A message from Ms. Güler Sabancı for International Women’s Day
MS. GÜLER SABANCI: “EQUALITY IN EDUCATION AND ALL AREAS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS, IT IS NOT NEGOTIABLE”
Ms. Güler Sabancı, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sabancı Foundation, put an emphasis on the equal existence of women in all areas of life and particularly in education in her announcement made on the occasion of March 8th, International Women’s Day.
Ms. Güler Sabancı, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sabancı Foundation, noted in her speech, “While the world is trying to shape the future with digitalisation, big data and artificial intelligence with a focus on technology and science in the current period, it would be inconvenient for modern Turkey to discuss the education of girls. It is very admirable to see the results of the activities carried out in our country for years for the education of girls shown in the figures; however, the rates regrettably fall below the boys. Unfortunately, we are still discussing whether girls should study or not. In fact, we are supposed to have left these issues behind and accepted that education is the right of all individuals regardless of their gender a long time ago. Therefore, I would like to emphasise once more on the occasion of the International Women’s Day that equality in education and all areas are human rights, and are not negotiable.
Asserting that the most important condition for achieving equality in all areas of life is educational equality, Ms. Sabancı further noted that social development will be more possible with the engagement of women in all areas of life; the power of women is indispensable for making progress in science, industry and production and this power can only be made use of through education.
With its support of education for 45 years, the Sabancı Foundation supports the projects of non-governmental organisations related to the prevention of early and forced marriage, education of girls, the strength of women and the achievement of social gender equality within the scope of its Grant Schemes. It intends to improve the awareness of social gender equality in the educational environment thanks to the “Purple Certification Programme” maintained under its partnership with the Sabancı University.
The activities of the Sabancı Foundation, with respect to women and girls, up to the present day include 19 student dormitories constructed in 17 cities to contribute to the access of girls to education, the “United Nations’ Common Programme” introduced for strengthening the role of women in social life and membership of the “Girls Not Brides” platform with over 450 members from 70 countries. Moreover, the “Business World is Against Domestic Violence” project is being implemented, which guides private industry to become a stakeholder that plays an active role in preventing domestic violence and offers tangible solution suggestions under the “Prevention of Early Marriages” in Nevşehir, based on the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).