Is concerned that the proportion of pre-school enrolment among children in the 0-5 age group is still very low and that there is a lack of progress in the provision of childcare and pre-school education facilities; urges the Turkish government to allocate sufficient resources for the extension of affordable childcare services for this age-group; further calls on it to amend its regulation on childcare centres, which obliges workplaces employing more than 150 women to provide free-of-charge childcare, since this provision reflects a discriminatory approach implying that child-rearing is the sole responsibility of women and negatively in ...[+++]fluences companies' decisions as regards hiring more women;

- Soziales (Kindergärten, Kindertagesheime, Erholungseinrichtungen, Kinder- und Jugendheime, Freizeiteinrichtungen, Gemeinschafts- und Bürgerhäuser, Frauenhäuser, Altersheime, Obdachlosenunterkünfte)/[social welfare: nursery schools, children's playschools, rest-homes, children's homes, hostels for young people, leisure centres, community and civic centres, homes for battered wives, old people's homes, accommodation for the homeless],

It is also a matter of reconciling work and private life by increasing the number of childcare facilities so as to provide childcare by 2010 to at least 90% of children between three years and the mandatory school-leaving age and at least 33% of children under three years of age.

After mixed results so far, it should be further monitored in which way the childcare allowance reaches its objectives without delaying efforts to increase more forcefully the offer of childcare facilities, especially for those below three years of age, where regional demand exists.

promoting gender equality by conducting systematic gender impact assessment for new policy proposals, by increasing female participation in key areas such as higher education and research, by promoting structures which enable women to keep their jobs, such as childcare facilities.

The establishment of childcare centres for 7.500 children has almost been completed, and 191 Social Welfare Centres for the care of the elderly were created.