Story of Esra Karali, Dirgine Forestry Director

After driving 2.5 hours from Ankara, we arrive at the village of Yazıcık in the district of Devrek of Zonguldak. Of course our first contact is with Dirgine District Directorate of Forestry. We drink our teas brewed while we were approaching and then hit the road again.

Dirgine District Directorate of Forestry along with the Director Ms. Esra, one deputy director, five forest chiefs three of whom are men and one conservation officer, in a family like relationship, all surround the forest with its seeds, branches, logs, leaves, mud, road, water, men, women, young ones, elders, children…

There were three women in the life of our director Ms. Esra that had inspired her. One of them is her mother who raised her three children singleheadedly. While talking about her mother she emphasizes how powerful and hardworking she was and her work discipline. “When I was little, sometimes I missed my mother when she was at work…” she says, while expressing how she was proud of her mother back then, as well as today. 

Then she adds smiling bitterly, just like every woman who has a profession. “We do the same. But it is necessary. Sometimes I think about my children. I suppose they are going to understand me too”. And joyfully she adds, “Both my sons say they are proud of me. Then I get so happy seeing that nothing I did is in vain, my efforts, devotion do not go down the drain. Seeing that my children understood this even at this age makes me feel that the thing I do is right and I will never regret it”.

"The ones who follow, walk with the courage of knowing where to step, and the one who leads them, by knowing that she is being followed."

Ms. Esra, whose mother also worked in the directorate of forestry as well as her father, had spent her childhood among the foresters. While she was in high school, a woman who visited their house used the words “I am the forest engineer…” when she was introducing herself. This impressed Ms. Esra so much. Another person who was also impressed by this word at that day was the grandmother of Ms. Esra. She had said to her granddaughter by showing the visiting forest engineer, “Esra, my little one, your mother could not make it, at least you can become a forest engineer”.

Then Ms. Esra had attended to the faculty. She had come to the grade 3. This time the person who had inspired her was a forest chief whom she came into contact with only one day during her internship. With the words of Ms. Esra, “that one day” had changed everything. She remembers how she admiringly observed the chief, the way she sat in the tent drinking tea, her clothes, her relations with the villagers and then she recalls saying to herself “I will also be like this woman”.

Years had passed, this time it was Ms. Esra’s turn to give inspiration to other women. She had met young colleagues who said “I want to be like you”. One of the woman chiefs in the team says pointing her “They are opening the way for us, we follow their steps”. There is solidarity hidden in these words.

The ones who follow, walk with the courage of knowing where to step, and the one who leads them, by knowing that she is being followed.

Ms. Esra’s message to those who follow is: “All the girls, all the women who want to become a forester, believe me, this profession is so pleasing; it is so pleasing that you do not get scared. When you do it with love it is not difficult, just like any other profession. Man or woman, it does not matter. As long as you work with devotion. Yes, it may need some devotion. But if you like it, believe me, you will care nothing at all. Neither the problems nor the road you make, nothing… Just do not give up”. She points herself and says “We are here!”

We are inside the common beech forests that have not yet flourished. We see bushes, branches, some reaching out to our belly, and some to our knees. To our surprise, these are those young saplings they took care meticulously which came out of the seeds taken from the old trees with great difficulty. Mr. Emrah, one of our chiefs, tells how the young saplings are treated and how the women from the village work for this. Then Ms. Esra tells the tasks which the women take on in various areas of production not just taking care of saplings in regeneration works.

Forestry is a profession where 417 different tasks which change according to the season, are assumed. The teams at the sub-district directorates are the staff who carry out all these tasks, meet the needs and implement the practices.

Pointing to all her workmates, Ms. Esra says: “This is a team work. I am very fond of my team. I look out for my team also. And they look out for me. We are like a family. I never want them to get into trouble, I do not want them to get hurt. In my 22 years of career I was with my team both in active work and on the site. As long as I remain in this profession I will always look out for my team whichever team I work with.”

From district director to the conservation officer, an important part of the shift of the forester is spent with the villagers. Relations with the forest villagers is of vital importance, especially in the Dirgine District Directorate of Forestry, which is administered by a director like Ms. Esra who gets involved personally with the whole process, knows the site very well and follows the things going on. The villagers are satisfied. They say, “You never know where our director is. All of a sudden she appears in the forest” speaking of her with love and respect.

Getting on well with the villagers, strengthening the relations, convincing them to the new practices can be easier for woman forest chiefs. “We never heard any insult from the villagers; a possible conflict or a fight that could normally take place is avoided when there is a woman forester”, says Ms. Esra.

“This job” says Ms. Esra, “is not an easy job, some can do it, others are eliminated. It is a job requiring devotion as well as competency”. I understand from all these talks and the things I saw that there is nothing women cannot do related to the forestry.

However, in more than 254 directorates of forestry, the number of women directors can be counted on the fingers of two hands. Women directors, whose number reach eight, administer 3.36% of the all district directorates. And only 13.64% of all the chiefs are women. This ratio is unfortunately under 30% which is foreseen for providing equal participation in any field and known as the “critical threshold”. And in decision-making positions and higher levels of the hierarchy, this number decreases. This number will be higher as long as the examples and role models like Ms. Esra increase and become visible, competent and equipped directors like the ones in Dirgine are raised and the supporting approach of the administrators for the progress of women in the field of forestry is maintained.

UNDP Turkey, General Forestry Directorate in Turkey and the Global Environment Fund (GEF) are working together to protect Turkey's forests.

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