Capital / Gender Equality Survey

Scientific research shows that the poverty is likely to be 1.5 times, autocratic and corrupt power is likely to be 3.5 times, and violence is likely to be 1.6 times higher in countries with low status of women. According to experts, women's participation in workforce and economic decision-making bodies in industry, technology, etc. plays an important role in sustainability for every country. In Turkey, women's workforce and brain power are concentrated in the service industry sectors, which are considered as "women's jobs". There is an increase in the number of companies utilizing women's workforce equally in textile, automotive, food and energy industries, where Turkey is the strongest in production.

The business world has the power to transform society with its share in women's employment, value chains spanning wide geographies and its capability to reach large groups of people. Being aware of this power, Turkey's largest companies set goals for gender equality in the business world, from production to technology, and make efforts to achieve further improvement every year. This year, we have carried out the survey of "Women Friendly Companies", which we, as Capital Magazine, have been publishing since 2012, for the 10th time. The survey focuses on the employment of female employees, female executives and female board members in the largest companies of Turkey, and this year, for the first time, we took a deeper look into the women's workforce in the industry. We have shown the path followed by the industry giants in service industry sectors, which are considered as "women's jobs", in order to achieve their goals on gender equality to which they pay particular importance.

PERCENTAGE IN THE SECTOR REMAINS THE SAME

This year, no industrial companies are listed among the top 25 companies in the survey of “Women Friendly Companies for 2022” which we published on the basis of data on female employees obtained at the end of 2021. Consisting of retail, hospital, banking, education, call center and logistics, service industry sectors stand out as the sectors which provide the most opportunities for women's employment. Thanks to more than 32 thousand female employees, LC Waikiki maintains its position as leader in this field in Turkey. Hande Ozdagdeviren, HR Director at Headquarters of LC Waikiki, states that the number of employees involved in production reached 154 thousand at LC Waikiki, a company that also undertakes production activities, within the country, together with their sub-suppliers. Ozdagdeviren said, “Our female employees make up 73 thousand of it, which amounts to nearly half of it.” LC Waikiki is the leader not only in women's employment but also in supply chain. Stating that they have brought the project “Guclu Kadin, Guclu Toplum, Guclu Turkiye" (Strong Women, Strong Society, Strong Turkey) into life for 73 thousand female employees serving for more than 1.200 manufacturers across Turkey, Ozdagdeviren added, “Thanks to this project, we have already reduced the dismissal percentage of women from 24 to 17.". Burak Ovunc, the CEO of FLO Magazacilik, said, “In 2022, we have achieved an increase of 17% in women's employment in our factories and a total of 12% in our headquarters, stores and factories, compared to last year.”

WOMEN LEADERS STEER THE SHIP

Based on the data for 2021, LC Waikiki also hits the top among the companies where women leaders have a voice. It is followed by Migros and Isbank. Olcay Yılmaz Nomak, the Deputy General Manager Responsible for Human Resources and Industrial Relations at Migros, states that equality is the most important item in their agenda. Adding that their female manager percentage of 30% is well above the sector, Nomak said, "We aim to increase it to 35% by 2027." Anadolu Efes, one of the companies that stand out with its percentage of female managers, also maintains its focus on gender equality. The human resources policy of the company requires interviewing with a female candidate for each position. For succession of manager and higher positions, it sets and monitors goals on female representation, Elif Atesok Satiroglu, the Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Boyner Group, said, “Women make up 60% of our executive board. Our percentage of female managers in the head offices is 46%, and our percentage of female employees among head office employees is 47%. Our percentage of female employees and female managers is above world standards. We also make efforts to raise awareness on gender equality with our stakeholders.”

THOSE WHO GO BEYOND EQUALITY

The percentage of women on the boards of directors is very limited in Turkish business world. It is also the same in the world. The boards of directors of the largest 200 companies in the world are made up of only 15 women, compared to 85 men. On the other hand, there are also companies, which prove that it is possible to go “beyond equality” on their boards of directors. Sun Tekstil, Alishan Logistics and Philips Turkey stand out as the leading companies in this respect with their female percentage on the board of directors. Elvan Unluturk, the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors at Sun Tekstil, stated that the female percentage on the board of directors of Sun Tekstil is 83%, and added, “It is 5 times higher than other publicly traded companies in our country. 5 out of 6 members on our board of directors are women. At Sun Tekstil, 64% of the managers and 69% of all employees are women. It clearly demonstrates the importance we attach to gender equality.” Sema Gural Surmeli, the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Kutahya Porselen, said, “We adopt a sustainable women's employment policy and we have brought several projects into life to increase women's employment in production in recent years. In addition to female predominance on our boards of directors, only women serve in every unit of our logistic facility, which operates within the organization of NG Group, from loading to logistics, from forklift handling to packaging.”

WOMEN'S POWER IN INDUSTRY

Numerous studies show that women's participation in workforce and increased diversity in different fields will contribute to the economy. Nihan Alhan, the Deputy General Manager of Human, Corporate Development, Environment and Sustainability at Borusan Mannesmann, said, “We have set goals to increase the number of women working in production. Our project 'Burasi Esitlik Sahasi' (This is the Field of Equality), which we have brought into life to ensure women's participation in professional life, still runs. Increasing the number of female engineers working in production is one of our goals." Esra Boduroglu, the Human Resources Leader at Mondelez International Turkey, states that they give priority to female candidates during recruitment for production. Boduroglu added, “As part of our career development and succession plans, we establish actions to ensure women's participation in top positions in production. We put forward and promote success stories.” Mey|Diageo carries out production in 7 plants. Expressing the great importance they attach to improvement of diversity and inclusion, Levent Komur, the General Manager of Mey|Diageo said, “It is possible for our female employees in production to be assigned to any position up to the level of supply chain director.” Ugur Ayaydin, the General Manager of Ipekyol-Twist-Machka, said, “It is very important to ensure women's access to equal educational opportunities and rights, and to combat negative stereotypes and judgments with respect to the roles and responsibilities of women. Accordingly, we ensure that senior executives provide mentorship to female executive candidates.”

INDUSTRIAL GROUPS SET EXAMPLE

Zorlu is one of the groups consisting of the most important industrial companies in Turkey... This is why it employs thousands of female employees working in production. Omer Yungul, the CEO of Zorlu Holding, stated that gender equality is one of the most important issues they focus on, and added: “We embrace this issue at the senior management level. 95% of our female employees serves in production, while 5% serves in the service sector. 62% of our female managers serves in production, while 38% serves in the service sector. We promise to set an example to the business world in this respect with an effective corporate leadership.” Zeynep Bodur Okyay, the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Kale Group, said, “Our female employee percentage of 20% is above the industry average in every field we operate in, but we still have a long way to go. We want well-educated, young women to play an active role in business life and to aspire to become an industrialist. We make special efforts to ensure women's participation, especially in our technical group companies, and we give priority to female engineers during recruitment.”