Women's Participation in the Labor Market

Abstract

The issue of gender disparity regarding women's participation in the labor force has generally been lower than that of men all around the world. While the rates of labor force participation have been on the rise for many Western European countries due to their longstanding policies, the rates remain lower, with a much slower increase, in the Europe and Central Asia region, which Turkey is considered to be a part of, according to the regional categorization of the World Bank. The issues of institutional and socio-cultural dynamics need to be taken into consideration to explain the comparatively lower female labor force participation rate (LFPR) in the ECA Region, including Turkey, which, in fact, falls behind the ECA countries. Drawing on available data pertaining to women's LFPR, this chapter aims to provide integrated institutional and socio-cultural explanations regarding women's access to education, family policies, participation in unpaid work, and child care.