IYADER Breaks Down Gender Stereotypes

Yenimahalle in Ankara is a district in which many heavy industry factories operate. There are mainly worker unions in Yenimahalle.

It is not easy to find a rights-based association that works on gender politics there. IYADER, on the other hand, focuses on women’s empowerment in an area where most of the workers are male. IYADER organizes technical trainings such as logistics, welding and plastic injection to women. They also continue lobbying for their law draft to solve problems of women living in shelters. We interviewed the President of IYADER, Merve Şimşek.

Could you tell us briefly about yourself?

I am the Director of Board of İYADER. I have been an activist of gender equality for the last five years. I’ve been running various campaigns and implementing projects to expand gender equality.

Could you tell us about what you do?

We conduct studies directed at human rights and gender equality. Via IYAGENDER Activist Program, we raise activists and organize trainings on gender equality in high schools. We gave trainings for about 500 students in the last year.

We run another campaign focused on housing rights for women who once lived in shelters. We proposed a law regarding women’s housing right and employment and we have been lobbying for that.

We hold vocational trainings for women still live or once lived in shelters. We try to break down gender stereotype by giving trainings such as welding, plastic injection and logistics. We help women to be employed in factories in Yenimahalle. We also organize gender equality trainings in those factories.