"Women at the Top Award Ceremony" was held at Üsküdar University...

The 'Women at the Top Award Ceremony', organized in cooperation with Üsküdar University, TÜMBİFED and TÜMBİKON, was attended by the President of TÜMBİKON and the 28th Period of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye. The event was held with the participation of important names such as Deputy Cevdet Akay, TÜMBİFED Chairman Mehmet Hüsrev, Former Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye and Former Minister of State Prof. Yüksel Yalova, Rector of Üsküdar University Prof. Nazife Güngör.

Prof. Nazife Güngör stated that "The issue that humanity cannot solve is not the distinction between men and women, but the inability to reach maturity. Humanity has not yet figured itself out. ‘Human’ is human, and a ‘human being' cannot be divided into master and slave, or man and woman."

Cevdet Akay stated that "You are the women heros of our time. Being aware of this, we should always be with you and support you in your fight."

Within the scope of March 8, International Women's Day, the "Women at the Top Award Ceremony", organized in cooperation with Üsküdar University ÜSÇÖZÜM (Solution Focused Women's Problems Research and Application Center), TÜMBİFED (All Bureaucrats and Businesspeople Federation) and TÜMBİKON (All Bureaucrats and Businesspeople Conference), was held at Üsküdar University Central Campus Nermin Tarhan Conference Hall.

Çebi: "Women's empowerment opens the doors to a brighter future for society"

Speaking at the opening of the program, which started with the National Anthem and then a music concert by the Marmara University Oda Müziği Topluluğu under the direction of Prof. Mustafa Uslu, President of Women's Platforms Ayşe Çebi expressed that that March 8 is not only a celebration, but also a call, a light of hope and unity. Adding that many women struggle with inequalities, Çebi stated that "Women have always shaped the history of humanity, from science to art, from politics to economy, and have left deep traces in every field. Women's empowerment opens the doors to a brighter future not only for women, but also for the whole society. Under Mustafa Kemal's leadership, groundbreaking reforms were carried out in the field of women's rights in Türkiye. Atatürk's efforts continue to inspire us in the struggle to defend women's rights today."

Ünal: "We are leading many women's studies at ÜSÇÖZÜM"

Üsküdar University Solution-Oriented Women's Problems Application and Research Center Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aylin Tutgun Ünal talked about the purpose of the establishment of ÜSÇÖZÜM and stated that " Solution Focused Women's Problems Research and Application Center was established under the leadership of President of our University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan. It is a center established to analyze the problems faced by all individuals, situations that create social impact, to search for solutions at the university, to carry out projects, and to lead many leadership studies where we can make our voices heard through activities, focusing on individual and social problems, without discriminating between men and women. In this center, we have been carrying out the Üsküdar University Gender Action Plan, which we have prepared for 5 years since 2022, and in this context, we are leading many women's studies. We care about women's employment here. If we talk specifically about our university, we carry out activities within the scope of many purposes such as employing and following up our female students, preparing women for business life and directing them to business life.

Hüsrev: "There is no need to masculinize women, they have a very important feature from creation"

Chairman of the Federation of All Bureaucrats and Businesspeople (TÜMBİFED) Mehmet Hüsrev emphasized how deep women's feelings can be by describing the incident he experienced in an institution he is manager and stated that "The feelings of women have are a great power that we do not have. A great advantage in bilateral meetings, negotiations, governing the world. There is no need to masculinize women at all. They have a very important feature from creation. Women should be in our lives."

Prof. Güngör: "'Human' is human, a 'human being' cannot be divided into master and slave, or man and woman"

Speaking at the award ceremony, Üsküdar University Rector Prof. Nazife Güngör emphasized that the issue that humanity cannot solve is not the distinction between men and women, but the inability to reach maturity and stated that "I want to look at the issue with a human focus. If one day we solve the problem of 'human', we will not be talking about the issue of men and women, or any other problems related to humanity. Humanity, in fact, has not yet figured themselves out. Humanity has not yet figured out why they are in this world, why they were created.

Stating that since humanity could not solve themselves and could not reach a certain point of maturity, they tried to prove their own existence through some separations, Prof. Güngör continued her remarks as follows:

"A lot of times it's gender discrimination, men and women... There are other forms of discrimination; ethnic discrimination, discrimination based on faith, discrimination on the basis of race, social class discrimination, which is one of the biggest problems of humanity, master and slave discrimination... Thinkers have always drawn attention to these issues centuries ago, they have always warned about these issues, they have always touched on these issues. ‘Human’ is human, and a ‘human being' cannot be divided into master and slave, or male and female. It cannot be possible that one side is sovereign while other side is dependent, and it cannot also be possible that one side is laboring while other is exploiting that labor."

Prof. Güngör: "When we say 'our women', we do not solve the problem. We are reinforcing discrimination."

Stating that the elimination of the ongoing struggle in inequality between men and women is not possible with the understanding that men take over the dominance and make women dependent, Prof. Güngör expressed that "First of all, the discourse and understanding must change. Rather than defining men and women, each individual should be accepted as a human being born into this world, seen as a human being and raised as a human being."

Pointing out that while they want to solve the problems, they are reinforced even more, Prof. Güngör stated that "For example, when we say 'our women', we are not actually solving the problem. We are further reinforcing discrimination because it is men who say 'our women'; 'We must help our women, we must solve the problems of our women, we must hold our women in high esteem’... It continues to keep women in the field of dependence. Maybe we prefer to hold it not with anger or violence, but with love, we go to the way of persuasion. Women do not want love, and men and women want to live together in a world that is completely equal with a human-oriented approach. There is no need to question the capacity of women, men and women have the same capacity. As long as they are given equal opportunities."

Akay: "We have heroines in the national struggle. You are the heroines of our time."

Attending the award ceremony and making a speech, the President of the Confederation of All Bureaucrats and Businesspeople (TÜMBİKON) and the 28th President of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye. Deputy Cevdet Akay stated that"Atatürk was such a visionary person that he gave women the right to vote and be elected long before even European countries. From those years, he expressed how important women are and that they should be in working life, and he put this into practice.

We have women heroes in the war of independece. Today, women at the top are heroes. You are the woman heroes of our time. Being aware of this, we should always be with you and support you in your fight."

After the opening speeches, Bahçeşehir University Head of Sociology Department Prof. Nilüfer Narlı gace made a presentation titled "Women and Leadership in the 21st Century", and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Shopsa Online E-Commerce,Demet Sabancı Çetindoğan made a presentation titled "Women's Entrepreneurial Spirit".

Following the presentations, awards and plaques were presented to her daughter Sevi Algan on behalf of Ayla Algan, Demet Sabancı Çetindoğan, Demet Taner, Deniz Ülke Arıboğan, Esin Çelebi Bayru, İlkin Aydın, İonna Kuçadi, Lale Belkıs, Muazzez İlmiye Çiğ, Nermin Abadan Unat, Nilüfer Narlı, Sakine Eruz, Semra Ünal, Suna Keskin, Tülin Barshan and Türkan Kafadar within the scope of the Women at the Top Awards.

 

Üsküdar News Day (ÜNA)