This research investigates the domestic division of labour patterns in the Turkish households and how women's employment is affected by the gendered share of domestic chores as well as by men's gender ideology at home. The separation of roles in the private sphere in relation to women's work trajectories is elaborated by addressing housework undertaken by women predominantly, and it is argued that the overwhelming nature of traditionally female housework (that is among the major barriers for women to be particularly in high-end jobs) and the lack of men's support at home affect women's continuity in the labour market negatively. Using Family Structure Survey data (TurkStat, 2006), results demonstrate that time availability and resource bargaining perspectives do not create the anticipated impact on women's involvement in the female housework, yet due to different coping mechanisms for childcare, there is a dramatic change in women's share in caring for children when they work and have higher earnings. As men are found to be supportive of female employment in theory, they are not involved in female-dominated chores at home in practice. The findings show that men's status at home needs to be reinforced as much as women's paid work is supported and alongside with tangible support, mentality towards conventional gender roles needs to be changed.

This article sets out to understand the recent patterns and practices of women's entrepreneurship in Turkey, and by investigating its demographics using quantitative methods, critically discussing microcredit as a policy tool, evaluating the reinforcement provided by civil society and public institutions specifically based on the action plans of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB), the aim is to examine whether existing entrepreneurship opportunities and support mechanisms enhance women's skills and potential based on Nussbaum's (1999; combined capabilities approach and human powers concept. This article finds that there is no particularly restricted demographics of women's entrepreneurship in Turkey, specifically referring to marital status and educational level. In terms of microcredit as a common practice, discussions underline that it does not seem to contribute to women's human powers to a large extent in terms of strengthening their position in the job market and society. Finally, it is seen that there are various sources of support towards women in entrepreneurship in Turkey offered largely by NGOs as well as public institutions, yet at the level of action plans the main target is mostly increasing the number of entrepreneur women, who are considered as a part of special target groups rather than being regarded as a separate focus. Based on Nussbaum's combined capabilities approach (1999), this article underlines that public institutions and social policies as primary external capabilities need to continue supporting women's internal capabilities (via training, networking activities etc.) in entrepreneurship, yet also concurrently focus on the expansion of the scope and fields of women-owned businesses to enable the execution of their human powers.