ILO COOP/SSE Manager interviewed for the second edition of Co-op Women's Voices

ILO COOP/SSE Unit Manager was interviewed for the second edition of Co-op Women's Voices, a series started by two women leaders from the cooperative movement in the UK.

News | 23 February 2021
The Co-op Women's Voices series features interviews with women from across the cooperative movement and beyond, to talk about their lives, their motivations and their role models.

The interview started with Sarah Alldred from Co-operative College UK and Rebecca Harvey from Cooperative News introducing the Co-op Women’s Voices series. It was followed by a question on the path that led Ms. Esim to her work on cooperatives. Further questions explored influencers and role models, and the key opportunities and challenges for women working in cooperatives.

Ms Esim responded by sharing her experiences with cooperatives growing up in Turkey. She provided her first hand experiences with cooperatives of women homeworkers and market vendors during her dissertation field work on informal economy.

She reflected on findings from global research on challenges and opportunities women face in their engagement in cooperatives in sectors such as agriculture, finance, and care provision. Ms Esim pointed out that in contexts where social and cultural norms may restrict women’s engagement in the public sphere, women-led cooperatives often emerge.

She noted that founder of Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), Elaben Bhatt is one of her role models and inspirations. She explained how Elaben developed a dual strategy of trade unionism and co-operativism going hand in hand, one for advancing rights of informal economy workers, and the other securing better livelihoods for them.

The interview can be viewed here.