The Early Republican Period was a period of social transformation as well as political and economic restructuring. This factory in Nazilli played a key role in the process of proletarianization and the transformation of socio-economic conditions. Especially from 1935 onwards, the factory had a significant impact on the population structure and economic dynamics of Nazilli, improving the socio- economic position of women and transforming normative expectations of gender roles.

In Early Republican Türkiye, the state-led industrialization and modernization process gained momentum, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) played an important role in this process. In particular, institutions such as Sümerbank became active centres in the fields of industry and production. In this period, factories functioned as pioneers not only of economic production but also of social change. Women’s labour has been both a part of and a result of this process since the foundation of the Republic.

According to early data such as the 1927 Industrial Census, women constituted a significant portion of the industrial labour force, concentrated especially in sectors such as textiles. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, there were significant increases in the number of women workers in various factories of Sümerbank. During this period, women were generally employed in low-paid and low-skilled jobs, and the gendered division of labour into men’s and women’s jobs is clearly visible. The Sümerbank Nazilli Chintz Factory is a special case in this context. The factory both increased women’s participation in the labour force and improved their working conditions by providing them with social rights and opportunities. Offering equal working conditions with men, this factory played an important role in strengthening the socio-economic position of women. This also supported transformations in women’s gender inequalities. While the SOEs of the Early Republican Period shaped women’s place in the labour market, they also influenced the social structure of modern Türkiye by providing a wide range of social and economic opportunities.

This research was conducted using the qualitative method of oral history. This method focuses on understanding and reconstructing social and economic histories through the experiences of individuals. The research was conducted with 15 women who worked at the Sümerbank Nazilli Chintz Factory. The research began by accessing the factory’s history and existing documents, followed by semi- structured in-depth interviews with retired female employees. The data was collected from the memories of former employees and archival documents.

The factory was active from 1937 until its closure in 2002. During the research process, a detailed analysis was conducted to understand the social opportunities the factory provided to its employees, the place of women’s labour in the factory and the effects of the factory on gender dynamics. Interviews with female employees highlighted the services and social opportunities offered by the factory, such as daycare centres, health services, transportation, accommodation, in-kind benefits and social events. In addition, the unionization of the factory and its economic effects on women were also investigated. In this context, it was revealed that unionization is very important for the female labour force. With unionization, the wage levels of women workers have increased considerably and their spirit of solidarity has strengthened.