Şimel Women’s Cooperative was founded in Amed for women to sell their homemade products and meals. The coop was founded by 6 women in May 2023 in order to provide employment for unemployed women. “We see the cooperative as an employment space for women,” said co-founder Şimel Beğik. “There are women who believe in themselves but cannot enter the market due to the lack of courage. We encourage women to enter the market and start their own business. We aim the cooperative to be an umbrella organisation for women who work from home and work outside. Thus, we will make their invisible labour visible. All products that you see here are made by women.” “Actually, we aimed to open the cooperative before; however, we opened it two months ago due to the earthquakes. There are women struggling both at the workplace and home; however, their labour is always invisible. We founded this cooperative to make women’s labour visible.”
“Women are the most affected by the economic crisis. They cannot find a space to sell their products. The deteriorating economic crisis has affected everyone but mostly women. The more women gain their economic independence, the more they join the labor force. We aim to create a space for women to sell their products.”
