Abstract
On March 22, 2017 Borsa Istanbul (BIST) hosted the launch of the 30% Club's Turkey Chapter as a business led campaign, aimed at improving corporate boards' gender diversity.The founding members of the 30% Club Turkey represent most of Turkey's powerful business groups that collectively dominate the stock market.The 30% Club in Turkey is a spin off from the Independent Women Directors Project, that was initiated by Sabanci University's Corporate Governance Forum when the Capital Markets Board of Turkey amended its Corporate Governance Guidelines in 2012, recommending that companies set a target level of no less than 25% women on their boards.The Forum, which maintains a database of female talent and tracks improvement in BIST boards' gender diversity, facilitates and coordinates the 30% Club Turkey campaign.These targets correspond to approximately a three-fold increase in the number of professional women on corporate boards from the current level considering that half of the women sitting on corporate boards today are members of controlling shareholder families.