Turkish women happier than men – survey

While over half of the Turkish public say they are happy, women declared themselves happy at a rate about 10 percent higher than men, according to official statistics released in the runup to Sunday’s International Women’s Day.

According to results of the Turkish Statistical Institute’s (TurkStat) life satisfaction survey released Friday, 57 percent of women see themselves as happy, versus 47.6 percent of men.

Some 55.6 percent of married individuals and 45.1 percent of non-married individuals were happy, added the survey.

While 60.2 percent of married women and 50.6 percent of married men declared they were happy, 49.1 percent of unmarried women and 41.3 percent of unmarried men said they were happy, according to the data.

As of 2019, Turkey’s parliament had 17.3 percent female lawmakers, up sharply from 9.1 percent in 2007, said TurkStat.

Men paid higher wages

According to a 2018 TurkStat survey, the overall gender pay gap of 7.7 percent in favour of men was present at all education levels.

"The biggest difference in the gender pay gap was seen as 28.8 percent between male and female vocational high school graduates," the survey said.

The lowest difference was 14.3 percent, between male and female high school graduates, it added.

Women earned the highest income was the financial and insurance sectors, while men made the most from the information and communications sector, it said.

TurkStat said efforts should be made to advance women’s social and economic positions.