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Can Women’s Cooperatives be a Solution for the Empowerment of Syrian Refugee Women?

Year 2023, Issue: Özel Sayı, 56 - 73, 10.08.2023

Abstract

This paper offers a critical reflective analysis of multiple dimensions of refugee women’s cooperatives with a reference to the concepts of material and non-material precarity. As a result of integration policies towards increasing the refugee population in Turkey, the number of international and national support programs for Syrian refugee women in Turkey has increased. As one of the important outcomes of these support programs, women’s cooperatives are seen as a solution to assist Syrian refugee women. In the light of growing literature on Syrian refugee women’s participation in the informal labor market, this paper scrutinizes the possibilities and arguments for the empowerment of Syrian refugee women over three selected cooperative projects. This paper explores the role of cooperatives and their potential to enhance Syrian refugee women's working and living conditions, ultimately leading to empowerment, from a gender perspective. For this purpose, different dimensions of the cooperatives are discussed such as the ambiguous use and measurement of the empowerment discourse, non-material precarity that Syrian refugee women experience, and the type of gendered work provided for women in cooperatives.

References

  • Assi, R., Özger-İlhan, S., & İlhan, M. N. (2019). Health Needs and Access to Health Care: The Case of Syrian Refugees in Turkey. Public Health, 172, 146-152.
  • Atar, E., Hossain, F., & Ullah, A. A. (2022). Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Exploring the Role of I/NGOs in the Refugee Crisis. Third World Quarterly, 1-15.
  • Atakan, A. G., & Çoban, A. (2022). Kadin Kooperatifleri, In: Kentlerin Yeni ve Eskimeyen Sorunları. Kaya, G., Şeker, A.(edt). 239-258 Ankara: Nika Yayınevi.
  • Baban, F., Ilcan, S., & Rygiel, K. (2017). Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Pathways to Precarity, Differential Inclusion, and Negotiated Citizenship Rights. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(1), 41-57.
  • Batliwala, S. (2007). Taking the Power out of Empowerment– An Experiential Account. Development in Practice, 17(4-5), 557-565.
  • Bloome, D., Burk, D., & McCall, L. (2019). Economic Self-reliance and Gender Inequality Between US Men and Women, 1970–2010. American Journal of Sociology, 124(5), 1413-1467.
  • Çınar, K., Akyüz, S., Uğur-Çınar, M. & Önculer-Yayalar, E. (2021). Faces and Phases of Women’s Empowerment: The Case of Women’s Cooperatives in Turkey. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 28(3), 778-805.
  • Cornwall, A. (2016). Women's Empowerment: What Works?. Journal of International Development, 28(3), 342- 359.
  • Cornwall, A., & Edwards, J. (2010). Introduction: Negotiating Empowerment. Ids Bulletin, 41(2), 1-9.
  • Cornwall, A., Harrison, E., Whitehead, A., & Pearson, R. (2006). Reassessing Paid Work and Women’s Empowerment: Lessons from the Global. In: Feminisms in development: Contradictions, contestations, and challenges. (pp. 201–213). London: Zed Books.
  • Danış, D., & Nazlı, D. (2019). A Faithful Alliance Between the Civil Society and the State: Actors and Mechanisms of Accommodating Syrian Refugees in Istanbul. International Migration, 57(2), 143-157.
  • De Haas, H., Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2019). The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • Dedeoğlu, S., & Sefa Bayraktar, S. (2020). Bitter Lives on Fertile Lands: Syrian Women’s Work and Labor in Turkish Agricultural Production. In: Women, Migration and Asylum in Turkey. L. Williams, E. Coşkun and S. Kaşka (Eds). (pp. 173-191). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • Elson, D. (1999). Labor Markets as Gendered Institutions: Equality, Efficiency and Empowerment Issues. World Development, 27(3), 611-627.
  • Ertorer, S. E. (2021). Asylum Regimes and Refugee Experiences of Precarity: the Case of Syrian Refugees in Turkey. Journal of Refugee Studies, 34(3), 2568-2592.
  • FAO (2020). Promoting Self-reliant Livelihoods of Syrian Refugee and Turkish Host Communities through Entrepreneurship in Food and Agriculture in Turkey. Ankara, Turkey, 1-4.
  • Harvey, David (2005) A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press Huis, M. A., Hansen, N., Otten, S., & Lensink, R. (2017). A Three-dimensional Model of Women’s Empowerment: Implications in the Field of Microfinance and Future Directions. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1678.
  • Hujo, K. (2019). A Global Social Contract: New Steps Towards a Rights-based Approach to migration governance?. Global Social Policy, 19(1-2), 25-28.
  • Humphries, J., & Sarasúa, C. (2021). The Feminization of the Labor Force and Five Associated Myths. In The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Economics, Berik, G. & E. Kongar (Eds.), (pp. 169-178). London: Routledge.
  • Ilcan, S., Rygiel, K., & Baban, F. (2018). The ambiguous architecture of precarity: Temporary Protection, Everyday Living and Migrant Journeys of Syrian Refugees. International Journal of Migration and Border Studies,
  • Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment. Development and Change, 30(3), 435-464.
  • Kadin Emeği ve İstihdam Girişimi (KEİG), (2018), Kadın Kooperatifleri Kılavuzu, KEİG Yayınları Dizisi, 1-32 Kaya, A., & Kıraç, A. (2016). Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian refugees in Istanbul. Support to Life.
  • Kızıldağ, D. (2019). Women’s Cooperatives as a Tool of Employment Policy in Turkey. In: Contemporary Issues in Behavioral Finance. Vol. 101, 65-76. Emerald Publishing Limited.
  • Leeson, K., Bhandari, P. B., Myers, A., & Buscher, D. (2020). Measuring the Self-reliance of Refugees. Journal of Refugee Studies, 33(1), 86-106.
  • Lewis, H., Dwyer, P., Hodkinson, S., & Waite, L. (2015). Hyper-precarious Lives: Migrants, Work and Forced Labour in the Global North. Progress in Human Geography, 39(5), 580-600.
  • Memisoglu, F., & Ilgit, A. (2017). Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Multifaceted Challenges, Diverse Players and Ambiguous Policies. Mediterranean Politics, 22(3), 317-338.
  • Morokvasic, M. (1984). Women in migration. International Migration Review. Vol. 18: 882-1382.
  • Morokvasic, M. (1983). Woman in migration: beyond the reductionist outlook. In: One Way Ticket, Migration and Female Labor. A. Phizacklea. (ed.) (pp. 13-32). London: Routledge.
  • Narlı, N., Özaşçılar, M., & Turkan Ipek, I. Z. (2020). Turkish Daily Press Framing and Representation of Syrian Women Refugees and Gender-based Problems: Implications for Social Integration. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 18(1), 1-21.
  • Ojha, J. K., & Mishra, B. (2013). Building Capacities of Rural Women Artisans: Case Studies of Women Empowerment from Thar Desert of Western Rajasthan. Journal of Rural Development, 32(3), 291-300.
  • Özgür Keysan, A., & Şentürk, B. (2021). Sorunlar ve Beklentilerin Algılanmasında Kadın Mülteciler ve Sivil Toplum Kuruluşları. Sosyoekonomi. 29(48), 343-376.
