New Rural Development Versus the Familiar Rural Motherhood: The Commercialization of Local Foods and Its Effect on Gender Roles

Year 2020, Volume: 40 Issue: 1, 79 - 108, 23.07.2020

Derya Nizam Bilgiç

Abstract

In recent years, promoting local foods and local cuisine has become an essential feature of rural development projects, which aim to empower women in rural areas and generate supplementary income (from agricultural production) to smallsize farming units. This study aims to discuss the ideological, cultural, social, and economic barriers that shape the ways in which rural women conduct their entrepreneurial activities based on the sale of local homemade foods. By focusing on women’s daily practices in domestic and professional life and how these shape and constrain their entrepreneurship, the study aims to debate the impacts commercializing local foods has had on existing gender roles. For this purpose, a case study has been conducted on the local food markets in Seferihisar, İzmir where rural women sell homemade food products (dolmas, stuffed artichoke, pastry, sweet pastry, bread, and tomato sauce). The source data, drawn from 27 in-depth and 131 survey interviews, have been triangulated in order to develop the body of the findings. Women’s entrepreneurship is argued to be able to contribute to a fairer food system, but this is based on having political programs where women participate in the decision-making process. Such factors in turn influence the process of feminizing agriculture and strengthening women as actors of rural change and the corresponding decline in the stereotypical images of “rural motherhood” that reinforce traditional gender roles. Within this context, the most important impact and consequence of the local markets in Seferihisar is not the visibility of local foods in the markets through women’s efforts but rather women’s increase visibility in the public sphere due to their producing local foods.

Keywords

Woman entrepreneurship, Rural devolepment, Local dishes, Local food, Female labor

Yeni Bir Kırsal Kalkınma, Bilindik Bir Kırsal Annelik: Ticarileşen Yöresel Yemeklerin Toplumsal Cinsiyet Rollerine Etkisi

Abstract

Kırsal alanlarda kadınların güçlendirilmesi ve küçük ölçekli tarımsal işletmelerin tarım dışı gelirlerinin artırılması için son yıllarda yerel gıda, yöresel mutfakları teşvik eden kırsal kalkınma projeleri hız kazanmıştır. Bu makale kırsal alanlardaki kadınların yöresel yemek ve ev eksenli üretime dayalı girişimcilik serüvenini biçimlendiren ideolojik, kültürel, sosyal ve ekonomik bariyerleri tartışmayı amaçlamaktadır. Çalışma, kadınların girişimcilik faaliyetlerini biçimlendiren ve sınırlandıran hane-içi ve iş yaşamındaki gündelik yaşam pratiklerine odaklanarak yöresel yemeklerin ticarileşmesinin toplumsal cinsiyet rollerini dönüştürücü etkisini tartışmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu amaçla, İzmir’in Seferihisar ilçesinde, kırsal kadınların daha çok ev eksenli üretimine dayalı olarak ürettikleri gıda ve yemeklerin (sarma, enginar dolması, börek, baklava, ekmek, salça gibi) ağırlıklı olarak satıldığı köy pazarları vaka analizi yöntemiyle incelenmiştir. Pazarlara üretici olarak katılan kadınlarla yürütülen 27 “derinlemesine mülakat” ve 131 anket görüşmesiyle elde edilen veriler birbiriyle kıyaslanarak analiz edilmiş ve bulgulara ulaşılmıştır. Araştırmanın temel bulguları şöyledir: Kadınların girişimcilik faaliyetleri adil bir gıda sisteminin tasarlanmasına katkıda bulunabilir. Bunun için kadını geleneksel toplumsal cinsiyet rollerine hapseden annelik gibi imgelerin (“kırsal anne”) yeniden üretimi yerine kadınları kırsal değişimin temel aktörü kılacak, tarımın yeniden kadınlaşmasını sağlayacak karar alma süreçlerine dahil eden politikaları inşa etmek önemlidir. Bu kapsamda Seferihisar köy pazarlarının yarattığı en önemli etki, yöresel yemeklerin/yerel gıdaların kırsal yaşamdaki kadınlar ile birlikte piyasada görünüyor olması değil, bu gıdalarla birlikte kırsal yaşamdaki kadının kamusal alanda yeniden görünür olabilmesidir.

Keywords

Kadın girişimciliği, Kırsal kalkınma, Yöresel yemekler, Yerel gıda, Kadın emeği

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