Thanks to the Turkish government's employment mobilization program, women have taken up half of all 8.6 million new jobs created in the last decade, Labor and Social Security Minister Jülide Sarıeroğlu said yesterday.

"Nearly 4.2 million women were employed during this period. This is a unique success story for Turkey," she said, adding that the government is looking to increase that number even further.

Sarıeroğlu said that women's participation rate in Turkey's labor force was 33.8 percent. "Our target is to take that number to 41 percent by 2023. I believe that we can exceed the target," she told Anadolu Agency (AA).

Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci yesterday said that his ministry and affiliated units have opened a new front for women, as 939 out of some its 2,376 personnel in central, provincial, foreign and circulating capital organizations are female; almost 40 percent. Zeybekci said they were looking to increase that number. Meanwhile, Science, Industry and Technology Minister Faruk Özlü said that they wanted more and more women to join every field of work. "If the women of a country do not participate in business and work, it cannot reach its development and growth targets."

"Therefore, making women a part of the labor force should be a social goal," Özlü said.

The Agriculture and Rural Development Support Institution (TKDK) has provided support of over TL 509.36 million ($134.23 million) to 1,198 female entrepreneurs investing in rural areas.

Moreover, Zeybekci added that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has put into action a number of measures and reforms to increase women's employment.