Women's Empowerment in Turkish Women's Cooperatives: An Ethnographic Account

Date

2023-7-7

Author

Aşık Akdemir, Kübra

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This Ph.D. dissertation provides an in-depth examination of women's empowerment through cooperatives from a social reproduction perspective. The study aims to better grasp to what extent women attain empowerment through participating in cooperatives and to investigate the underlying aspects of struggles women face in their everyday lives through a social reproduction lens. The women's empowerment approach is developed to eliminate gender inequalities in favor of women, and the term is conceptualized and operationalized as a multidimensional process that has a promising potential to transform women's lives by enabling them to make strategic life choices about their own lives. The incorporation of social reproduction theory into this dissertation operates as an analytical tool to delve into the women's everyday real-life experiences that provide a comprehensive perspective for analyzing the process of empowerment. The dissertation investigates the extent of women's empowerment through women's cooperatives in Türkiye by drawing evidence from the ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Kastamonu Sarı Konak Women's Cooperative in Türkiye. Research has shown that women achieve economic, psychological, social, and organizational empowerment by participating in women's cooperatives. The impact of psychological, social, and organizational empowerment is more significant than that of economic empowerment. women face limitations and restrictions on their daily choices and activities due to social reproductive duties and responsibilities. However, the study indicates that women experience positive changes in their lives through participation in cooperatives, despite the challenges they face. Women can achieve empowerment through this process, even when social reproductive duties and responsibilities pose obstacles in their daily lives.

Subject Keywords

Women's Empowerment, Women's Cooperatives, Socail Reproduction Theory, Patriarchy, Gender Politics

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/104810

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis