Women's organizations in rural area and the position of the man: Kilis Ravanda Women's Organization case study

The empowerment of women for rural development has become one of the objectives of development practitioners. This study includes the analysis of a rural women's organization, which is the output of the rural development program, through the strengthening of the rural women's organization. For this purpose, the support of the foundation and the support of the women in the villages at the end of the rural development project that Hüsnü M. Özyeğin Foundation carried out for five years in Musabeyli District of Kilis Ravandalı Women Association, which was founded with the motivation, was chosen as an analysis unit. The study examines the empowerment phenomenon of women's organizations in the context of social, economic, organizational dimensions and gender relations in the private sphere. Men's perceptions of women's empowerment experiences and men's perceptions and thoughts give us clues about the position of men in the process of empowerment. Thus, the process of empowerment of women and men is thought to develop a holistic perspective to ensure gender equality. For this purpose, in-depth interviews with women and active women in the Association of Women from Ravanda for an average of 1.5-2 hours and a focus group discussion with the board members for the determination of the organizational strengthening dynamics and problems of the association were made. As a result of the research, it is revealed that women are involved in the process of social and economic empowerment and they are experienced as a reflection of other forms of empowerment and psychological empowerment, and that the organizational and social empowerment is related to the dynamics of relatively dense dynamics. The effect of men's thoughts / behaviors on the experiences of empowerment of women in social and private spheres is seen as a source of concern for men.