Weekly Press Release of Istanbul Gelisim University (March 09-13, 2020)

Abstract

Indicating that 200 thousand premature babies born each year in Turkey İlknur Okay, President of ‘El Bebek Gül Bebek Association’, noted the insufficient maternity leave of mothers working in this painful process starting from the birth of the baby, and said that “maternity leave should start after birth”. In order to raise awareness for mothers who have premature babies, the program “Being a Mother of Premature” was organized by Istanbul Gelisim University Gender Research Application Center for 8 March International Women’s Day. Within the scope of the program, mothers with premature babies who are specialized in various sectors and academic fields came together and shared their success in keeping their babies alive with university students. İlknur Okay, President of El Bebek Gül Bebek Association, one of the guests and now has two premature daughters in her 20s, talked about the problems experienced by parents who have premature babies. Okay noted that 80 percent of mothers and fathers feel guilty about the premature birth of their babies, and it caused by the pressure of the social environment, according to their research as an association with 500 parents who have premature babies. You can visit www.gelisim.edu.tr to see the detailed news.