Filiz Zeyrek /JINHA

ADANA – Betül Acar, woman kebab chef in the southern Turkish city of Adana, says there's no need for the world of meat to be a world of men.

43-year-old Betül has been operating her own kebab stand for the last eight years, in spite of the nearly universally male profile of kebab makers in Turkey.Betül, speaking at her stand across from the Women's and Maternity Hospital in the town of Seyhan, says women need to struggle for representation in every area of life.

When Betül's husband developed heart disease and became unable to work, the family faced the difficulty of having just one income-earner. Betül says that struggling to overcome discrimination against a woman-run kebab stand has been a matter of necessity for her, as her family depends on her economic success.

"Even if it's changed now, in the early years I had some difficult moments due to men's reaction, since they see kebab-making as man's work," she said. "But the negative reactions stopped when they saw how good my kebab is."

She says it makes her happy to work in a job that surprises men. "I work all day surrounded by surprised glances," she says, but every glance is evidence for her that she is expanding the area of work available to women.

But her work does not end at the kebab stand. Betül says she starts and ends every day with housework, cleaning and caring for her four children.

"The women's struggle needs to cover a lot of ground," she said.

(zd/mg/cm)