to Boys in Tertiary Education

Source: SIS, National Education Statistics
(*) Statistics for 2003 are provisional.

Higher education for women is also positively related to women's participation in labor in the Turkish context. The participation of women with higher education in the labor force is 69.2% (General Directorate of the Status and the Problems of Women - GDSW, 2001:79), compared to 39.4% for technical and vocational high school graduates and 30.8% for general high school graduates.

Indicator 10: Ratio of Literate Women to Men in the 15-24 Age Group

Although there has been a significant increase in overall literacy as well as women's literacy in Turkey over the years, illiteracy, particularly in the adult population, has not disappeared entirely from the list of concerns. In 2000, 19.4% of women and 6.1% of men were illiterate, and the overall literacy rate for the country was 87.3% (SIS 2003).

Moreover, although the overall increase in female literacy has been impressive and more rapid than that of male literacy throughout the years, the decline in the adult women's illiteracy rate s has not been equally rapid or clear when compared to men's. In fact, in the last decade (1990-2000), reversals and short-term inconsistencies in this trend have also been observed. Currently, the gap between adult male and female illiteracy continues to be nearly as high as in the early years of the last decade (Table 9).

Table 9: Ratio of Literate Women to Men in the 15-24 Age Group (*)

Source: SIS, Household Labor Force Survey
(*) Revised results

Figure 1: Ratio of Literate Females to Males (%) (In 15-24 Age Group)

In Turkey, a census is conducted every five years. During the intervening years, data can be produced on a regular basis from household surveys for some regions. The ratio of the literate population in Turkey has shown a continuous increase, but the gender gap has not been eliminated and women's educational levels have fallen behind. In the 65-year period between 1935 and 2000, the proportion of literate men increased from 29% to 94%, and the proportion of literate women increased from 10% to 81%. Even though the ratio of literate women shows a sharper increase than that of men, the gender difference has endured (SIS, 2003). When the gender ratio in literacy is traced for the young age group alone, an improvement in the situation across Turkey is noted - there are 96 literate women for every 100 literate men in the 15-24 age group. However, it should not be overlooked that the indicator carries some risk of subjectivity, because it is based on the individuals' self-evaluation and their reluctance to admit their illiteracy may be artificially raising the value.

Indicator 11: Share of Women in Waged Employment in the Non-Agricultural Sectors

This indicator shows the extent of women's participation in the non-agricultural work force and their contribution to the economic and social life relative to men. Even though the indicator provides proportional information about the sector women work in, it is only meaningful when supported by other information. The indicator would be more functional if it represented the proportion of women who participate in non-agricultural waged employment, branches of work in which women are more involved and the comparison of wage levels of women in the same branches of work as men.

Table 10: Share of Women in Waged Employment in the Non-Agricultural Sectors 

Source: SIS, Household Labor Force Survey (Revised Results)
(*): Share of women in waged employment for all sectors

Figure 2: Share of Women in Waged Employment in the Non-Agricultural Sectors 

Indicator 12: Proportion of Seats Held by Women in the National Parliament

The participation of women in the political decision-making mechanism is one of the crucial elements of a democracy. However, Turkey is still far from being able to claim gender equality in politics, where there is a major problem of gender representation. Although the proportion of women in the Turkish Grand National Assembly has more than doubled from 1.8 to 4.4 within 12 years, women currently hold only 24 seats in the 550-member parliament.

Table 11: Proportion of Seats Held by Women in the National Parliament

Source: Turkish Grand National Assembly

Women are grossly under-represented in political decision-making in Turkey. Considering the ratios of women representatives in parliaments around the world, Turkey ranks 96th among 175 countries (Source: UNDP, 2003). The current female political representation, both at the parliamentary level (4.4%) and at the local level (less than 2%) remains below the average for European, American, Pacific and African countries. The low level of women's participation in national politics is even more significant when compared to their participation rate in professional jobs (33.9%), in public office (17%) and as managers (11.5%).

Figure 3: Proportion of Seats Held by Women in the National Parliament

Relevant Policies

The Turkish Constitution and other laws guarantee formal legal equality between men and women. The Turkish Civil Code enacted in December 2001 eliminated the remaining discriminatory provisions and strengthened gender equality.

The establishment of gender-sensitive and gender-balanced legislation is an important step in the continuous struggle against cultural conservatism and sexist prejudices. Each new measure in favor of equality encourages a total change in habits and attitudes. It is only with such a progressive legal approach that women will be able to play on an equal footing with men. To achieve equality in the family, at work, in the political and civil rights arenas, and in social and cultural life, the primary strategy is the definition and implementation of the principle of equal rights and opportunities for both sexes.

Turkey has taken an important step in compulsory education. The duration of compulsory education, which was five years up until 1997, was raised to eight years with new legislation during the 1997-1998 period. The primary schooling gender ratio, which was around 94% until this legal change, showed a decline with the transition to eight years of primary education, but again started to increase as of 2000.

Regarding women's participation in the decision-making mechanisms the Local Agenda 21 Program provides for the establishment of Women Councils and Platforms, which are effective tools for ensuring women's participation in the city life and local decision-making mechanisms through empowering and enabling women with capacity-building activities, employment oriented training and awareness raising campaigns. At present, in 46 cities such women's activities have been carried out, and in 22 of those cities Women 's Councils have been established.

Under the "Conditional Cash Transfer" component of the Social Risk Mitigation Project, the payments for children who can not afford to attend to school, and children aged 0-6 who cannot get regular health service care are made to the mothers; and under the CCT female students take more financial payment than males so as to enhance the participatory role of women.  

Benchmarks and Monitoring Capabilities

Information on the number of students in primary and secondary education needs to be collected separately in order to have reliable estimates of enrollment ratios. A mechanism should also be established to ensure a regular flow of data from the Population Administration so that the number of children of primary and secondary school age can be accurately estimated even during non-census years. With this data at hand it would also be possible to compare the information from the census with the estimates based on population projections.

The literacy rate of the 15-24 age group in Turkey and information based on gender are obtained through censuses and the publications of the State Institute of Statistics. This information is produced for the smallest administrative units and the socio-economic groups covered in the census. However, the data on literacy is obtained from censuses by asking a question on the level of education, and this is not compatible with international standards.

Targets and Indicators

Monitoring Capability

Challenges

The statistics underline the significant difficulties in Turkey faced by women in ensuring their right to education. The reasons for this situation at the primary education level have been analyzed in the literature. The causes were identified as problems and limitations stemming from economic constraints, cultural norms and religious beliefs.

As was discussed under Goal 2, "cost of schooling" was cited in a recent study based on the 1999 Child Labor Statistics of SIS as the primary reason for women's non-enrollment in education in general (26%), which rises sharply for urban areas (30.2%). Economic factors impact negatively on the enrollment rates of both girls and boys in urban areas, whereas in rural areas, "lack of interest in school" is given as the primary reason. In rural areas, the non-enrollment of girls is attributed to family obligations and values, whereas in urban settings cost is the leading factor. In the highest socio-economic status category, 96.4% of both sexes are recorded as attending school (DGSW, 2002:26).

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