The 'Women at the Summit Awards Ceremony', organized in cooperation with Üsküdar University, TÜMBİFED, and TÜMBİKON, took place with the participation of prominent figures such as TÜMBİKON President and 28th Term MP of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Cevdet Akay, TÜMBİFED President Mehmet Hüsrev, Former Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and Former Minister of State Prof. Dr. Yüksel Yalova, and Üsküdar University Rector Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör.
Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör: “The issue humanity has not solved is not the distinction between men and women, but the inability to reach maturity. Humanity has not yet solved itself. ‘Human’ is human; ‘human’ cannot be separated as master and slave, woman and man.”
Cevdet Akay: “You are the women heroes of our time. Being aware of this, we must always stand by you and contribute to your struggle.”
Within the scope of March 8, International Women's Day, the "Women at the Summit Awards Ceremony," organized in cooperation with Üsküdar University's ÜSÇÖZÜM (Solution-Oriented Women's Issues Application and Research Center), TÜMBİFED (All Bureaucrats and Business People Federation), and TÜMBİKON (All Bureaucrats and Business People Confederation), took place at Üsküdar University Central Campus Nermin Tarhan Conference Hall.
Çebi: “The empowerment of women opens the doors to a brighter future for society”
Speaking at the opening of the program, which began with the National Anthem and a subsequent music recital by the Marmara University Chamber Music Ensemble under the direction of Prof. Dr. Mustafa Uslu, Women's Platforms President Ayşe Çebi stated that March 8 is not just a celebration but also the name of a call, a ray of hope, and unity. Çebi added that many women struggle with inequalities, stating, “Women have always shaped human history, leaving deep imprints in every field from science to art, politics to economics. The empowerment of women opens the doors to a brighter future not just for women, but for the entire society. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, groundbreaking reforms in women's rights were carried out in Turkey. Atatürk's efforts continue to inspire us today in the struggle to defend women's rights.”
Ünal: “At ÜSÇÖZÜM, we lead many women's initiatives”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aylin Tutgun Ünal, Director of Üsküdar University's Solution-Oriented Women's Issues Application and Research Center, spoke about the founding purpose of ÜSÇÖZÜM, stating:
“Our Solution-Oriented Women's Issues Application and Research Center was established under the leadership of our Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan. It is a center established to focus on individual and societal problems, specifically for women but also individually, without distinguishing between men and women, to analyze the problems faced by all individuals and situations that create social impact, to seek solutions within the university regarding these issues, to carry out projects, and to lead many leadership initiatives through which we can make our voices heard through events. At this center, we have been implementing Üsküdar University's 5-year Gender Equality Action Plan, which we prepared since 2022, and within this scope, we lead many women's initiatives. Here, we prioritize women's employment. Specifically for our university, we carry out activities within many objectives such as the employment and monitoring of our female students, preparing women for working life, and guiding them into professional careers.”
Hüsrev: “There is no need to 'masculinize' women; they have a very important innate characteristic”
Mehmet Hüsrev, President of the All Bureaucrats and Business People Federation (TÜMBİFED), in his speech, emphasized how profound women's feelings can be by recounting an incident he experienced at an institution he managed, stating, “The feelings women possess are a great power that we men do not have. It is a great advantage in bilateral meetings, negotiations, and governing the world. There is no need to 'masculinize' women at all. They have a very important innate characteristic. Women must be in our lives.”
Prof. Dr. Güngör: “‘Human’ is human; ‘human’ cannot be separated as master and slave, woman and man”
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Üsküdar University Rector Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör emphasized that the issue humanity has not solved is not the distinction between men and women, but the inability to reach maturity, stating, “I want to approach the subject from a human-centric perspective. If we solve the 'human' problem one day, we will not be discussing the issue of men and women or other problems related to humanity. Humanity has not yet solved itself. It has not yet figured out why it is in this world, why it was created.”
Prof. Dr. Güngör stated that because humanity has not solved itself and has not reached a certain point of maturity, it tries to prove its existence through various forms of separation, and continued her words as follows:
“This method of proof often manifests as gender discrimination, men and women… There are also other discriminations; ethnic discriminations, discriminations based on belief, discriminations based on race, social class discriminations, which is one of humanity's biggest problems, master and slave discrimination… Thinkers have always drawn attention to these issues for centuries, always warned, always highlighted these matters. ‘Human’ is human; ‘human’ cannot be separated as master and slave, woman and man. One side cannot be dominant and the other dependent, one side cannot be the laborer and the other the exploiter of that labor.”
Prof. Dr. Güngör: “When we say 'our women', we are not solving the problem. We are further reinforcing discrimination”
Prof. Dr. Güngör stated that ending the ongoing struggle in gender inequality is not possible with the understanding that men assume dominance and make women dependent, adding, “First, the discourse and understanding must change. Rather than defining them as woman and man, each individual must be accepted as a human being born into this world, seen as a human, and raised as a human.”
Prof. Dr. Güngör, pointing out that problems are reinforced rather than solved when attempting to address them, said, “For example, when we say ‘our women,’ we are not actually solving the problem. We are further reinforcing discrimination. Because it is also men who say ‘our women’; ‘we must help our women, we must solve our women's problems, we must crown our women’… This continues to keep women within a sphere of dependence. Perhaps not with anger or violence, but we prefer to hold them with love, we go for persuasion. Women do not want love; women and men want to live together in a fully egalitarian world with a human-centric understanding. There is no need to question women's capacity; women and men have the same capacity. As long as equal opportunities are given to all.” she concluded her remarks.
Akay: “We have women heroes in the national struggle. You are the women heroes of our time”
Cevdet Akay, President of the All Bureaucrats and Business People Confederation (TÜMBİKON) and 28th Term MP of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, who attended and spoke at the awards ceremony, said, “Atatürk was such a visionary person that he granted women the right to vote and be elected much earlier than even European countries. From those years, he expressed how important women are and that they should be in working life, and implemented this. We have women heroes in the national struggle. Today, women at the summit are heroes. You are the women heroes of our time. Being aware of this, we must always stand by you and contribute to your struggle.”
Following the opening speeches, Prof. Dr. Nilüfer Narlı, Head of the Bahçeşehir University Sociology Department, gave a presentation titled “Women and Leadership in the 21st Century,” and Demet Sabancı Çetindoğan, Chairman of the Shopsa Online E-Commerce Board, delivered a presentation titled “The Entrepreneurial Spirit of Women.”
Following the presentations, within the scope of the Women at the Summit Awards, Ayla Algan's daughter Sevi Algan (on her behalf), Demet Sabancı Çetindoğan, Demet Taner, Deniz Ülke Arıboğan, Esin Çelebi Bayru, İlkin Aydın, Ionna Kuçuradi, Lale Belkıs, Muazzez İlmiye Çığ, Nermin Abadan Unat, Nilüfer Narlı, Sakine Eruz, Semra Ünal, Suna Keskin, Tülin Barshan, and Türkan Kafadar were presented with awards and plaques.