Women in the Turkish Healthcare System: A Gender Analysis of Workforce Participation

Urhan B., Etiler N.

INDIAN JOURNAL OF LABOUR ECONOMICS, 2026 (ESCI)

Özet

T & uuml;rkiye's healthcare sector is becoming increasingly female-dominated, creating job opportunities, and highlighting` gendered employment patterns. This study explores women's working conditions in this sector and examines the impact of employment growth through a gender lens. The analysis draws on nationally representative microdata from the 2021 Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), focusing on workers in the health sector classified under Nomenclature of Economic Activities (NACE) 86 (human health services). To investigate long-term changes in the workforce, we also conducted secondary analyses using data from the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Council of Higher Education. The health sector is a significant employment source for women, with 2.4% of men and 7.3% of women employed in the sector. Women constitute 57.7% of the healthcare workforce, are primarily concentrated in professional and "technicians/associate professional". However, their representation in managerial positions remains limited, indicating persistent vertical and horizontal gender segregation. Women employed in health services are also generally younger and have shorter job tenure than men, and the gender wage gap in the sector is larger than the average across all sectors. The gender distribution of students in health sciences further suggests that feminisation of the healthcare sector will persist in the near future. Overall, while the expansion of health employment has increased women's access to work, it has also reinforced occupational segregation and gendered divisions of labour, contributing to the persistence of gender inequalities in the sector.