5th March 2021
KTÖS, KTOEÖS and DAÜ-SEN are Taking the Lead on International Women’s Day
Broadcasting within the body of KTÖS and continuing to work with the motto of the voice of the teachers, May TV is hosting a live program with the participation of woman representatives of ETUCE-affiliated education unions KTÖS (Cyprus Turkish Teachers’ Trade Union), KTOEÖS (Cyprus Turkish Secondary Education Teachers’ Union) and DAU-SEN (Eastern Mediterranean University Union of Academic Staff) on the 8th of March, International Women’s Day. KTÖS President Ms. Emel Tel, KTOEÖS Secretary General Ms. Selma Eylem, and ETUCE Cyprus Country Representative and DAU-SEN Board Member Ms. Yeşim Dede will be attending the program and will discuss the multi-layered inequalities faced by women both in their workplaces and daily lives in Cyprus and around the world.
In the program, guests will discuss on especially how the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown processes deepen the existing gender-based inequalities and discrimination in the society; how the domestic burden of women increased during the lockdown as the school and professional life is moved to home and also, child and elderly care duties are assigned to the women in the households ; and how the patriarchal structure in our systems and societies during the epidemic period aggravates the economic, social and psychological violence and the labor exploitation that women are already subjected to. Moreover, increased rates of domestic violence and women’s inability to access social support mechanisms during the covid-19 pandemic will be discussed. In addition, opinions will be put forward on how education unions can play roles to create awareness to strengthen the role of women in society in social, economic and legal dimensions, to empower women in education community, to make the women’s movement and the struggle for women’s rights visible, and to improve the advocacy role of the unions to make pressure on the governments for to take concrete steps on the basis of equality, justice and women’s human rights as a social state policy.
With solidarity,
KTÖS External Relations Office