Expanding its reach, the Purple Map has arrived in Istanbul, after Ankara and Eskişehir

UN Women Türkiye Country Office launched Purple Map, a gender responsive interactive tool, in Istanbul after Ankara and Eskişehir. The Purple Map, which shows the services of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality such as women's centers, social aids, day care centers, aims to make Istanbul more equal and safer for women.

The Purple Map Istanbul website is designed to produce policies tailored to the different needs and priorities of women, men, the elderly, and all society to enable Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality improve its services accordingly. The Purple Map shows the various needs of women, such as security, day care centers and social assistance, while also helping to identify areas of Istanbul in need of improvement.

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality plans to develop new gender responsive services by analyzing data through the map. The Purple Map Istanbul, prepared in collaboration with UN Women Türkiye, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), was financed by Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) within the scope of the "Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Leadership in Political and Business Life Project". The map was introduced at an event held at Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar International Convention and Exhibition Center with the participation of representatives of Istanbul's district municipalities and civil society organizations.

Making an opening speech at the launch event, Enif Yavuz Dipşar, Head of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Social Services Department said: "We plan and implement the services we carry out with the IMM Women vision from a gender equality-based perspective. Our main effort is to create spaces where women have equal rights and opportunities, can share the burden of care and meet their need for socialization; to expand the services they can access to education, employment and cultural opportunities and to build safe and free spaces for women together."

In the opening speech of the introductory meeting, Civil Society Volunteer and Academician Dr. Dilek Kaya Imamoğlu said, "Our solidarity that we started to create an equal world together is growing rapidly. I wish to reach the days when there are no obstacles in front of the dreams of girls, gender equality is achieved and violence against women ends as soon as possible."

UN Women Türkiye Country Director Asya Varbanova said: "Today we are not only marking the launch of The Purple Map Istanbul, but also a global campaign called 16 Days of Activism, which aims to raise awareness and take action to end violence against women and girls. We can achieve our goal of creating a world where human rights violations are prevented and ended through our collective efforts.  In this sense, The Purple Map Istanbul makes it possible to create more conscious and gender responsive policies and to provide social services that meet the needs of women. We believe that The Purple Map Istanbul can support Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's efforts for a more inclusive, safer and equal city."

Necla Zarakol, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Economic and Social Studies Foundation of Türkiye said: "We hope that The Purple Map, which has transformed municipalities' data-driven policy processes and gender responsive data governance in other provinces, will empower municipalities and civil society for stronger gender equality policies in Istanbul."

UN Women aims to continue promoting the map for the use of other municipalities in Türkiye and supporting municipalities in providing