Women also gain some control over domestic relations as these informal meetings become forums for discussing issues like domestic violence and for exercising a community standard concerning behavior in the private sphere. Wedel's analysis of Turkish squatter neighborhoods found that on eight levels women's informal networks contribute to political participation. They also find connections to income-generating activity like piecework and find help with childcare and housework. Women with limited formal education can pool their information and learn ways of becoming effective participants in their communities. They develop collective opinions about neighborhood concerns which allow them to mobilize for change when needed.
Women also develop the civic skills needed to participate in wider discussions.
Although women are largely excluded from the spaces, like coffee houses, where men's informal networks operate, they jointly convey their concerns to male members of their households who do participate in these networks. They support these officials in return for help with neighborhood problems. While men may visit the official with them and act as spokesmen, women may be the crucial mobilizing force. Women also sometimes arrange for officials to visit the group in a private home, rather than limiting these political visits to the coffee houses from which women are excluded. Finally, women's collective participation protects individual women somewhat from negative reactions from their male kin.