Women across many cities in North Kurdistan (Bakur) and Turkey have entered the final stage of preparations for the 25 November International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women demonstrations. Throughout the activities marking the day, attention was drawn to the multiple forms of violence women face and to the deepening poverty affecting women.
According to The Outlook on Unemployment and Employment report by DISK-AR, the highest unemployment rate is the broadly defined unemployment among women, calculated at 33.8 percent. The third-highest category is unemployment among young women, measured at 21.2 percent. The report also found that the number of broadly defined unemployed women is around 4.5 million, and nearly 12 million women are unable to participate in working life due to domestic responsibilities, personal reasons or family-related factors.
The data shows that 30.8 percent of women are employed informally, leaving 3 million 248 thousand women without social security. Among employed women, 73.5 percent are classified as workers, while only 1.8 percent appear in statistics as employers. Women’s unemployment in Turkey is more than twice the average of EU and OECD countries. In the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Global Gender Gap Report, Turkey ranks 133rd out of 146 countries in labor force participation.
In the recent period, one of the most widespread forms of violence women face has been economic violence. Whether performing domestic labor or working outside the home until late hours, women continue to experience economic abuse.
Women who contribute labor in every sphere of life spoke to ANF on the occasion of 25 November, about the economic violence they endure and the chronic effects it produces across society.
My labor has been exploited since childhood
Sevim Yıldeniz, a 34-year-old woman who began working at the age of 12 and has worked as a tailor for many years, said she has been exposed to every form of violence in a profession she entered due to financial hardship. Yıldeniz stated that her labor has been systematically exploited and that the economic crisis has deepened this exploitation, noting that even though she now runs her own shop, her financial problems continue in the same way.
Yıldeniz said women must understand economic violence and its causes in order to resist it and added: “I started this work when I was only 12 because of financial difficulties. We moved from here to Istanbul when I was still very young. I was aware that we could not make ends meet there. To support my family, I dropped out of school and started working on textiles. In the early years, whether I was working or not, I faced serious difficulties in every sense. Because I started at such a young age, I never received the value of my labor. It was very hard; the working hours were extremely exhausting. At the time, since I was more dependent on the job, I could not tell anyone about what I was going through. Even though the difficulties back then are not as intense today, I have become accustomed to most of these problems. I have been exposed to every form of economic violence. Because I started working at a young age, I endured four years of pure labor exploitation.”
The state is the first to disregard women’s labor
Yıldeniz also said: “After learning the trade there, I returned to my own land. In the beginning I was exposed to this violence by employers, and now I continue to face it because of the economic crisis and rising prices. In other words, even when a woman takes steps to stand on her own feet, the male mindset tries to block her in every possible way.
We are small shopkeepers; for years I have not received the value of my own labor. Today, there are thousands of women outside who are in far worse conditions than I am. Although women carry more of the burden and contribute more labor, they are still the ones who suffer the most financially. No matter how much we work, at the end of the day we still worry about the price of the bread we will buy. Both women who work and women who do not work live through this reality. And women who face financial hardship are often not even allowed to work.
Even though I have gained my economic independence, this economic crisis restricts it. The state is the first to disregard women’s labor; at a certain point, the state itself obstructs women.”
Psychological and economic violence go hand in hand
E., a woman working in the private sector, is among those who experience both psychological and economic violence in the workplace. She described what she has been going through as follows: “First, I want to talk about economic violence. As women in the private sector, we are employed for extremely low wages. Moreover, these wages often remain below even the minimum wage. I work six days a week, ten hours a day. I experience physical exhaustion and severe psychological fatigue. Even though we dedicate our entire day to work, they still expect flawless performance from us.
With the salary we receive, the only things we can afford are transportation costs and a single meal a day. I have been working without insurance for months. When I started this job, my goal was to be in an environment where I could practice my own profession. The private sector has almost completely destroyed the love I had for my work. Because my economic needs are not met, I feel myself drifting away from my profession, and at times I reach a point where I feel hatred toward it.”
Women’s demands are dismissed with excuses
E. also added: “The pressure is felt far more intensely on women. While the comments of my male colleagues in the same sector are taken more seriously and they are granted more room to negotiate, women’s demands are constantly postponed and brushed aside with excuses.
The private sector has become an environment that women are forced to endure in order to survive, despite mobbing and threats. One of the clearest examples of these threats is the sentence, ‘If you leave this institution, you will never find a job anywhere else.’ Even this single sentence is enough to show that they see us as slaves of the modern age.
Unfortunately, I do not believe this situation will be resolved anytime soon, because the system is deeply rooted, and similar practices appear in almost every corner of the private sector. Along with the private sector itself, we have lost even the last fragments of hope we once had.”
No matter how much labor you give, it remains unseen
Hacire Kudat, who has spent nearly 30 years performing unpaid domestic labor, is among the women struggling with the same problems. After years of having her work rendered invisible, she began to reclaim her own labor and enter paid employment. Kudat described her story as follows: “I got married at the age of 14. I have been married for 37 years, and for 34 of those years I worked inside the home. In the past three years, I started working outside the home. Once I began working, everything changed for me. Not only materially but spiritually, it added so much to my life.
Before that, when I worked at home and asked for money for the market or for basic needs, it was always a problem. Whenever I asked for money, I would hear, ‘What would you do without me? You would starve.’ That created a deep sense of questioning in me. The work we do at home and the labor we give are not seen by anyone. Everyone assumes these tasks happen by themselves, or that they are inherently women’s duties. No matter how much labor you give, you can’t make anyone appreciate it.
Even if children see this labor, the man you are married to never does. And because he refuses to see it, money becomes a constant problem. The sentence ‘If it weren’t for me…’ despite all the labor I give is the clearest example of the economic violence I have experienced. I started working precisely to avoid facing this violence any longer. Now I earn my own money. Escaping this situation makes me very happy.”
What will save women is struggle
Kudat also said: “That small space I work in now feels like an entirely different world for me after leaving that house. I believe women should work even if all they do is sell parsley in a market. It changes many things, both within themselves and in their homes.
I was only able to stop the violence by producing, by creating. Against those who refused to see my labor, I sustained myself through different forms of work. What will save women is this very production and the confidence they build in themselves.
Violence existed in every part of my life. It still continues now that I am working, but at least I am able to cope with it and I have a reason, a ground to stand on, when confronting it.”