Alev Akçöl

Istanbul — In Turkey, the ruling system continues to pursue policies aimed at confining women within the framework of the “family” and pushing them out of public life, while female workers face harsh conditions marked by unsecured labor, outside the law, and in environments resembling modern-day slavery.

As women’s roles are erased and their labor made invisible, the economic crisis and social injustice deepen — leaving women the most affected by poverty.

 

“Crime Becomes a Force Through the Exploitation of Women”

During the first ten months of this year, 1,737 workers lost their lives in workplace accidents, including 114 women, according to reports published in the media. In this context, Dr. Aslı Odman, a member of the Occupational Health and Safety Assembly, emphasized that violence against women is not limited to domestic violence or physical assault, but extends to structural violence experienced by female workers at their workplaces. She noted that women’s suffering in the labor market is an integral part of the systematic violence perpetrated against them.

She believes that the pressures faced by female workers — whether in the workplace or in their daily lives — are not isolated incidents but are used as a systematic tool to maintain the socially imposed “gender roles.” In her assessment, she stressed that women are constantly kept within a circle of structured pressure designed to ensure the continuation of this unjust system.

Aslı Odman pointed out that gender-based violence — specifically violence targeting women — also extends to issues related to workplace accidents and occupational safety, taking on a distinctly gendered form. These socially imposed gender roles can only persist by surrounding women with multiple forms of violence, ensuring their lives remain constrained by systemic limitations.

She affirmed that workplace violence represents a microcosm of the violence embedded within the capitalist system, where discrimination is reproduced through the “feminization of labor.” Women are frequently forced into unpaid work, and their labor is viewed merely as a “contribution to the family” rather than work deserving of fair compensation — a reality that reflects the deep-rooted violent structure that traps women within both society and the economy.

She explained that this system is built not only upon economic or cultural foundations but is fundamentally reinforced through deliberate political choices.
“Violence in the street, violence in the workplace, violence against women’s bodies, rape, relational violence — all form a gendered system that confines women, restricts their movement, and prevents them from looking beyond the boundaries imposed on them. This entire system can only survive through what we call ‘the violence of the political order,’ carried out through laws and policies that cement this reality. As a result, we have witnessed a clear regression in women’s rights — just as we have seen in workers’ rights.”

This cycle of violence does not target individuals alone; rather, it reshapes labor systems, urban policies, the family unit, and production relations all at once.
She added: “The overlap of the labor system, the gender system, and the spatial system within one continuum of violence ultimately produces the political order itself.”

In explaining why global capital prefers to employ women, Odman said the issue is not merely about cheap labor but about placing women under constant pressure that creates a built-in “disciplining mechanism” that capital can continuously exploit.
She added:
“In the Dilovası example, we observed how women are preferred to work together in female-only groups. It is said, ‘Even if the conditions are bad, at least the women work together.’ Conservative and patriarchal norms tighten their grip on women’s bodies, turning them into instruments of violence — as objects of desire, tools of reproduction, or workers seen as sources of stability only within the family, not society — all while obstructing their economic and social mobility.”

 

“Women at the Heart of Accelerating Capitalism”

Odman noted that women’s labor within global supply chains is systematically exploited, being reproduced at every stage of these networks serving major global brands.
“Under accelerated capitalism, the Raviva company in Dilovası was manufacturing and packaging products for another company that produces perfumes for brands like Zara, LC Waikiki, and H&M. At each level of these chains, cheaper female labor is exploited. The more fragmented the chains are, the more powerful they become — and the more violations they commit.”

Her observation that “crime becomes a force” clearly illustrates how women’s labor intersects with violence, lack of protection, and exploitation:
“We may ask why perfume factories don’t explode in France, for example. But when we look at workplaces where migrant workers and women are exploited, we see seasonal agricultural laborers in Spain — part of this globally invisible labor force that national laws fail to protect. In Turkey, conservatism has had a long-term impact on income and resource distribution, creating an ideology that masks capital’s advance in class conflict by framing it as a ‘cultural war’ between religious and secular identities.”

Odman highlighted that women’s labor in Turkey is systematically marginalized from the outset — excluded from official statistics and denied proper social recognition — which explains why women’s labor force participation remains at just 30–35%. She added that large groups — such as housewives and migrant seasonal agricultural workers — are completely excluded from the picture, keeping women’s labor in its most vulnerable and marginalized form.

This marginalization extends not only to hiding women’s labor but also to obscuring the violence they face. She cited the explosion at the ammunition factory in Hendek, Turkey, noting that she initially assumed the victims were men but was surprised to learn that many of them were women. She explained that instead of investing in safety measures, the company placed women on the production line under the pretext that they were “more careful and meticulous,” revealing how women’s bodies are exploited within a cycle of violence and neglect.

 

November 25: Between Forms of Violence and the Power of Women’s Resistance

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a key question arises: Can the different forms of violence be connected?
Odman answers:
“For a long time, we have been studying the relationship between workplace deaths involving women and femicides. In Turkey, with the collapse of the economic model centered around the man as the family breadwinner, the roles associated with masculinity and ‘male honor’ have eroded. This collapse appears linked to the increase in violence against women.”

She believes that women stepping outside the home — even informally — to work and expand their mobility intersects with deep social tensions, resulting in intensified male violence against them.

Odman reminded that November 25 is not only a day against violence but also a symbol of women’s historic power of resistance:
“In Turkey, whether in environmental movements or labor struggles, we always see women in the front lines whenever the struggle becomes radical. This is remarkable. In a country where obtaining employment is extremely difficult, when women who suffer from multiple forms of violence reach a breaking point, it becomes impossible to stop the movement.”

She concluded:
“Through struggle, women liberate themselves individually, break the chains of violence in all its forms, and gain independence. Once they taste this freedom, they free themselves from the husband, from the traditional family system, from the burdens of childcare, and from all forms of symbolic violence imposed on them. This is what makes me deeply optimistic.