Our Minister of Family and Social Services, Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, stated that they will sign a protocol with the Ministry of Industry and Technology on January 24 in order to increase the number of women entrepreneurs and women's employment in the country and to strengthen existing women entrepreneurs.

Minister Göktaş, in his speech at the New Horizons in Women's Entrepreneurship Consultation Meeting held in a hotel hosted by the ministry, stated that in Turkish culture, women are a strong shelter that holds both the home and the nation together with their mercy and compassion, and said that women, who are the symbol of abundance, everything they touch with the productivity in their nature. He said it increased his productivity.

Göktaş stated that, as a social state, it is their primary duty to provide equal opportunities in every field for women who create value in every field they work in, both in the family and in society, without avoiding any sacrifices, and stated that all the opportunities they offer to women in the context of social policies are a natural result of the principles of human rights, equality and justice.

Reminding that they have made important innovations in all fields in accordance with these principles, Minister Göktaş said, "The schooling rates of our girls have increased in the last 20 years. The rate of women attending higher education, having a profession, being employed and participating in the workforce has also increased significantly. Women are especially interested in their own wings, such as entrepreneurship." "We are very pleased with the self-confidence they display and the achievements they have achieved in a field that requires them to fly. This progress also enables women to become economically stronger. This added value created by women also positively affects the development process of our country." said.

"We increased the participation rate of women in the workforce to 35.9 percent as of November 2023"

Stating that they see women's economic participation as an integral part of national policies, Göktaş continued his words as follows:
"In our country's 12th Development Plan, we determined the female labor force participation rate as 40 percent and the female employment rate as 36.2 percent by the end of 2028. We witness that the incentives we offer in this field provide positive developments. The rate of female labor force participation, which was approximately 27.9 percent in 2002, is 40 percent. We increased the labor force participation rate to 35.9 percent as of November 2023. In the same period, we increased the female employment rate from 25.3 percent to 31.8 percent. According to TÜİK data, employers and self-employed workers in the third quarter of 2023 "The proportion of women among women is still 16 percent. In EU countries, this rate is 33 percent."

Göktaş stated that at this point, they also included the reasons that limit women's participation in the workforce, and said, "The main reasons that prevent women from participating in the workforce are lack of capital and difficulty in finding resources. Due to the risks of getting a bank loan, women often rely on their own savings or their families and "They have to make do with limited support from their relatives. On the other hand, leaving all roles within the family to women's responsibility negatively affects the equality of opportunity between men and women in entrepreneurship." he said.

Pointing out that women have to choose between their families and entrepreneurship goals in order to achieve work and life balance under these conditions, Göktaş stated that they are carrying out some studies on switching to a flexible working model in both the public and private sectors in order to overcome this dilemma that causes serious obstacles in women's lives.

Göktaş said, "In addition, with the Neighborhood-Focused Nursery Model, we aim to share the responsibility of families, especially in the care of children aged 0-3. With these practices that we will spread all over Türkiye, we aim to prevent women from having to make a choice between home or work life." he said.

"We aim to support this process with our work encouraging women entrepreneurship."

Göktaş emphasized that women make great progress in a short time even when the obstacles in their way are removed, and noted that there is nothing that women cannot achieve and overcome when equal opportunities are offered.

Stating that, as the Ministry, they attach importance to every effort, diligence and dedication in this regard, Göktaş continued as follows:

"We aim to support this process with our work that encourages women's entrepreneurship. We organize Financial Literacy and Women's Economic Empowerment Seminars on topics such as capital management and investment tools. With these works, we have reached more than 750 thousand women in 81 provinces so far. As in many countries, there are also many women in our country. "We support cooperative activities that make women's dreams of entrepreneurship come true. Last year, we extended the Cooperation Protocol on Strengthening Women's Cooperatives, signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Commerce under the coordination of our Ministry, for another 5 years. We supported the establishment of 1012 new women's cooperatives."

Stating that they emphasize the importance of women's visibility in business life in all their statements, in addition to the concrete support they provide to women entrepreneurship, Göktaş stated that as the visibility of women in business life increases, women's labor will receive the respect it deserves.

Announcing that they plan to implement two studies in the near future, Göktaş shared the following information:
"Our first good news is that we are signing a joint protocol with the Ministry of Industry and Technology on Wednesday, January 24. With this protocol, we aim to increase the number of women entrepreneurs and women's employment in our country and to strengthen existing women entrepreneurs. Our other good news is that we will create an internet for women who are entrepreneurs and aim to become entrepreneurs. We will launch the website on that day. With this website, we bring together all the information provided by the public, private sector, non-governmental organizations, universities and international organizations. We make education, research, financial support and mentoring studies that support women entrepreneurship accessible on a single platform. In addition, "We aim to reinforce women's solidarity in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, improve women's entrepreneurial skills and capacities, and increase the number of women entrepreneurs throughout Türkiye."

After Minister Göktaş's speech, the meeting continued closed to the press.