Her Excellency Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi,
Minister of Women’s Affairs,

Her Excellency Dr. Phoeurng Sackona
(Pıgıng Sakona), Minister of Culture and Fine Arts,

Honorable Dr. Khuon Sudary,
Cambodian Vice-President of the National Assembly and the Chair of Cambodian
Women’s Caucus,

Her Excellency Kheng Samvada,

Dear Secretaries of State, Governors

Distinguished Ambassadors, colleagues, guests
and dear sisters,

It is an
honor to address you today on this
occasion of such an important and successful event, bringing such prominent
women together, who pursue the same goal of eradicating ignorance, advocating women’s
empowerment and gender equality.

As a woman, a mother and an Ambassador, I
would like to begin my words with my cordial wish, that across the world, inequality, discrimination and violence
that women are exposed to, come to an
end.

Coming
from Türkiye which is one of the first countries in the world to
enable women to have political and legal right to vote and to be elected in
1934, before many other countries of the world, I am sharing the pride with you
to be a part of the commitment of women
power to participate in the decision-making mechanisms at our own
countries.

Esteemed guests,

Equal and fair representation of women in every field of social life is of utmost importance in a country’s march
towards a brighter future.

In line with this understanding, Türkiye, since establishment of the
Republic by our founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, has taken considerable steps on enhancing the legal
fundamentals of women’s rights.

As women’s empowerment is one of the top
priorities of our Government, we support legislative amendments with policies
and concrete actions.

Türkiye’s commitment for
women empowerment is not only limited to
Turkish women.

As you
might all know, Türkiye, as of 2021, has become the world’s largest refugee hosting country for the 8^th time
(3.6 million); and the majority of
immigrants in our country are women
and children. With this in mind, we provide
services of all kinds for women and their children on equal terms with Turkish citizens, without any discrimination.

For the
last two years, as the world had a dramatic turmoil because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we cannot deny that
it has adversely affected the lives of
all persons around the world regardless of wealth and social status.

I am
proud to say that Türkiye has taken all
necessary measures to prevent the pandemic from disproportionately affecting women and their economic freedom.

Dear Guests,

As of speaking my country’s accomplishments in
this field, I have to highlight Cambodia’s
persistence and devotion for advocating gender equality and women empowerment.

It is pleasing to see that under the leadership of Samdech Techo Hun Sen, gender aspects have been integrated in many national laws in Cambodia, and the status of women in public leadership and politics has been
highlighted.

Additionally, strategic Plans on strengthening women, recognizing essential
roles of women in all areas of life, along with efforts to increase female enrollment and schooling rates of girls,
are promising.

In line with this understanding, I would like
to say that it is my sincere wish to further
develop our relations with Cambodia in women’s empowerment as in all other fields.

The most recent example of such cooperation is,
signing of Memorandum of Understanding
in the field of Women’s Empowerment between the Turkish Ministry of Family and
Social Services and the Esteemed Ministry of Women’s Affairs

Dear Guests,

Having spent more than thirty years of my
life in a career, which requires performing duties devotedly in
different locations of the world and often under most difficult circumstances, in
retrospect, success did not come along
that easily.

My
generation was raised in an era of increasing
equality, a trend we thought would continue. Women and men are equal, women
are great. This is the true!

We all
started to bear the full burden of
professional life and at the same time raised
a family and kids. However, no one told us it would have become two different full-time jobs; one at office
and one at home. I am sure every single working mother in this hall, would
confirm how hard this challenging surprise hit us.

Let’s
look at this issue from another perspective.

Almost
in every society woman gets the message
of necessity to make a choice between having professional achievements and being
a good mother.

And
while trying to find a balance between these two, she automatically falls behind than her male peers, regardless of
the fact that how brilliant or hard working she is.

Yet, we
must admit, the challenges do not end there.

As
women become stronger and more present in public space, the antifemale mentality
also gets stronger.

The
most evident example for this could be the
stereotypical attitude on the basis of gender in the workplaces.

Sometimes,
our professional ambition in the
workplace can turn into our own Brutus.
As men are applauded for their dedication to work, receive compliments
on their hard work; on the contrary
in the same display of traits, we, women, are accused of “being too ambitious”. For women, ambition is not used as a compliment; but instead chosen as a biased indicator of a hidden insult.

Dear brilliant young women,

Considering
all of these, my personal advice would be: Do
not let anyone take you down!

Those
challenges might cast shadow on sometimes your happiness or your ideals. Yet
what you must do is to equip yourselves
with the best tool you can find, in order to raise your shield up.

Do not enter the workforce with an already-built idea of quitting some
time.

Do not put on the brakes on your pace,
your career or your ideals.

You
would never know what life can bring to you. Career path is not a linear
staircase; but has its ups and downs. Try to explore and enjoy the unexpected opportunities; but do not be afraid of the challenges, be open minded.

Whereas
do not hesitate to ask for help.
Depending on the work environment, this person can be your senior, colleagues, mentor or peer. But be brave and share your thoughts
if you need help.

Always
speak your own truth within the dynamics of that specific situation. Being
honest in the workplace is sometimes indeed difficult – I cannot deny- but do
not bury what you would like to share in the ground.

Distinguished guests,

For
decades, we have focused on women empowerment, giving women the choice to join
the workforce or supporting them if they decide to work inside home.

However,
as we were too focused on personal
choices, we ignored the fact that encouraging
women for leadership is also very important.

We
always speak that we are mothers, wives and daughters, we have equal rights;
yet we rarely speak of how to advocate women’s career advancement.

I must
say, this is the most crucial aspect making this Forum become prominent.

We must
close the leadership gap now. We must urge the decision makers to take
necessary actions. We must set forth our will to lead.

And we,
as the women in executive levels or at leadership positions, pose a role model for younger generations.
Thus, we have to be more visible,
accessible and supportive.

I
personally believe as we start taking advantage of the potential of the entire population, by including women by all means,
our countries will be stronger, our institutions will be more productive and
our children will grow up in happy families without any rooted prejudice.

I hope soon,
we will be talking about no women’s
rights, but only human rights; no female leaders, but only leaders.

Before I end my speech, I would also like to
take this opportunity to thank notably to Lok
Chimteuv Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi, Lok Chimteuv Kheng Samvada and every officer
at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, for their dedicated work; which made it
possible for me to come together with you.

I would
like to share my personal happiness to share
the same ideals with such a brilliant audience.

Thank you.