DİYARBAKIR - The women working in the Jiyan District Bazaar, which could not make sale due to the economic crisis and faced discrimination, said, ‘’Products are sold to women sellers in a market at higher prices and given to male sellers at lower costs. There is discrimination against women. We want to receive a recompense for our work’’.

 

As the economic crisis deepens in Turkey, citizens are unable to meet even their basic needs due to the raises. Women working in the Jiyan Women’s District Marke, which is affiliated to Diyarbakır Bağlar Municipality, are also reacted to raises. Stating that they could not make sale, the women stated that the wholesalers selling products discriminated between men and women and sold the product to women at a higher price. Stating that they had difficulty in bringing bread to their homes because of the increasing problems, the women said, ‘’The state needs to solve the problems related to the economic crisis as soon as possible.’’

 

‘Prices have doubled’

 

Gurbet Demir, who has been working in the market for nine years, stated that they could not make sales due to the increased raises due to the economic crisis. Gurbet said, ‘’When I first started working in the market, sales were fine. In this way, we could take bread to our home. Everything has been very expensive for one year. The products we bought from the marketplace started to become very expensive. The products I bought in the past have now doubled’’.

 

‘Wholesalers sell products cheaper to men’

 

Emphasizing that the products sold by wholesalers in vegetable marketplace are more expensive to women, Gurbet said, ‘’Wholesalers sell the products in the marketplace at a lower price to men. Despite the fact that this situation has continued for nine years, no one said ‘stop’ to this. Of course, when this is the case, I cannot sell the products I have brought to the market. Because customers say the product is too expensive. For this reason, they say that the women’s market is very expensive and they want men to work in the bazaar. That is why they wrote a petition and demanded that there be male sellers in a market. After this petition, men also started to work in the women’s market for six months’’.

 

‘If the problems are not solved, the economic crisis will increase’

 

Expressing that in order to solve the problems, the wholesalers should treat the sellers in a market equally, Gurbet said, ‘’They should sell us products at the same price as those who are selling products to men. After all, women have to work in the market and bring bread to their homes. The products we buy are so expensive that I wonder how the public will buy the products I placed on the stall. Now we want them to find a solution to this. If no one does this, Turkey will enter a huge economic crisis’’.

 

‘Customers blame us because the products are expensive’

 

Güneş, who has been working in the market for nine years and does not want to say her last name, noted that it is not normal for products to be so expensive. Güneş said, ‘’At first, I was doing a glasswork business in the market, but since I could not sell, I started selling eggs. But even though we don't sell much because the products are expensive, we continue to work because we have to. Although it is not about us that the products are expensive, customers blame us for this, but unfortunately this is not. Everything is high because of the price hikes. What is sold one price today will be doubled tomorrow. In this case, customers come and ask us, ‘Yesterday this product was this price, now why is it so expensive today?’ It is not really about us. Let them lower the prices so that we can bring money to our house by selling. Otherwise, at this rate, all the products will be left in our hands’’.

 

‘There is discrimination in marketplaces’

 

Necla Kaplan, who has been selling fruit in the market for two years, said, ‘’Even though we cannot pay for the products we sell, we have to sell the products for half the price in order to satisfy the customer. In this market, where I have been selling for two years, nothing has changed in terms of selling. In the past, customers could buy three kilos from a product, but now they cannot buy even half a kilo. Because we have to sell the products we buy below the prices in the market. If we do not sell in this way, we both lose customers and suffer a loss. There should be a solution to this situation, but this solution is not something that can be solved only with us. Because the products are sold to women sellers in a market at higher prices and given to male sellers at a lower cost. Of course, there is discrimination against women here as well. In this way, women are once again oppressed. We continue to work to avoid being oppressed’’.

 

‘We are working to pay taxes’

 

Emphasizing that she could not bring bread to her home most of the time due to unsuccessful sales, Necla said, ‘’Everything has been raised due to the growing economic crisis. When I look at the bills, although the electricity and water I have consumed are low, a large amount is written on the bills. All the payments we make in excess amounts go to taxes. We are now working on taxes here. We cannot to receive a recompense for our work. For this, the state needs to hear our voice now. The government now needs to find a solution to this. It needs to lower tax rates. It needs to lower the increased price hikes. We as a people are shouting from here. let them hear our voice. Now we want to receive a recompense for our work’’.

 

‘Customers cannot get shop’

 

Saliha Yavuz had previously worked in the municipal market and was dismissed after the trustees appointed. Saliha Yavuz drew attention to the fact that sometimes she could not make any profit from the sales she made in the market. Saliha said, ‘’I have been working in this market for four years. The prices are really expensive. All customers complain about the high prices. Potatoes and onions, which are by far the cheapest in the market, are also very expensive. All the customers who came to the bazaar say that everything is very expensive and that’s why they cannot buy anything, they only buy with a few kurus they have’’.

 

‘Solutions now seem utopic to us’

 

Emphasizing that the products sold in the market are sold cheaper in the evening, Saliha emphasized that customers can only shop towards the evening. She said, ‘’There are many people who come to the market and do not have the possibility to shop. We cannot sell our products at the price we want. We have to sell our products with very little profit. People come in the afternoon and try to buy whatever is cheap on the stall. When someone tells us ‘how to produce a solution’, it now seems utopic to us. If everyone could find employment opportunities and stand on their feet, none of these problems would exist. In order to find a solution to the problems, the unemployment problem must be solved first. In order for the product to be sold cheaper, it must be sold directly from the field. Because when the product is circulated in more than one hand, the products are sold very expensively’’.