  • Page, N., & Czuba, C. E. (1999). Empowerment: What Is It. Journal of Extension, 37(5), 1-5.
  • Rowlands, J. (1995). Empowerment Examined. Development in Practice, 5(2), 101-107.
  • Şenses, N. (2020). Gender, Women and Precarity: Examples from Turkey. In: Women, Migration and Asylum in Turkey. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Williams, L., Coşkun, E., Kaşka, S. (eds)., (pp. 49-67). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • Serinikli, N. (2016). Kadin Yoksulluğunu Önlemede Girişimciliğin Önemi: Kadin Kooperatifleri Ve Mikro Kredi Uygulamalari. Balkan Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 598-609.
  • Sherif-Trask, B. (2006). Families in the Islamic Middle East. Families in global and multicultural perspective. (pp. 231-246).
  • Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities in Turkey, International Labor Organization (n.d.), Retrieved January 30, 2023 from https://www.ilo.org/ankara/projects/WCMS_644741/ lang--en/index.htm
  • Taş, H. Y., & Kazar, E. N. (2019). İstanbul'daki Kadın Kooperatiflerinin Kadın Yoksulluğuna Etkisi. OPUS International Journal of Society Researches, 13(19), 1836-1863.
  • Toksöz, G. (2020). The Gendered Impacts of Migration and Welfare Regimes: Migrant Women Workers in Turkey. In: Women, Migration and Asylum in Turkey. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Williams, L., Coşkun, E., Kaşka, S. (eds). (pp.69-92). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • Toksöz, G., & Ulutaş, Ç. Ü. (2012). Is Migration Feminized?. In: Turkey, Migration and the EU: Potentials, Challenges and Opportunities, S. Paçacı Elitok and T. Straubhaar (Eds). Hamburg: Hamburg University Press. 5, 85-112.
  • Toksöz, G., Erdoğdu, S., & Kaşka, S. (2012). Türkiye’ye Düzensiz Emek Göçü ve Göçmenlerin İşgücü Piyasasindaki Durumları. Ankara: IOM Turkey.
  • UNPF (2018). Five Reasons Migration is a Feminist Issue. United Nations Population Fund. (n.d.). Retrieved December 25, 2022, from https://www.unfpa.org/news/five-reasons-migration-feminist-issue
  • UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). (2022). Refugee Statistics. UNHCR. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/
  • Valtonen, K. (2016). Social Work and Migration: Immigrant and Refugee Settlement and Integration. London: Routledge. WVI (2021). Empowering Syrian Women through Cooperative Courses in Turkey. Syria Crisis Response World Vision International. (n.d.). Retrieved January 1, 2023, from https://www.wvi.org/stories/syria-crisisresponse/empowering-syrian-women-through-cooperative-courses-turkey
  • Wiesmann, S., Boeije, H., van Doorne-Huiskes, A., & Den Dulk, L. (2008). ‘Not worth mentioning’: The implicit and explicit nature of decision-making about the division of paid and domestic work. Community, work & family, 11(4), 341-363.
  • Yaman, M. (2020). Child Marriag e: A Survival Strategy for Syrian Refugee Families in Turkey?. In: Women, Migration and Asylum in Turkey: Developing Gender-Sensitivity in Migration Research, Policy and Practice, (pp.213-233). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • Yalim, A. C., & Critelli, F. (2023). Gender Roles Among Syrian Refugees in Resettlement Contexts: Revisiting Empowerment of Refugee Women and Needs of Refugee Men. Women's Studies International Forum. Pergamon. Vol. 96, p. 102670.
  • Yudiastuti, A., & Pratikto, H. (2021). Social Capital, Joint Responsibility Systems, and Empowerment of Women in Msmes: A Conceptual Framework. International Journal of Science, Technology & Management, 2(6), 2239-2246.
Year 2023, Issue: Özel Sayı, 56 - 73, 10.08.2023

