Just like the rest of the world, it suffers from the issue of gender inequality. Gender inequality appears in many fields, such as social, political, and economic. Although equality has not been reached, a certain level has been achieved. Looking from the past to the present, certain steps were taken, starting with the right to vote and equal inheritance rights, and they were successful. Currently, progress has been made to the point where men and women perform the same job with the same responsibilities and receive the same salary through the policy of equal pay for equal work. Of course, there are still businesses that do not adopt these innovations and continue to maintain the glass-ceiling policy. This situation clearly demonstrates that the transformation of the social structure takes time and must be supported not only by legal regulations but also by a mindset shift.
Due to this situation, although women are educated and successful, they cannot advance beyond a certain point in their careers; their promotion is subtly hindered, or it is accepted that one gender should stay at home and manage the household while the other should work to provide a livelihood. Here, the choice is obviously not left to the individual. Under the order imposed in the past, women handled housework, childcare, and cooking, while men went to work and provided for the household. Many of the child’s needs are loaded solely onto the mother; often, the child cannot even establish a bond with the father, and since it generally continues with the understanding of “they proceed as they see,” that child also takes their own parents as examples when they become parents in the future. This situation causes gender roles to be transferred from generation to generation and ensures the continuity of inequality. Furthermore, vacuuming the house and washing the dishes are imposed on women; however, these tasks are the shared responsibilities of family members.
The fact that domestic labor is invisible and often undervalued constitutes another area of inequality.
Another major problem is that the concepts of “women’s work” and “men’s work” still exist today. While professions such as nursing and teaching are deemed appropriate for women, an image of an engineer or a police officer is attached to men. However, this situation should take shape according to the person’s interests and talents. If a woman wants, she can be a police officer, and if a man wants, he can even be a fashion designer; there should be freedom of thought in career choices as well. At this point, the guiding role of the education system and families is quite significant; it is of great importance that individuals are raised away from stereotyped judgments from a young age.
Of course, when inequality is mentioned, only professional life should not come to mind. In the political sphere, the number of female employees in parliament is quite low. This situation stems partly from women being seen as unable to perform tasks that entail significant responsibilities. However, the greater involvement of women in decision-making mechanisms will ensure that social policies are more inclusive and balanced. Although they appear equal before the law in legal areas, practice has often remained insufficient. Unfortunately, deterrent and effective penalties are not given today when violence against women is detected; the penalties given are not at a satisfactory level. This situation undermines victims’ trust in justice and complicates the solution to the problem.
Although we have listed the disadvantages of women so far, the problem of gender inequality manifests itself not as male or female, but as gender roles. For example, the “men don’t cry” stereotype imposed on men shows that they must always stand strong in every matter and cannot reveal their emotions. This situation leads to desensitization due to suppressed emotions. It is forgotten that men, like women, have the need to be sad, cry, or want attention. From this perspective, gender inequality is a multidimensional problem that negatively affects not only women but also men.
As seen in the examples, gender inequality is a problem frequently encountered in our country. Within the scope of combating this problem, various studies are carried out in the fields of education, law, media, and civil society. Especially the increase in awareness studies ensures that individuals become conscious of this issue and contribute to social transformation. We hope that we are close to reaching a more equal, just, and free society.
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