A women's cooperative and women's solidarity experiences

This master's thesis focuses on women's labor in the kitchen and women's cooperative experiences as a reflection of women's organization. In this study, feminist theoretical framework is adopted. The research aims to analyze women's labor in the kitchen and women's cooperative experiences from a sociological point of view. A case study based on a qualitative method was carried out in a women's cooperative in Balıkesir for this purpose. The study has two main parameters. On the one hand, the process of establishing a cooperative and what and how they experienced in this process were analyzed. On the other hand, by focusing on productive working women, how they experience taking part in the women's cooperative has been examined. Their existence in the kitchen, which constitutes a dimension of women's labor, has been subjected to sociological analysis with both home and cooperative dimensions. For the analysis of the findings, especially the analysis of Marxist and socialist feminists has been used within feminist theory. According to the main results of the study, founding women stated that they act on "what women do best". For this view, they established a cooperative based on food products. Nevertheless, women faced with some social and economic problems both the establishment of the cooperative and the following period. Women also confronted some difficulties regarding the functioning of the cooperative. When we think about productive women, women have been put under "double burden" as subjects with behavior at home and in the cooperative kitchen. However, it has been observed that the cooperative has some gains for women. They have achieved important gains, especially with their individual and social dimensions. The economic gain of the cooperative is in the background.Women have become visible in the public sphere through the cooperative kitchen where popular, local and traditional flavors are blended.