Abstract

References

  • Assi, R., Özger-İlhan, S., & İlhan, M. N. (2019). Health Needs and Access to Health Care: The Case of Syrian Refugees in Turkey. Public Health, 172, 146-152.
  • Atar, E., Hossain, F., & Ullah, A. A. (2022). Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Exploring the Role of I/NGOs in the Refugee Crisis. Third World Quarterly, 1-15.
  • Atakan, A. G., & Çoban, A. (2022). Kadin Kooperatifleri, In: Kentlerin Yeni ve Eskimeyen Sorunları. Kaya, G., Şeker, A.(edt). 239-258 Ankara: Nika Yayınevi.
  • Baban, F., Ilcan, S., & Rygiel, K. (2017). Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Pathways to Precarity, Differential Inclusion, and Negotiated Citizenship Rights. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(1), 41-57.
  • Batliwala, S. (2007). Taking the Power out of Empowerment– An Experiential Account. Development in Practice, 17(4-5), 557-565.
  • Bloome, D., Burk, D., & McCall, L. (2019). Economic Self-reliance and Gender Inequality Between US Men and Women, 1970–2010. American Journal of Sociology, 124(5), 1413-1467.
  • Çınar, K., Akyüz, S., Uğur-Çınar, M. & Önculer-Yayalar, E. (2021). Faces and Phases of Women’s Empowerment: The Case of Women’s Cooperatives in Turkey. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 28(3), 778-805.
  • Cornwall, A. (2016). Women's Empowerment: What Works?. Journal of International Development, 28(3), 342- 359.
  • Cornwall, A., & Edwards, J. (2010). Introduction: Negotiating Empowerment. Ids Bulletin, 41(2), 1-9.
  • Cornwall, A., Harrison, E., Whitehead, A., & Pearson, R. (2006). Reassessing Paid Work and Women’s Empowerment: Lessons from the Global. In: Feminisms in development: Contradictions, contestations, and challenges. (pp. 201–213). London: Zed Books.
  • Danış, D., & Nazlı, D. (2019). A Faithful Alliance Between the Civil Society and the State: Actors and Mechanisms of Accommodating Syrian Refugees in Istanbul. International Migration, 57(2), 143-157.
  • De Haas, H., Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2019). The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • Dedeoğlu, S., & Sefa Bayraktar, S. (2020). Bitter Lives on Fertile Lands: Syrian Women’s Work and Labor in Turkish Agricultural Production. In: Women, Migration and Asylum in Turkey. L. Williams, E. Coşkun and S. Kaşka (Eds). (pp. 173-191). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • Elson, D. (1999). Labor Markets as Gendered Institutions: Equality, Efficiency and Empowerment Issues. World Development, 27(3), 611-627.
  • Ertorer, S. E. (2021). Asylum Regimes and Refugee Experiences of Precarity: the Case of Syrian Refugees in Turkey. Journal of Refugee Studies, 34(3), 2568-2592.
  • FAO (2020). Promoting Self-reliant Livelihoods of Syrian Refugee and Turkish Host Communities through Entrepreneurship in Food and Agriculture in Turkey. Ankara, Turkey, 1-4.
  • Harvey, David (2005) A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press Huis, M. A., Hansen, N., Otten, S., & Lensink, R. (2017). A Three-dimensional Model of Women’s Empowerment: Implications in the Field of Microfinance and Future Directions. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1678.
  • Hujo, K. (2019). A Global Social Contract: New Steps Towards a Rights-based Approach to migration governance?. Global Social Policy, 19(1-2), 25-28.
  • Humphries, J., & Sarasúa, C. (2021). The Feminization of the Labor Force and Five Associated Myths. In The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Economics, Berik, G. & E. Kongar (Eds.), (pp. 169-178). London: Routledge.
  • Ilcan, S., Rygiel, K., & Baban, F. (2018). The ambiguous architecture of precarity: Temporary Protection, Everyday Living and Migrant Journeys of Syrian Refugees. International Journal of Migration and Border Studies,
  • Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment. Development and Change, 30(3), 435-464.
  • Kadin Emeği ve İstihdam Girişimi (KEİG), (2018), Kadın Kooperatifleri Kılavuzu, KEİG Yayınları Dizisi, 1-32 Kaya, A., & Kıraç, A. (2016). Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian refugees in Istanbul. Support to Life.
  • Kızıldağ, D. (2019). Women’s Cooperatives as a Tool of Employment Policy in Turkey. In: Contemporary Issues in Behavioral Finance. Vol. 101, 65-76. Emerald Publishing Limited.
  • Leeson, K., Bhandari, P. B., Myers, A., & Buscher, D. (2020). Measuring the Self-reliance of Refugees. Journal of Refugee Studies, 33(1), 86-106.
  • Lewis, H., Dwyer, P., Hodkinson, S., & Waite, L. (2015). Hyper-precarious Lives: Migrants, Work and Forced Labour in the Global North. Progress in Human Geography, 39(5), 580-600.
  • Memisoglu, F., & Ilgit, A. (2017). Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Multifaceted Challenges, Diverse Players and Ambiguous Policies. Mediterranean Politics, 22(3), 317-338.
