<p>Hazelnuts are crucial for Türkiye, and the hazelnut economy impacts millions of people in the country. Hazelnut processing factories, which are particularly important for the economy of the Black Sea Region, rely heavily on female labor. On the other hand, women’s employment in Türkiye is inadequate and, in many sectors, fails to meet “decent work” standards. The purpose of this study is to examine women’s employment patterns in hazelnut factories and to evaluate their compatibility with the concept of “decent work.” A mixed-methods approach was used, and a total of 121 female workers employed in small and medium-sized factories in the Terme district and a large-scale factory in the Çarşamba district were included in the research. Quantitative data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Jonckheere-Terpstra tests with the help of SPSS, while qualitative data were analyzed using MaxQDA 2024 Data Analysis Software. The qualitative analysis created six main themes and 37 hierarchical codes. Main themes were gender-based job suitability, challenges, conditional career choice, patriarchal structure, pursuit of empowerment &amp; independence, and employment policies targeting women. According to the findings, women are predominantly employed in hazelnut sorting and selection, working temporarily in small and medium-sized facilities and permanently in large-scale ones. Women are mostly paid daily wages and earn less than the minimum wage. Horizontal and vertical segregation, limited access to social security, and precarious employment are quite common in the research area. Therefore, women’s employment in the hazelnut industry falls short of meeting “decent work” standards; thus, gender-sensitive policies are needed.</p>