The Impact of Women’s Cooperatives on Women’s Empowerment in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the impact of women’s cooperatives on women’s empowerment in Turkey. To achieve this goal, a mixed-method approach combining both quantitative and qualitative methods has been used. The study involved 235 women through surveys and 70 women through in-depth interviews from 27 women’s entrepreneurial production and operation cooperatives. The research scope is limited to women’s cooperatives in Turkey. There are two specific limitations of the research scope. First, the cooperatives must have been active for at least five years. Second, the cooperatives must have the status of women’s entrepreneurial, production, and operation cooperatives. The data obtained from the research indicates that the empowerment effect of women’s cooperatives in Turkey appears as a positive impact. Especially concerning gender equality, the empowerment effect is more noticeable. However, the same cannot be said for economic empowerment. Although the economic empowerment effect is also positive, it creates a much lower impact on women compared to other forms of empowerment.