Sümerbank and Women’s Labour: The Case of Çanakkale Synthetic Leather Factory

The study focuses on the working experiences of women workers employed at the Çanakkale Synthetic Leather Factory, which started operations in 1982 under Sümerbank and closed down after privatisation (2003). The research aims to reveal the traces of gender inequality in the working environment and to open up for discussion the social impact of privatisation policies, especially on women workers. Sümerbank magazines, the archive of a local newspaper (Çanakkale Olay Newspaper, 1983-2003) and in-depth interviews with workers were used as sources of information about the factory. The interviews reveal the positions and conditions of women workers in the factory, the gendered hierarchy inherent in labour processes, the pressures they experienced, and the strategies they developed to resist these conditions and to the closure of the factory simultaneously. The interviews with workers also show how (imagined) family ties operate at the point of production and the impact this has on their labour experiences. The article contributes to labour history and gender studies by providing an understanding of the gendered structure of labour processes and the consequences of the process for women workers in a unique Sümerbank factory that was established shortly before the privatisation process reflecting the important transformations of the period.