Parliament happy with MİT response
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hurriyet
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Temmuz 09, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - The head of Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Commission says she is satisfied with the confidential response submitted by the National Intelligence Organization in regard to its recent employment policies. She does, however, blast colleagues for leaking confidential info.
The National Intelligence Organization, or MİT, responded to criticism about its alleged gender-biased hiring policies by saying it recruits personnel based on its needs in the field.
The MİT sent a confidential memo to Parliament’s Equal Opportunity Commission after the commission warned it about gender bias in its recruitment criteria for the past two years. The commission noticed ads that said the MİT was looking for male employees only.
Because the memo was branded "confidential," Güldal Akşit, head of the commission, did not distribute copies of the memo to the other commission members. According to the statements of the members who read the document in the file, the MİT indicated that most of its recently hired personnel were being sent to the eastern and southeastern parts of the country and that was why the required qualifications were "brave, resistant to pressure and stress, and able to control reactions." The document also pointed to the importance of the regional-specific qualities required by personnel assigned outside of the country’s major cities.
'Satisfactory answer’
"We have received a reasonable, satisfying answer. We have filed the document and closed this case," said Akşit, who also blasted the leaking of the contents to the press. "I did not even read it out in the commission because it is marked ’confidential,’" said Akşit. "We are not a unit that can intervene in the methods of running an institution. We were only interested in finding out if there was gender discrimination in the recruitment ads."
Akşit also said they were neither interested nor going to intervene in how the MİT works and who they work with. "It is an institution that has special working conditions; it needs to be respected," Akşit said, and added that the MİT stated it has female executive personnel.
Şenol Bal, a member of the commission, said every institution may have specific conditions depending on their field of work and she does not evaluate the matter as a gender issue. Bal also said there were many female employees working for the MİT and that there may or may not be jobs in the MİT for women in the Southeast. "This should be left to the initiative of the institutions. Instead of that, let us evaluate the number of women in decision-making positions, the level of secretariats, governorships and other general directorates," she said.
The MİT sent a confidential memo to Parliament’s Equal Opportunity Commission after the commission warned it about gender bias in its recruitment criteria for the past two years. The commission noticed ads that said the MİT was looking for male employees only.
Because the memo was branded "confidential," Güldal Akşit, head of the commission, did not distribute copies of the memo to the other commission members. According to the statements of the members who read the document in the file, the MİT indicated that most of its recently hired personnel were being sent to the eastern and southeastern parts of the country and that was why the required qualifications were "brave, resistant to pressure and stress, and able to control reactions." The document also pointed to the importance of the regional-specific qualities required by personnel assigned outside of the country’s major cities.
'Satisfactory answer’
"We have received a reasonable, satisfying answer. We have filed the document and closed this case," said Akşit, who also blasted the leaking of the contents to the press. "I did not even read it out in the commission because it is marked ’confidential,’" said Akşit. "We are not a unit that can intervene in the methods of running an institution. We were only interested in finding out if there was gender discrimination in the recruitment ads."
Akşit also said they were neither interested nor going to intervene in how the MİT works and who they work with. "It is an institution that has special working conditions; it needs to be respected," Akşit said, and added that the MİT stated it has female executive personnel.
Şenol Bal, a member of the commission, said every institution may have specific conditions depending on their field of work and she does not evaluate the matter as a gender issue. Bal also said there were many female employees working for the MİT and that there may or may not be jobs in the MİT for women in the Southeast. "This should be left to the initiative of the institutions. Instead of that, let us evaluate the number of women in decision-making positions, the level of secretariats, governorships and other general directorates," she said.