And yet, in the development stakes, judging from the data contained in the latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report, Turkey seems to have chosen the harder option. Its society is composed of two genders, but only one is allowed to develop the muscle the country needs to maximize its human and economic potential.
There has undoubtedly been a huge improvement in Turkey's social development in the past few decades and graphs show a relatively steady upward trend. But when you look beyond the gross domestic product (GDP) figures (the data, by the way, was collected before the recent downturn), important imbalances still hinder Turkey's progress. In many ways, it is surprising that Turkey has done as well given its self-imposed limitations.
While the country ranks 63rd in the world in terms of income with a GDP per capita of $12,955 (adjusted for purchasing power parity or PPP), its Human Development Index, which takes into account life expectancy, health and education, lags 16 points behind. Turkey has a Human Poverty Index, which refers to the proportion of people deprived not just economically but also lacking in the various dimensions of human development, of 8.3 percent. Children underweight for their age account for 5 percent of 5-year-olds.
This suggests the government failed to adopt policies that would have allowed human development to keep up with the rapid pace of economic progress in recent years. Nor has the development of Turkey's society paralleled trends beyond its borders since the country regressed from 78th to 79th place in the world since the previous report.
This does not bode well for the coming period. With high unemployment not expected to drop any time soon, poverty is expected to rise throughout the world and the right policies need to be in place to protect the most vulnerable against further hardship.
Other countries also suffer from mismatches. In the United States, the GDP per capita overtakes human development by four points, largely because of large income discrepancies that particularly affect minorities. But several successful examples have also demonstrated that with the right approach, high health and education standards can be achieved with a relatively low income. Cuba, despite the US trade embargo that limits its per capita income to just over half of Turkey's, achieves a level of human development that places it 50th in the world.
It is when indicators are adjusted to take into account inequalities between men and women that the scope of Turkey's gender gap emerges. Hampered by female education ratios that remain well below those of boys, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels, Turkey plummets to 126th rank globally. When women's ratios of participation in the public sphere, be it in politics or in the labor force, are aggregated into a Gender Empowerment Measure, Turkey is among the countries left behind, ranking only 101st among the 109 countries for which the data is available.
Ask anyone in the streets and they will tell you that they aspire to the kind of living standards that European Union countries enjoyed, at least until recently, and yet, while most countries rely on the contribution of their entire population to achieve these goals, Turkey is trying to reach the same targets with only half its own. Turkish women work hard at home, but their participation is not rewarded by a say in the decision-making and their contribution to society as a whole remains limited.
Does it make sense? Investing in human capital, including female human capital, has a direct impact on the sustainability of economic growth as well as the welfare of individuals. An educated mother is better equipped to bring up healthy children and help them achieve their own intellectual potential. Plenty of studies have shown the direct correlation between gender equality and the fight against poverty.
Yet this dimension remains one of Turkey's blind spots. Perhaps it is time for the government to launch a social, as well as a democratic, opening to ensure that women and young people -- who are also too often ignored -- can truly contribute to, and benefit from, the country's overall progress.
