Due to the presence that businesses and organizations have in our lives, their policies, work cultures and products impact gender equality in our society. This especially affects the lives and wellbeing of women and children, while also negatively impacting the success of businesses themselves. All of this creates barriers to the sustainable development of individuals, the economy and society.

Although businesses show interest in becoming more gender equitable (currently in Turkey 343 businesses are WEPs signatories), the path to achieving this is difficult as organisations in the field of advocating for gender equality in the workplace are disconnected from one another. This fractured landscape has led to a lack of standards to which businesses can be held accountable, which in turn has led to a lack of expertise and disheartened organizational advocates, advertising and marketing taking precedent over developing best practices, priorities focusing on prestige rather than tangible and sustainable action, and information pollution.

Taking into account the UN Sustainable Goals 5, 8 and 10 and the landscape of gender equality in the business world in Turkey pre, during and post-Covid-19, we propose the Gender Equality and Inclusion Leadership Certification Program to support businesses in capacity building for the institutionalization of gender equality, with an emphasis on Covid-19 impact.

This program, which will be developed and implemented in collaboration with partners that provide financial credit, conduct research, perform gender equality auditing and advocacy, train “experts” within businesses that will continue to facilitate the institutionalization of gender equality. It will be implemented and its process tracked via a digital learning platform, consisting of modular trainings in various formats (asynchronous, synchronous, and in person), and provide opportunities for interaction between participants and experts. In addition, in collaboration with partners, a gender equality standard will be developed as reference for all businesses.

Since 2015, Equality Matters has trained approximately 400 gender equality trainers and 100 advocates for change through its Taking Action for Change training. In addition, it has provided gender equality trainings for 23000+ workers at 60+ different companies through individual trainings and longer term projects with large organizations such as Koç Community, Borusan Group, Fiba Group, Ford Otosan and Fenerbahçe. These projects have played a role in creating tangible change within companies: Arçelik LG (connected to Koç Community) confronted their prejudices around women working in heavy industries and women hiring women within the production line; the Advertisers Association (Reklam Verenler Derneği) launched their If Commercials Change, Society Changes (Reklamlar Değişirse Toplum Değişir) campaign; Fenerbahçe Sports Club opened up a girls football school; the Borusan Group started their Borusan Is Equal Platform (Borusan Eşittir Platformu) and the topic of gender equality was put on the agendas of their member companies.