IKV Chairperson Ayhan Zeytinoğlu, spoke about the importance of International Women’s Day as an occasion to think about advancing the position of women in society and eliminating inequalities in all fields. President Zeytinoğlu also stated that societies where women take an active part in the economy, are represented and take part in politics, and are not discriminated against can survive periods of difficulty such as disasters much more easily. In his speech, Zeytinoğlu said:

‘’March 8^th International Working Women’s Day provides an important opportunity to think about the position of women, who are the building blocks of societies and the issue of equality. This issue should be on our agenda 365 days a year. While Türkiye aims to be a part of and is in close relationship with the EU, the female employment rate is still very low when compared with the EU average; the EU average is around 66%, but this rate in Turkey is as low as 28%, according to TUIK data. It is seen that women are paid 14-15% less than men in gross wages per hour. This rate also varies between 15% and 20% in Turkey. According to ILO data, the duration of women's employment is also lower. While this is 39 years for men, it drops to 19 years for women. The proportion of women in unregistered employment is higher than men.  While the rate of non-agricultural unregistered labour is 19.5% for men, this rate is recorded as 30% for women. Housework, child and elderly care, and the unpaid labour of women working in agriculture and family businesses cannot be used as a tool for women's welfare and freedom. The representation of women in politics is also very low. The rate of female MPs in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey is 17.1%, ranking 129 out of 188 countries. The rate of women on boards of directors is also quite low and has been determined as 16.7%. A rapid change for the better is necessary, not only for women, but also for the welfare and progress of the whole society. The fact that women are strong and self-sufficient, taking an active part in social life, economy and politics is the key to a resilient society even in times of crisis. In order to overcome the difficult period, we went through after the February 6^th earthquake, both the resilience of women in the earthquake-affected regions and the devoted work of women who took part in aid and support activities were key factors.’’