The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Women’s Cooperatives in the Western Mediterranean

COVID-19 has emerged as a global pandemic affecting the whole world and has had unexpected and profound effects on socioeconomic life. In this situation where existing inequalities continue to increase each day, emerging evidence regarding the effects of COVID-19 indicates women’s economic and productive lives to have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has had financially devastating effects on women’s cooperatives, where women come together through cooperation and solidarity in order to improve their lives. As a result, women’s cooperatives have had to slow down or even stop their business activities during the pandemic. This study aims to reveal how and the extent to which women’s cooperatives have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, interviews were conducted with a total of nine participants at eight women’s cooperatives in the Turkish provinces of Antalya, Burdur, and Isparta. The research analyzed the data that had been obtained through semi-structured interviews in the program MAXQDA 2020 and found the pandemic to have affected women’s cooperatives financially the most. When examining the relationships the coded themes have with one another, those who were unable to receive financial support as a result of the transition to living at home due to the pandemic were found to have had their financial lives impacted and to have had difficulty accessing social benefits. Financial support and solidarity networks should be created for women’s cooperatives during the pandemic, and social awareness toward the issues women’s cooperatives experience should be increased.