This study aims to explore the COVID-19 experiences of Turkish female academics in terms of gender roles by focusing on how these women have dealt with domestic and academic responsibilities. The study group consisted of 21 female academics working from home, along with their spouses. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the data collected through semistructured telephone interviews. The findings were clustered under five main themes: the early days of the pandemic, work life after the pandemic, domestic responsibilities after the pandemic, family relationships after the pandemic, and the perception of gender roles. The results indicate that the pandemic has deepened gender inequalities, and the academic life of female academics has changed in terms of academic productivity. Therefore, we recommend that more research examining the quarantine process and involving women in other occupations and of different socioeconomic statuses should be done to develop more effective social policies. K E Y W O R D SCOVID-19 pandemic, domestic and academic responsibilities, female academics, gender roles | INTRODUCTIONThe inequality between women and men is witnessed in several areas of daily life and considered a result of gender. It is mostly women who experience this inequality as the disadvantaged side (Günçavdı et al., 2017;Günindi Ersöz, 2016). There is a typical distinction in which men dominate the public sphere, while women are associated with the private sphere (Dildar, 2015). Gender-based discrimination, which is thought to decrease
The way in which women decide to have children is affected by many processes, including personal, social, historical, and political. Maternity is seen as an inevitable part of women's happiness and a complement to their femininity. In traditional Turkish family structure, femininity is sanctified through maternity, and the status of women in the family and society is shaped by whether they have children or not. The status of women began to change with urbanization and also by virtue of women's increasing participation in the workforce. The idea began to be expressed that maternity is not necessarily the fate of women, and given that it is a preference, which includes not only satisfaction but also difficulty, childlessness might be preferred. This study aims to examine the voluntary childlessness preferences of women. For this purpose, the study group consisted of four married women, who currently do not have children and who prefer not to have children. The age of the participants varies between 30 and 40 years and they are all voluntary. The study is designed according to descriptive phenomenology design of qualitative research methodology. The data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews. In the analysis of the data, Colaizzi's (1978) phenomenological analysis steps were followed. During the interviews, it was seen that participants emphasized the concepts of responsibility and care giving. As a result of the analysis, it appears that the data are combined under the following themes: the meaning of maternity, the meaning of the concept of maternity in social circles, the meaning of not wanting a child, effects of voluntary childlessness, the decision of voluntary childlessness, social reactions to voluntary childlessness, and dilemmas experienced in the face of voluntary childlessness. It was observed that instinctive attitudes about maternity and perceptions on child bearing are still ongoing, that the pressure of being a mother has been preserved in the social environment, and that voluntarily childfree women define childlessness as freedom in many areas of life. With this study we make a contribution to the literature by attending to the voice of voluntarily childless women in the context of a woman's right to decide on her own body.
This study aims to find out the academic life experiences of early career female academics during the Covid-19 pandemic in Turkey. The study group consisted of 13 female academics working from home with their spouses. The interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the data collected through semi-structured telephone interviews. The findings were clustered under two main themes: the life before the pandemic, and academic life during the pandemic. The main theme of academic life during the pandemic consisted of the following sub-themes: adaptation problem, withdrawal from academic life, excessive workload interfering academic productivity, and integration of academic life into family life. The results indicate that the pandemic has deepened gender inequalities, and the working life of early-career female academics has drastically changed in terms of academic productivity. Based on our findings, we recommend that quantitative research with large samples of early-career female academics should be conducted to develop nation-wide policies for gender inequality prevention. We also recommend that the professional development and career advancement of female academics in the early career stage should be compared with their male peers to reveal any gender-based disadvantages.
Bu çalışmada yurt dışında yaşayan Türkiye kökenli göçmenlerin gurbette olma deneyimleri konu edinilmiştir. Bu amaç doğrultusunda Türkiye'den yurt dışına göç eden bireylerin gidiş motivasyonları, karar alma ve yolculuk süreçleri, ülkeye varış süreçleri, adaptasyon kaynakları ve yurt dışına uyuma karşı pişmanlık süreçlerine dair kişisel algı ve deneyimleri incelenmiştir. Araştırma yaşamlarını yurtdışında sürdüren bireylerin konu edildiği ve TRT Türk'de yayınlanan "Gurbette Kalanlar" isimli belgesel analiz arasından kişisel algı ve deneyimleri en iyi yansıtabileceği düşünülen on belgesel seçilerek yürütülmüştür. Çalışma grubunu seçilen on belgeseldeki birebir görüşme yapılan on birey oluşturmaktadır. Verilerin analizi fenomenolojik yaklaşım modellerinden Giorgi'nin "betimleyici fenomenolojik araştırma modeli" kullanılarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Elde edilen sonuçlara göre göç eden bireyler bir yandan kendi vatanlarına dönmek isterlerken, diğer yandan bulundukları ülkenin gelişmiş olmasının sağladığı pozitif koşullar nedeniyle yaşamlarını orada yeniden inşa etme isteği duymaktadırlar. Bu durum bireylerin içinde bulundukları ikilemin yansıması olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır.
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