Poverty of women working in the informal sector: The cases of Ordu and Giresun provinces

Poverty is a problem for many countries around the world. Globalization, neoliberal policies, flexible labor markets are some of the factors that reinforce this problem. Poverty is a phenomenon that affects human life and reduces the standard of living. According to the United Nations Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2023, between 824 and 991 million of the 1.1 billion people in 110 countries lack adequate health care, housing or fuel. More than half of these poor people lack nutrition, electricity or education of years. At the same time, more than two-fifths of poor people live in severe poverty. In the light of these data, it is seen that poverty is not single but multidimensional and directly affects the lives of many people and at the same time, if adequate measures are not taken, it can be transmitted from generation to generation. Women constitute one of the disadvantaged groups living in poverty. Women's poverty is affected by a wide range of factors such as gender inequality, patriarchal culture, globalization, neoliberal policies and informal labor markets. These factors create obstacles for women to enter the labor market. This thesis focuses on the poverty of women working in the informal sector. The aim of this thesis is to understand the poverty experiences and coping strategies of women living in small towns of Anatolia such as Ünye and Giresun and working in the informal sector. The research aims to address the poverty experienced by women in both the private and public spheres in a multidimensional rather than a unidimensional way. For this reason, the poverty experienced by women has been tried to be understood and interpreted by selecting many themes ranging from their educational status, age of marriage, patriarchal (male-dominated) cultural perceptions, how they got married, solidarity networks, informal markets, migration, neoliberal policies by conducting necessary analyzed and in-depth interviews. In this context, in-depth interviews were conducted with fifthy-two (52) women from Ünye district of Ordu and Giresun province. These interviews were tried to be blended with the literature. Based on experiences of the women, it was seen that poverty is not only caused by economic reasons, but that there are many factors that cause it.