A case on the effect of women's co-operatives on women's participation in economic life

The motivation of individuals to do business together in line with their own wishes dates back to ancient times. Based on the definition of co-operative, which means doing business together, this thesis examines the impact of women's co-operatives on women's participation in economic life. Women's co-operatives are an important social solidarity economy model for women's participation in economic life. Women voluntarily come together under the roof of a co-operative to meet their social, cultural and economic needs. Within the scope of the study, women's co-operatives are examined within the framework of the relationship between gender and development, and the concept of women's labour is examined in terms of the history of women's labour and women's entrepreneurship in Turkey. In this study, women's co-operatives, which offer an alternative model of social solidarity economy, are conceptually examined in the context of women's participation in economic life through co-operatives, co-operative development in the ort and in Turkey, the emergence of women's co-operatives in Turkey, and the relationship between Syrian women who are involved in these co-operatives within the framework of social cohesion and local women. Interviews with 6 women's co-operatives operating in three different regions of Turkey revealed that women's empowerment actually starts with local organisation; the co-operatives have made it possible for women who leave their homes ort he first time in their lives and establish their social environment outside their husbands, children and relatives to create their "new selves". Based on the concept of "patriarchal bargaining", members of women's co-operatives have learned to balance unpaid care work and co-operative activities, and have gained solidarity practices under the same roof as women of different classes, races and ethnicities.