IKV Chairperson Ayhan Zeytinoğlu made a statement on the occasion of 8 March International Women's Day. Chairperson Zeytinoğlu said that 8 March International Women's Day is an important opportunity to address the situation of women and gender equality issues. Drawing attention especially to the issues of women’s employment and wage inequality, Chairperson Zeytinoğlu stated the following:

“As we celebrate 8 March, International Women's Day, we once again remember that women's participation in social life, economy and politics is of great importance for achieving the goals of freedom, equality and sustainable development. Societies where women lack education, employment and participation in governance are doomed to remain backward. In terms of economic participation, Türkiye's female employment rate is still far below the EU average. In Türkiye, this rate is 30.4%, while the EU average is more than double that at 67.7%. The participation of our women in the labour force is of great importance for preventing informal employment and for women to discover their own talents and realize their life goals. Another important problem is the wage gap between working women and men. This rate ranges from 17.1% for higher education graduates, 14.5% for primary school graduates and 19.6% for high school graduates. We see that the EU average is 12.7%. Eliminating this discrimination against women is crucial for equality and efficiency. Gender equality needs to be a mainstream principle in all policies and a comprehensive strategy needs to be implemented to achieve it. The EU's gender equality strategy can be an important model in this respect. The strategy aims to achieve a Europe of equality by 2025. The strategy includes goals such as preventing gender-based violence, combating gender-based stereotypes, closing the gender gap in the labour market, eliminating wage inequality, and ensuring gender equality in decision-making processes and politics. As Türkiye, we must pay attention to these issues and prioritize goals for gender equality. Today we once again remember the words of the Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. ‘Our women will have knowledge and science and will pass through all the educational steps that men pass through. Women will walk together with men in the life of society and will be each other's helpers and supporters.’”