Before the New Year celebrations for 2022 began, feminists in Turkey gathered on a street in Eagle Statue neighbourhood in Beşiktaş, İstanbul and issued a press statement to draw attention to the deepening economic crisis and the difficulties of living, MA reports.
The protesters were holding banners that read: “We will not tolerate poverty!” “Invisible labor, raise your voice!” and “End the exploitation of unpaid labor!”
The women who gathered to raise their voices against poverty hung the banners on the statue and chanted slogans such as “Feminist rebellion against poverty” and “Long live women’s solidarity.”
The women draw attention to the negative effects of the economic crises on women, the violations experienced throughout the year and expressed their demands for equality, freedom and legal status.
Bilen Sevda Kösen, a women activist, pointed out that women are most affected by the economic crisis and pressure on women has increased. She said that women should not have to pay the price for the crisis.
“We revolt against being forced to pay the price for the crises of this system! We do not want to live under these poor conditions imposed upon us, but rather we wish to live our own lives that we will establish with the feminist revolt. The burden of unpaid housework and care, male violence, femicides, trans murders, hate speech, the exploitation of our labour and body, flexible and precarious work, policies, having to be constantly alert on public transportation and poverty. We can’t tolerate any of them.”
She added that the crisis leaves women unemployed and forced them to work for low wages.
”Social benefits are not not enough for women to rebuild their lives, women who apply for social benefits are treated as beggars. Women are treated as a cheap workforce although they are employed with a greater workload. They are faced with the most brutal face of capitalism because official complaint channels are closed,” Kösen said.
