Abstract:

Women are still considered as reserve labour force in developing countries where social, cultural gender perception is more intensive, and female labour force participation rate is less than males. When researchers and policy makers investigate why female labour force participation is low, it is a well-known fact that the social factors such as low levels of education, gender perspective and patriarchal mentality are important reasons. The main purpose of this study is to analyse the effect and importance of gender roles in individuals’ labour force participation decision in Turkey. Even though female labour force participation rates have lately increased in Turkey, can still be considered very low. Therefore, it is important to analyse the determinants of non-participation decisions. To this extend, data obtained from 2014 Health Survey obtained released by Turkish Statistical Institute have been analysed using multinomial logistic regression. The results indicate the main reason for non-participation decision for females is housework or family related reasons.

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