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Code: ASS – 010 Author: Kim Wilson – International Consultant and Alper Giizel, Erol Taymaz – National Consultant Quantity: 1 Type: copy Status: 1/1
Introduction
More than eight million women in Turkey work in the informal sector. They farm, knit clothing, weave rugs and cloth, spin silk, tend bees, perform a variety of domestic services, produce all manner of handicraft, and trade goods whenever possible. These women are the self-employed poor, living in villages, neighborhoods and settlements where incomes are below the national average and in many cases well below the minimum wage (about $140 per month). They often work alongside their spouses while supervising the necessities of the household. Swollen urban economies have no room for them; they are usually unedecated and often illiterate. Self-employment is their means of survival. While they may not have proficiency for formal sector jobs, these women do have skills developed overtime, through tradition, and sometimes through training. These skills produce income for their families.
But while these women are often major (in many cases the primary) income producers for their families, they back financial support to increase the success of their activities. Moneylenders charge exorbitant interest rates and typically will not lend to women. Banks consider loans to this sector too costly, and without collateral, too risky.
