With changes in the demand for labor, in the global market, temporary and contract based work arrangements have become the preferred pattern in international labor migration. The employment of Turkish men in the projects of the construction industry abroad can be seen as an example of this. Turkish men migrate when and where work is available and leave their families in their home countries. What happens to the household structure and the relationships among its members, particularly gender relations, when men migrate on a temporary but recurrent manner is the central question of this study. This study aims to look at the impact of such migration on women as &ldquo / the left behind wives&rdquo / . The impact of male migration varies considerably according to three main variables: the type of family structure / existing human capital of the wife / and pattern of migration.
This study is limited to a study of families living in Ankara where the husband is employed companies as unskilled or semi-skilled workers in foreign countries in the Turkish construction industry. For the purpose of gathering information on the issue, 50 women were interviewed. Snowball sampling technique was used as the sampling strategy. A questionnaire was developed as the research tool.
When the participants&rsquo / husbands migrate on a temporary but recurrent manner, changes in the household composition, income, daily activities, patterns of authority, power and gender relations are observed. The meaning of their husbands' / migration and its impacts, hardships and advantages change from one woman to another depending on their family structure (nuclear/traditional patrilineal), on women&rsquo / s earning an income or not and the patterns of their husbands' / employment. Specifically, the women&rsquo / s status in the household gets better when the duration of the husband&rsquo / s migration increases and when its recurrent pattern becomes more prevalent and stable. It is especially true for the women living in nuclear families. These women have control over money issues and gain authority over decisions made on important matters for their families. Moreover, again in nuclear families where the woman is an autonomous income earner, migration tends to restructure the household and empower the women as opposed to traditional patrilienal families.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12605033/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 June 2004 |
| Creators | Dogu, Goze |
| Contributors | Erturk, Yakin |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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