MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed - Unemployment rates are increasing in Turkey during the pandemic. Female workers, who have been subjected to many challenges and rights violations, try to earn a living for their families under difficult conditions. Women working in a brick factory located in Amed keep working to pay the increased taxes and meet the needs of their children. The women, who work between 08.00 and 17.00 every day, are paid below the minimum wage for 10 months but they cheer up each other at the factory to forget all difficulties.  

“Adjusting to the job takes days”

Hanım Şahin has worked at the factory for 13 years. Drawing attention to the difficulty of their work, Hanım Şahin said, “Women adjust to the job after days and they get tired during this period. Old women have to work here due to financial difficulties. But this job is easier for young women. Old women have difficulty in working here so they leave the job after working here several days. Our job is hard but we have to work. The bricks are produced in machines, and we take those bricks out and put them on tables. We work non-stop.”

“We work informally below the minimum wage”

“Women have to work at the factory because they cannot find another job. They have to work in dust and dirt to earn a living,” Hanım Şahin said, “We work 10 months in a year. We don’t work in winter. Women work to stand on their own legs. The tax rates are increasing and people have to work to pay taxes. We work informally below the minimum wage here.”

They cheer up each other to keep working

Women working in the factory don’t understand how days pass because they have a good friendship. “We understand each other and try to make our work enjoyable. We have lunch together. The best thing here is our friendship. We give morale to each other and work collectively.”