The political economy of women's cooperatives in Turkey: A social reproduction perspective

Abstract

The article analyzes the viability of women's participation in women's cooperatives in Turkey. The prospects are evaluated by focusing on the sustainability of the cooperatives' economic activities as well as the recruitment and continued participation of individual women members. Taking a feminist social reproduction perspective, the article seeks to understand the underlying dynamics of women's participation in cooperatives, as this perspective enables us to analyze this participation as a process and captures the permeability between women's social reproduction duties, women's relationship with the state, and the economic market. Based on countrywide, semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with members of women's cooperatives in Turkey, we find that familial constraints as well as governmental policies and practices challenge women's economic development aspirations in the cooperatives, while social class deeply informs the challenges faced as well as the resources available to and strategies developed by women. The resulting analysis demonstrates that familial, social, and political issues related to social reproduction need to be addressed prior to focusing on the impact of cooperatives on women's empowerment. This is essential to ensuring the success of women's cooperatives and the continued provision of meaningful opportunities for women's participation.

Social reproduction: Households, public policies, and alternative organizing

“…In a second paper on organizations conceived to build cooperation among women, “The political economy of women's cooperatives in Turkey: A social reproduction perspective”, Ugur‐Cinar et al. (2022) examined the viability of women's engagement in employment cooperatives in Turkey. The authors question the permeable connections between women's sustained membership in cooperatives and expectations for women's duties at home.…”

“…At the organizational level, the papers in this SI highlight the variability in alternative organizing, not only in organizational form and function but also in interaction with cultural constructs shaping involvement in these organizations. Cultural constraints assigning women the primary caretaker role or defining acceptable approaches to parenting may hinder both women's and men's ability to participate in cooperatives (Price‐Glynn, 2022; Ugur‐Cinar et al., 2022). The novelty of conclusions reached across unique contexts in this SI suggests that further similar work is needed to make visible the powerful forces and discourses that valorize the status quo and restrict changes to the productive, reproductive, and community roles of marginalized populations.…”