Turkish President believes women are not mens' equal
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed that feminism conflicts with motherhood and that women are unequal to men.
“You cannot put women and men on an equal footing. It is against nature,” he said recently at a women’s conference in Istanbul.
“In the workplace, you cannot treat a man and a pregnant woman in the same way,” he continued, adding that women are unable to do the same work as men due to their “delicate nature”.
The Anatolia news agency reported his speech, which was also picked up by the BBC. Istanbul’s BBC reporter Mark Lowen said that Erdogan’s comments were most likely meant to garner support from his highly conservative voters.
However, secular Turkish citizens did not take kindly to the president’s comments, according to the BBC.
The broadcaster highlighted Lowen’s view that liberal Turks are very concerned about far right policies harming the nation.
Erdogan has become notorious in golobal politics for making controversial statements. Several weeks ago he argued that Muslims found the Americas three centuries, prior to Christopher Colombus.