The First Female Mukthar: Gül Esin

At the time, in the village of Demircidere, part of Karpuzlu in Aydın, elections were held with the participation of all men and women eligible to vote. Nearly 500 villagers gathered in the village association at the republic square to cast their votes. Among eight candidates for the position of mukthar, Gül Esin was the sole female contender. While her election symbolized the revolutionary image of women, other factors contributed significantly to her success. She was deeply respected and admired by the villagers and was literate in an era when even most men struggled with basic reading and writing skills. This example was a historic milestone, demonstrating that women could take on leading roles not only in politics but also in local governance, proving that leadership transcends gender.

Even today, this step, which paved the way for women to represent the people as mayors, village heads, parliamentarians, ministers, and even prime ministers, continues to fill us with pride 90 years later. It also imposes a responsibility on us to act in the spirit of this great vision. Gül Esin was, of course, just one example of her time. Countless other women have taken brave steps in various fields to ensure that women secure their rightful place in society. We must remember that December 5, 1934, is not merely a date; it remains a source of inspiration for building a more equitable future and reminds us of an ongoing struggle.

Inspiration for the Future

As we commemorate December 5, 1934, I am not merely celebrating the success of a decision made long ago. I am also reflecting on our responsibilities for today and the future. The philosophy behind this reform went beyond addressing the needs of its time—it offered all of us a vision for the future. I believe that ensuring women take their rightful place in society, politics, and every field is not just about empowering half of a society but about advancing the entire society. Doesn’t Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s statement, “A society that keeps its women behind is doomed to remain behind,” still light our way today?

From my perspective, the courageous step taken on December 5, 1934, continues to serve as an inspiration not just for Türkiye but for the shared history of the world. For instance, Italy and France took this step only in 1944, a full decade after Türkiye, and Switzerland, from which we adopted our civil code, granted women the same right only in 1971, 37 years after Atatürk’s decision. This is a tangible testament to the visionary nature of Atatürk’s reforms. To understand and uphold this vision is not only a tribute to the past but also a responsibility that reinforces my belief in a more equal and modern future. Today, by following the path paved by this bold step, let us become guiding examples for future generations and work together to build a brighter future.

However, I would like to discuss another aspect of the issue today. In this era, women’s social roles are a lot more complex and heavier than before. In addition to becoming a mother, most women are also expected to continue their careers and business responsibilities exactly as they used to do before having a child. I must admit that this is a huge pressure to bear. I sincerely congratulate women who manage to create a balance between these responsibilities despite all the heavy burden.

Yet, apart from appreciation, what do we really do to share these responsibilities, to ease the burden that is suddenly placed onto women? With such a sudden change in daily routine, women may think they need to choose between motherhood and career, thus start asking the question: “Should I drop one out?”

That is why, in addition to thanking women for the value they generate and for their creative efforts, we also need to discuss whether we understand their responsibilities, priorities and the pressure, and what steps we can take to reduce this pressure. Plus, instead of limiting this discussion to a certain period, we need to build a sustainable corporate framework and act on it to ensure progress.

At Siemens, we advocate providing more opportunities for female employees to be able to truly talk about equality. We not only fully support the legal rights of maternity, but also provide the best support we can through some special practices. Since “back to work” period can be difficult, we hold adaptation and parenting trainings to support new mothers. These trainings are not limited to the first months of parenting, they continue in the following years with different scopes. With the kindergarten support for pre-school period, we pay attention to sharing the financial and mental burden of mothers. And we implement those in line with our diversity principles and understanding.

Diversity is not a new concept or movement to us. It has always been one of the fundamental values of our corporate culture. We believe that diverse perspectives, mindsets and cultural values are keys to equality, development and success. That is why we organize gender equality and diversity trainings for all employees, both men and women.

Witnessing many global and regional problems today, I believe that we need to benefit from women’s distinctive perspective and evaluation of incidents and problems. Imagining, designing policies and acting together, women and men can offer solutions that are a lot more efficient and workable than the ones we currently have. Thus, we can build a more peaceful and optimistic future together. We unfortunately observe that men are immensely responsible for social violence of every level (from wars to domestic violence) and many other sorts of disagreements. That is why we gravely and urgently need constructive cooperation between women and men.

