"Powerful Women Inspiring the Business" panel was held at Abdullah Gül University (AGU). At the panel, women panelists shared statistics about women and talked about their work lives and careers.
On the International Women's Day, the AGU Society of Women Engineers Club organized the panel on the Sümer Campus Conference Hall.
The panelists were Dr. Başak Gencer Akçok, the AGU Molecular Biology and Genetics Chair; Didem Şahin, the Head of Commercial - International Franchise at Koton and an industrial engineer; Defne Doğu, the Women's Committee Chair of the Kayseri Chamber of Mechanical Engineers and a mechanical engineer; Burcu Güngör, the AGU Computer Engineering Faculty Member; and Gamze Özbal, Founder of İkon Proje Architecture Office and an architect.
Gizem Erkahyaoğlu, a master's student at the AGU Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, moderated the panel discussion. The panel began with the opening remarks of Dr. Başak Gencer Akçok, the AGU Molecular Biology and Genetics Chair.
Dr. Akçok talked about the history of the International Women's Day and how it emerged.
The International Women's Day, Akçok said, reminds that women should work for equal opportunities, lives, working conditions and was a gift by working women to all women around the world.
Akçok added, success is attained in business life with performance regardless of one's gender, however some of women's skills take them one step further at work, and stated:
"According to a study carried out by an international research company, companies run by women managers make 15 percent more profit than those run by men. Skills that bring women to the fore are their tendency towards teamwork, emotional intelligence, empathy, strong communication, multi-thinking and multi-tasking, high analytical power, and attention to detail."
During the panel discussion, Didem Şahin, the Head of Commercial - International Franchise at Koton, informed about women's employment in Turkey. Şahin said, the labor force participation rate of women is very low in Turkey:
"In Turkey, while the employment rate of women stands around 26 percent, that of men is 64 percent."
Particularly addressing the female students, Şahin added: "Produce, make an effort and work. Do not trust your diplomas. Being women is hard, that is a fact. It is even more difficult if you are a mother. However, there is nothing a woman cannot do."
In her turn, Architect Gamze Özbal, as the founder of İkon Proje Architecture Office, talked about her business life as a female architect and how she became one. Özbal advised students to choose their own career paths and give their own decisions.
Dr. Burcu Güngör also shared her career as an academic at the AGU Computer Engineering.
Dr. Güngör mentioned some incentives and priorities offered by various companies for female academics and advised female students on the path to academia to benefit from those incentives.
Lastly, Defne Doğu, the Women's Committee Chair of the Kayseri Chamber of Mechanical Engineers and a mechanical engineer, touched upon the problems women face in business life. Doğu expressed that she found inspiration in Atatürk's remarks about women.
Many students, academics, and guests joined the panel.
AGU Becomes a Society of Women Engineers Member
AGU's membership for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) has been approved.
Thanks to the initiatives of Mechanical Engineering students Ayşe Nur Büyüker and Bilge Ökdem and their advisor Dr. Benay Uzer, AGU has become the third university in Europe to be a Society of Women Engineers member.
SWE, founded in 1950, encourages women to advance with confidence in careers as engineers and leaders, and support them on the path towards success with a focus on solidarity.
