The majority of women working in the public sector do it for economic reasons and a career while work-related problems and aaaual harassment remain among the most serious problems faced by them

İZGİ GÜNGÖR
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News


Female employees working in Turaaas public sector live in dire straits revealed a recent survey conducted by the conservative Civil Servants Trade Union Memur-Sen.

In addition to financial pressure work-related problems the negative attitude of male colleagues and managers as well as violence and aaaual harassment remain among the most serious problems encountered by female public employees in their working life.

“Most of the female public workers today are unqualified and the salary they receive is likewise unsatisfactory. They live almost at the starvation limit” said Ömer Özay an expert at Memur-Sen commenting on the survey results.

The survey was conducted among 1294 respondents working in the public sector in 14 provinces in different regions using the direct interview method with the aim of identifying the problems of female public servants and finding appropriate solutions for them.

Almost all respondents said they worked in order to earn their living while 54.8 percent of those polled reported a monthly salary ranging from YTL 1000-1500 hinting that the salaries werent enough to met basic needs a considerably significant figure compared to the minimum wage of about YTL 450.

For women aged between 18 and above 56 as well as for 36.5 percent of single 41.2 percent of married and 43.3 percent of widowed women earning a living remains the ultimate objective for involvement in working life. Increasing income levels and attaining a higher position are among other reasons for working in varying degrees according to the study.

Currently 408354 female public employees work in the public sector in Turaaa with most working in Ankara Istanbul and İzmir respectively. The figure is 1050979 for male public servants according to the Pension Fund General Directorate.



Women work for money and career

As the level of education and occupational status increases career plans gain more importance than earning money for female employees according to the survey. Around 54.5 percent of female primary school graduates 50.5 percent of high school graduates and 37.7 percent of university graduates said they worked to earn money while 32.2 percent of postgraduate women and 46.2 percent of doctoral graduate women said they targeted a higher position.

Ordinary female public employees with no specific qualification said they worked in order to earn their living while high-ranked senior female employees said their expectation was to achieve a higher position in their careers.

“Women servants are usually unqualified and dont get any extra payments or bonuses. Their life standards are pretty low and a large amount of their income is already spent for their work-related and social expenditures” Özay said.

“Many used to retire even before waiting for their retirement age in the past since their salaries were low and their husbands wouldnt allow them to work. Nowadays however many prefer to wait till they are eligible for retirement for economic reasons despite difficulties they face in their working life.”

One of the major difficulties faced by women is work-related problems which vary depending on the sector involved.

Among the respondents 378 were single 854 were married and 60 were widowed. Although the problems differed according to marital status work-related problems ranked first for all of them with 30.7 percent of single women 21.5 percent of married women and 26.7 percent of widowed women reporting the problems in workplace.

A cash teller or secretary faces some personal and health problems stemming from working all day behind a desk while a midwife in a village faces more natural threats according to Özay.

For married women meanwhile the negative attitude of managers in granting leave in some special circumstances such as pregnancy nursing child care etc remained the second major problem after work-related problems while the negative attitude of the male colleagues and directors occupied second and third places with varying rates for single and widowed women.



aaaual harassment a hidden problem

Violence and aaaual harassment in workplaces are one of the most serious and unrevealed problems faced by women which manifested itself in the survey according to Özay.

3.4 percent of single women 1.9 percent of married women and 10.0 percent of widowed women a relatively high figure when compared to that of single and married women complained about violence and aaaual harassment in the workplace.

The survey showed some other interesting observations as well.

Most women work in the education sector with 27.5 percent followed by health and social services sector with 17.5 percent. The main objective is earning money for women working in almost every sector except for those working in the religious affairs and media sector who stated that they expect a higher status from their working life.

Around 58.3 percent of women working in the culture and art sector 52.9 percent of women working in local administrations 46.9 percent of women working in health and social services sector said they work for economic reasons while 46.4 percent of women in religious affairs and 33.3 percent of women in media sector said they work for a higher status.

About 79 percent of working women are between the ages of 26 and 45. Educated and working women marry at a later age and as the level of education increases the marriage rate shows a decline according to the survey.

Özay said they now have a valuable database about the problems of female civil servants.

“We will thus be able to better reflect their problems to the government during collective bargaining meetings to be held in August and contribute to the solutions of their problems based on concrete data” he said.