How to increase labour force participation of women with children aged between 0-3 years in Türkiye?

Executive Summary

Although being one of the most important determinants of sustainable development, the labour force participation (LFP) rate of women is lower than men in many OECD countries. Female LFP rate in Türkiye is ranked at the bottom of the list, considerably lower than the OECD average. This fact not only leads to less utilization of the country's existing labour force potential, but also has a negative impact on the gender gap in employment. Traditional gender roles accepting child-care as the duty of mothers together with the insufficient parental leave and early childhood care options are listed as main reasons for the low rates of female LFP. In this policy brief the key reasons are examined with the evidences from different studies and reports. Some of the key recommendations are increasing parental leave, increasing quality and quantity of child-care facilities and create new child-care options for children aged 0-3, giving incentives to either parents and employers in order to decrease economic burden of parents for having care service and eliminate reluctance of employers to hire mothers.