Diversity: When I think about what we seek with the concept of diversity, I’m convinced that we actually want to find spectacular examples that will make our differences unique and bring them to the fore.
Besides, when we embrace our ‘differences’ as they are, we also accept that this could be a chance for us, too. That’s why to be a ‘Woman’, a ‘Man’, ‘Young’, ‘Old’, or ‘Disabled’, or to have different cultures and beliefs truly mean wealth for all of us.

We are, once again, celebrating the International Women’s Day. I think to myself why there is a special day for the women, why such a day was needed, and I want to share my opinions.

We live in a rapidly changing world. We are in time that requires us to go beyond the borders, to work as a world citizen, rather than a citizen of a single country, and to communicate with each other in order to be successful. Talking about a global market, global leadership, and global responsibility, we now know that we cannot avoid globalization. I believe that we must benefit from the big potentials, creative minds and all the strong aspects we have. This is where women have a great role to play.

Women are already very successful in their management roles in family life. We know that now we need to encourage women to carry their experiences to wider horizons. Anyone who has demonstrated success in a field is now ready to set sail for other successes. On the other hand, we see that our problems are becoming increasingly complex. And we need different, creative ideas to solve complex problems. Women have important roles here again, because their problem-solving methods are different and quite creative. We cannot be competitive unless we benefit from them correctly.

Therefore, while celebrating Women’s Day, once again I would like to underline that due to their differences and diversities, we would all benefit greatly from integrating more women into social life and business world. What I mean is not just the women with a career, but all the women.

Taking the opportunity, I sincerely celebrate 8 March International Women’s Day.

Many of you are living as an expat away from home and each expat life has its own dimensions. Here I am going to share with you an article about my experience in India. Also it was originally printed 10 years ago it is still valid in many of the key aspects of today.

Experience as an Expatriate in India

Despite talented people, and a vibrant corporate sector, India may remain a developing country if the focus of development does not shift from a “political” to an “economic” view point.

Exotic, Unique and Diverse!! That is the image I had of India, prior to my arriving to this colorful country. An image further enhanced by the writing of Hemingway titled” India, the country of thousand Gods, Religions and languages”. And each passing day, the perception I came with has grown stronger. India and its people have the unique ability to carry with them the past, the present and the future. The old India coexists and blends in beautifully with the present modern India. And like the land, every aspect of Indian culture, is an expression of the unending process of assimilation and absorption.

And this is an extremely interesting to experience to witness.

Initially on arrival, the place was a bit overwhelming with the cultural diversity, different accents and even the business terminology was not entirely common to what is used worldwide. But gradually it became easier to understand and relate as people went out of their way to explain and were helpful. Adapting to India initially took around 6 months. After the settling-in period, it’s been a great learning experience, something one wouldn’t want to miss.

I realize that we are expanding our vocabulary a little further and we carry the word “innovation” into our list of favorites.

Two different meanings are attributed to the word “innovation”:

1) Revolutionary Innovation

2) Evolutionary Innovation

The word “revolutionary” here is favorable, it defines the companies as institutions that shape the future. In the future, there will be companies that can develop evolutionary services and products.
The importance of evolutionary innovation is, of course, undeniable, but the type of innovation we need today as a country is more of a revolutionary nature, because in the process of the development of humanity, if we ever want to put forward our ambitions, we must first implement our revolutionary ideas and strategies to reach to the point of creating evolutionary products and solutions. For example, iPod and the touchscreen technology developed by Apple has gone through an evolutionary development first as a phone (iPhone), then as a tablet (iPad).

But we realize that revolutionary innovation requires patience and right timing. We need to wait for it. A creative environment must be formed. In this process, we must support experimental studies and creative ideas and demonstrate more tolerant management in case of errors and losses. If we can succeed in ensuring these, we will be able to carry out more revolutionary innovations in our country as well.