Women employment on rise in Turkey

Turkey's women employment in urban areas is on the rise with some 1.5 million new jobs created in the past four years, according a recent report. Turkish women working in non-agricultural sectors rose from 3.4 million in 2009 to some 4.9 million in the first half of 2013, an increase of 44 percent, the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) said in its report published by Hurriyet Daily News on Monday. "Women employment increased dramatically in 2010 and 2011, when Turkish economy grew by around 9 percent, and even in 2012, when the economy grew by only around 2.2 percent," said the report. However, some 1.5 million women, around 30 percent, are working unregistered, it added. The increase is partially due to some incentives for employers who hire women, including the exemption of social security premiums for workplaces where women work for minimum wage. Related: 9.6 percent of Turkish women marry underage: study ANKARA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Almost 9.6 percent of women in Turkey get married between the age of 15 and 19, and 5.9 percent give birth to their first child within the same age range, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported Wednesday, quoting a study. Also, around 70 percent of the married women experience their first pregnancy in the same age range, according to a study of Hacettepe University, which shows that 12 percent of the pregnancy cases end in voluntary miscarriages.