Youth and Sports Minister Akif Çağatay Kılıç has said the most important asset of women is motherhood, adding that motherhood is the “greatest and most honorable” thing that could be given to a human being.
Speaking at an inauguration ceremony for a branch of the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM) in the Black Sea province of Samsun on Friday, Kılıç said: “We don’t say men and women are equal in all aspects. But we do say they are equal with regards to their rights and before the law. … The perception created by rampant capitalism about women is not correct, in our view. Maybe their creations are different, but the most important attribute that God gave women is motherhood.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also makes frequent statements about the role of women as mothers, which draw widespread reaction, particularly from women’s groups in the society.
In a controversial statement he made earlier this year, Erdoğan said a woman who refrained from having children out of a desire to work was “deficient” and “in denial of her womanhood.”