Equal Pay Day
How career breaks hold women back and how workplace rights can change that
Career breaks for caregiving often come at a high cost for women, limiting promotions, hindering career advancements and widening the gender pay gap. Didem Bakar’s experience shows how easily care responsibilities can lead to workplace discrimination, yet also how strong workplace rights can turn the tide. With the support of the ILO’s Work-Based Learning Programme, she restarted her career, proving that fair opportunities are key to ensuring care work never becomes a career penalty.
17 September 2025
Career continuity, one of the several factors of gender pay gap, refers to the uninterrupted progression of a person’s working life. For many women, however, breaks in employment due to care responsibilities create barriers to promotion and career advancement compared to men.
Didem Bakar experienced firsthand how care responsibilities can lead to workplace discrimination. With the support of the ILO’s Work-Based Learning Programme, she returned to work and learned how workplace rights provide the strongest protection against inequality.
Her story illustrates the importance of creating fair opportunities for women and ensuring that care work does not become a source of disadvantage in their careers.
Work-Based Learning Programme (locally known as İŞMEP) is a part of the project “Promoting Decent Work for Syrians under Temporary Protection and Turkish Citizens”, financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through the KfW Development Bank and implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) Office for Türkiye in coordination with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.