The purpose of this paper is to offer a new gender- and class-sensitive framework for research on rural women entrepreneurship by focusing on the women’s agricultural cooperatives in Turkey. Although these cooperatives have been promoted as ideal bottom-to-top organizations to integrate women into economy as entrepreneurs, there has been significant decline in their numbers. This paper tackles with this contradictory situation and intends to offer an alternative research framework on the viability of the women’s agricultural cooperatives in Turkey.,The paper is built on a critical assessment of the existing literature. It argues that a framework that brings together macro-, meso- and micro-factors will provide a springboard to unfold the gendered processes integral to rural female entrepreneurship in Turkey. Drawing on intersectional theory, the multilayered factors which operate to rural women’s (dis)advantages through the cooperatives are unfolded as policymaking, policy implementation and everyday experiences.,For policymakers and implementers, it points out the need for a holistic and integrated understanding of rural female entrepreneurship and for re-formulation of policies at the state level. For rural women, it draws attention to the measures required to be taken at the cooperative level to overcome inequalities.,This paper is original in making explicit social, political and economic embeddedness of female entrepreneurship in rural Turkey.

A gender- and class-sensitive explanatory model for rural women entrepreneurship in Turkey

The report is structured in the following manner. The first chapter introduces the research objectives, methodology (literature reviews, survey, micronarratives and interviews), and limitations of the proposed methodology. The second chapter presents the global and Turkish context for women’s co-operatives. Chapter three profiles women’s co-operatives in Turkey, describing their origins, their membership, their business and their internal and external challenges. Chapter four discusses the impact of women’s co-operatives on their communities and their members. Chapter five and six present the supportive infrastructure for women’s co-operatives, namely the legal context for co-operatives in Turkey as it relates to Turkey’s co-operative strategy and international good practices; and the support programs that women’s co-operatives are asking for, and that are effective. The conclusion presents high level findings and links these findings to eleven recommendations that aim to strengthen women’s co-operatives in Turkey.

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The current state of women's co-operatives in Turkey

After the Arab revolts the EU attempted to contribute to the rural development of the Arab Mediterranean states by designing the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD). Through ENPARD the EU tried to diffuse policies that were implemented in the new member states (NMS) and the candidate countries. Based on the experiences of one NMS (Croatia) and one candidate country (Turkey), the article surveys what is (not) learned from the pre-accession programmes and the limits of policy diffusion in Egypt and Tunisia. The article claims that policy diffusion must be distinguished from policy convergence and that policy success must be contextualized by taking into account the role of domestic actors in each case study.

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(Not) learning from the past? The diffusion of the EU’s rural development policy in its neighbouring countries

The study describes the ownership and governance characteristics and the challenges of farmer‐based cooperative societies from three districts in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Primary data were obtained from 59 active and 14 inactive cooperatives in the selected districts. The study concludes that Ghanaian cooperatives in the sample bear much resemblance to the traditional form which emerged in Europe and North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Generally, such cooperatives have relatively small memberships from local communities who use a democratic governance system and do not delegate control to outsiders. While the cost of owning and transacting is limited with such characteristics, many traditional cooperatives lack the specific knowledge, economic efficiency, and resource endowment necessary to become or remain competitive. Indeed, the active cooperatives listed finance, access to inputs, tractor services and poor leadership as key challenges, while inactive cooperatives blamed poor member commitment as the primary culprit for their inactivity. Efforts aimed at promoting and supporting farmer cooperatives should focus on addressing these key challenges. Also, financial and technical support should probably be conditional on group performance and not group formation itself.

Characterization of farmer-based cooperative societies in the upper west region of Ghana

The purpose of this paper is to study the empowerment phenomenon from experiences in cooperative societies led by women in Mexico City, to inquire about their practices, and to know the stories about their businesses, challenges, and possible manifestations of gender discrimination. Three case studies are presented. A semi-structured interview was applied to women who are involved in a training program for cooperative societies given by the Mexico City’s Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion. It was found that women have suffered discrimination mainly in their families, as well as in the labor sphere because they decided to exercise their right to maternity, along with their lack of permanence in the latter and the lack of legitimacy to their work as businesswomen by the simple fact of being women.

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Empoderamiento y cooperativismo femenino, tres estudios de caso de cooperativas lideradas por mujeres en la Ciudad de México

Women's Cooperatives in Turkey

Ulkemizde artan sulama alanlarina paralel olarak, sulama isletmeciligine yonelik sorunlar da artmis ve sulamadan beklenen yararlarin gerceklesmesi dusuk kalmistir. Bu durum izlenen politikalarla birlesince, sulamanin ve bu baglamda sulama isletmeciliginin daha verimli ve daha ekonomik hale getirilmesi amaci ile devletin sulama isletmeciliginden cekilmesi gundeme gelmistir. Gunumuzde sulama isletmeciligi genellikle sulama birlikleri, sulama kooperatifleri, belediyeler veya koy tuzel kisilikleri tarafindan yurutulmektedir. Bu calismada; arastirma sahasindaki tarim isletmelerinin bazi sosyo ekonomik yapilari ve sulama organizasyonlarinin teknik ve ciftci memnuniyeti yonunden etkinlikleri belirlenmistir. Etkinlik analizine yonelik veri alinabilen 10 adet sulama kooperatifi ve 4 adet sulama birliginin etkinlikleri Malmquist toplam faktor verimliligi indeksi kullanilarak hesaplanmistir. Degerlendirme sonuclarina gore, 2009 ve 2010 yillari ortalamasi icin sulama isletmelerinin %36’sinin teknik acidan, %21’inin sosyal acidan toplam faktor verimliligi yuksek olmustur. Iki yillik verilere gore yapilan degerlendirmeler sonucunda teknik etkinlik ve sosyal etkinlik acisindan sulama kooperatiflerinin goreceli olarak daha etkin olduklari belirlenmistir. Sulama birliklerinin etkinlik duzeyleri ise cogunlukla sinir duzeyde hesaplanmis veya etkinlik duzeylerinin dusuk oldugu sonucuna varilmistir.

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Sulama İşletmeciliğinde Etkinlik Analizi (Kırklareli, Edirne, Tekirdağ ve Çanakkale İlleri Örneği)

The problems towards irrigation administration has increased and realization of the benefits from irrigation has been low in parallel with the increasing irrigation areas in our country. When this condition has combined with the politics, resignation of the government from irrigation administration has come up in order to render the irrigation and irrigation administration more efficient and economic. Nowadays, the irrigation administration is carried out by irrigation unions, irrigation cooperatives, municipalities and village communities. In this study, socio economic structures of agriculture enterprises in the research field and efficiencies of irrigation organizations were determined in terms of technically and farmer satisfaction. Efficiencies of 10 irrigation cooperatives and 4 irrigation unions were calculated by using Malmquist total factor efficiency index. According to the evaluation results, efficiencies of 36 percent of the irrigation administrations were high technically and 21 percent of the irrigation administrations were high socially for the average of 2009 and 2010 years. According to the evaluation results for two years, it was determined that the irrigation cooperatives were relatively more efficient in terms of technical efficiency and social efficiency. It was concluded that efficiency levels of the irrigation unions were frequently on the limited values or low.

Gülen Özdemir

Papers

Women's Cooperatives in Turkey

Sulama İşletmeciliğinde Etkinlik Analizi (Kırklareli, Edirne, Tekirdağ ve Çanakkale İlleri Örneği)

Efficiency Analysis of Irrigation Administration (Cases of Kirklareli, Edirne, Tekirdağ and Çanakkale Provinces)