Güler Sabancı: "Equality Is Not a Choice, It Is Our Shared Responsibility"

Güler Sabancı, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Sabancı Vakfı, emphasized commitment to the struggle for gender equality in a message released on International Women's Day on 8 March. Sabancı stated, "When it comes to equality, we have never hesitated to speak up, produce solutions and fight. Because hesitation could never be an option in the pursuit of equality."

Drawing attention to the concrete impact of gender equality work conducted by the Foundation for over 20 years in the field, Sabancı noted that they continue to develop sustainable solutions for equal access of women and girls to fundamental rights. Sabancı said, "For over 50 years, we have been working to empower women and girls who have been unable to access equal opportunities in many areas, from quality education to participation in economic and social life. We are developing measurable models to eliminate systematic barriers; we aim to create lasting impact through collaboration with local, national and international stakeholders."

Over 856,000 Women and Girls Reached
Sabancı also shared the results of the Gender Equality Impact Research, conducted for the first time in 2025, expressing that the Foundation's long-term work demonstrates its field impact through data. According to the research, projects conducted over the past 20 years have created a broad impact across all provinces of Turkey.

Through more than 100 projects and programs implemented during this period, including the Young Women Building Their Future Project, the Prevention of Child Marriage Project, the Purple Certificate Program and the Change Makers Program, over 856,000 women and girls have gained awareness about their rights.

Sabancı also emphasized that work conducted with over 4,000 stakeholders demonstrates the transformative power of civil society solidarity. Noting that one in every two civil society organizations supported received its first grant from Sabancı Vakfı, Sabancı stated that this support has been an important starting point for many institutions in terms of accessing new funds and development.

"We Raised Our Voices Wherever Silence Deepened Inequality"
In her message, Sabancı stated that the struggle for equality is a collective responsibility and made the following assessment:

"A future where equal access to rights is a natural part of life is possible. This requires determination, solidarity and the will to act together. We will continue to scale up models that are rooted locally and can spread at the national level; we will continue our work that is data-driven, trust-based and open to cooperation. Equality is not a choice, it is our shared responsibility."

Multidimensional Impact Approach
Sabancı Vakfı addresses gender equality as an area of structural transformation and conducts work in many areas including education, employment, combating early and forced marriage, and capacity development of civil society organizations. Through the programs it has developed, the Foundation aims to create an impact ecosystem that not only supports projects but also scales locally empowered models to the national level.

Listed among the world's seven best foundations working in the field of gender equality in a philanthropy report published by the OECD in 2019, Sabancı Vakfı continues its work to ensure that women and girls have equal opportunities in all areas of life.