  • Morokvasic, M. (1984). Women in migration. International Migration Review. Vol. 18: 882-1382.
  • Morokvasic, M. (1983). Woman in migration: beyond the reductionist outlook. In: One Way Ticket, Migration and Female Labor. A. Phizacklea. (ed.) (pp. 13-32). London: Routledge.
  • Narlı, N., Özaşçılar, M., & Turkan Ipek, I. Z. (2020). Turkish Daily Press Framing and Representation of Syrian Women Refugees and Gender-based Problems: Implications for Social Integration. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 18(1), 1-21.
  • Ojha, J. K., & Mishra, B. (2013). Building Capacities of Rural Women Artisans: Case Studies of Women Empowerment from Thar Desert of Western Rajasthan. Journal of Rural Development, 32(3), 291-300.
  • Özgür Keysan, A., & Şentürk, B. (2021). Sorunlar ve Beklentilerin Algılanmasında Kadın Mülteciler ve Sivil Toplum Kuruluşları. Sosyoekonomi. 29(48), 343-376.
  • Page, N., & Czuba, C. E. (1999). Empowerment: What Is It. Journal of Extension, 37(5), 1-5.
  • Rowlands, J. (1995). Empowerment Examined. Development in Practice, 5(2), 101-107.
  • Şenses, N. (2020). Gender, Women and Precarity: Examples from Turkey. In: Women, Migration and Asylum in Turkey. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Williams, L., Coşkun, E., Kaşka, S. (eds)., (pp. 49-67). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • Serinikli, N. (2016). Kadin Yoksulluğunu Önlemede Girişimciliğin Önemi: Kadin Kooperatifleri Ve Mikro Kredi Uygulamalari. Balkan Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 598-609.
  • Sherif-Trask, B. (2006). Families in the Islamic Middle East. Families in global and multicultural perspective. (pp. 231-246).
  • Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities in Turkey, International Labor Organization (n.d.), Retrieved January 30, 2023 from https://www.ilo.org/ankara/projects/WCMS_644741/ lang--en/index.htm
  • Taş, H. Y., & Kazar, E. N. (2019). İstanbul'daki Kadın Kooperatiflerinin Kadın Yoksulluğuna Etkisi. OPUS International Journal of Society Researches, 13(19), 1836-1863.
  • Toksöz, G. (2020). The Gendered Impacts of Migration and Welfare Regimes: Migrant Women Workers in Turkey. In: Women, Migration and Asylum in Turkey. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Williams, L., Coşkun, E., Kaşka, S. (eds). (pp.69-92). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • Toksöz, G., & Ulutaş, Ç. Ü. (2012). Is Migration Feminized?. In: Turkey, Migration and the EU: Potentials, Challenges and Opportunities, S. Paçacı Elitok and T. Straubhaar (Eds). Hamburg: Hamburg University Press. 5, 85-112.
  • Toksöz, G., Erdoğdu, S., & Kaşka, S. (2012). Türkiye’ye Düzensiz Emek Göçü ve Göçmenlerin İşgücü Piyasasindaki Durumları. Ankara: IOM Turkey.
  • UNPF (2018). Five Reasons Migration is a Feminist Issue. United Nations Population Fund. (n.d.). Retrieved December 25, 2022, from https://www.unfpa.org/news/five-reasons-migration-feminist-issue
  • UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). (2022). Refugee Statistics. UNHCR. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/
  • Valtonen, K. (2016). Social Work and Migration: Immigrant and Refugee Settlement and Integration. London: Routledge. WVI (2021). Empowering Syrian Women through Cooperative Courses in Turkey. Syria Crisis Response World Vision International. (n.d.). Retrieved January 1, 2023, from https://www.wvi.org/stories/syria-crisisresponse/empowering-syrian-women-through-cooperative-courses-turkey
  • Wiesmann, S., Boeije, H., van Doorne-Huiskes, A., & Den Dulk, L. (2008). ‘Not worth mentioning’: The implicit and explicit nature of decision-making about the division of paid and domestic work. Community, work & family, 11(4), 341-363.
  • Yaman, M. (2020). Child Marriag e: A Survival Strategy for Syrian Refugee Families in Turkey?. In: Women, Migration and Asylum in Turkey: Developing Gender-Sensitivity in Migration Research, Policy and Practice, (pp.213-233). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • Yalim, A. C., & Critelli, F. (2023). Gender Roles Among Syrian Refugees in Resettlement Contexts: Revisiting Empowerment of Refugee Women and Needs of Refugee Men. Women's Studies International Forum. Pergamon. Vol. 96, p. 102670.
  • Yudiastuti, A., & Pratikto, H. (2021). Social Capital, Joint Responsibility Systems, and Empowerment of Women in Msmes: A Conceptual Framework. International Journal of Science, Technology & Management, 2(6), 2239-2246.
There are 48 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Subjects Migration Sociology
Journal Section İnceleme Makalesi
Authors

Mediha Dilara Cılızoğlu 0000-0003-3858-8455

Publication Date August 10, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Issue: Özel Sayı

Cite

APA Cılızoğlu, M. D. (2023). Can Women’s Cooperatives be a Solution for the Empowerment of Syrian Refugee Women?. İnsan Hareketliliği Uluslararası Dergisi(Özel Sayı), 56-73.