Gender based violence which reflects and reinforces inequalities between women and men is a serious problem which tragically is all too common.  It has consequences that affect women above all, but also ramifications across society. It is has been described as the most prevalent human rights violation in the world. Gender based violence is exceptionally dehumanizing, pervasive, oppressive and no other form of discrimination violates so many of the fundamental human rights set out under the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

 

Violence against women as a concept rooted from gender inequality is widespread in Turkey as in the rest of the world. The survey titled “Business against Domestic Violence” conducted in 2014 among some of the WEPs signatory private sector companies indicates high prevalence (32 per cent) of sexual and physical violence among white collar working women and the absence of response mechanisms within the private sector. This means that women, regardless of their background and seniority in their worklife, are persistently  subjected to physical, psychological and economic violence. This owes much to cultural norms, fear of one’s losing job, embarrassment but also lack of support mechanisms to talk about such violence and ask for help.

UNFPA has been working on promoting gender equality and combating gender based violence in all walks of life, where addressing such issues in employment is also part of our focus. Based on results of a UNFPA-sponsored research in 2015, UNFPA Turkey country office supported Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey to develop a guide-book for private sector companies interested in establishing mechanisms to support survivors of gender based violence at the workplace. In 2106, 17 companies which participated in the research received training of trainers and started to develop their company policies to combat domestic violence. One of the first companies is Garanti Bank which established a hotline for its employees. The others are Aygaz, Yeşim Tekstil and Aras Kargo which developed their company policies to promote gender equality and combat domestic violence.