Beyond illegality: the gendered (In-)securities of illegal Armenian care workers in Turkey

Migrant labor is widely used in agricultural production in many parts of Türkiye especially during the harvesting season. This article explores the precaritization process of seasonal agricultural labor markets in Türkiye by highlighting how three regimes—migration management, labor bonding and recruitment—work simultaneously to regulate migrant labor supply. By attracting vulnerable and cheap labor of Syrian, Azeri and Georgian workers, the Turkish agricultural sector has extended its reach to the most disadvantaged groups and intensified the precaritization of the labor force. Based on empirical findings from previous fieldworks conducted between 2015 and 2019 in various agricultural sites throughout Türkiye, this paper argues that precaritization is not only a result of working conditions and job characteristics in the agricultural sector but also a consequence of these three regimes working harmoniously as they generate competition among different worker groups for existing jobs. While migration regime and restrictions on migrant labor determine migrant and refugee labor’s living and working conditions, intermediaries and ethnic ties also facilitate the integration of precarious labor into seasonal wage work. The paper provides valuable insights into the dynamics of labor exploitation in the agricultural sector in Türkiye and the need for regulatory mechanisms that protect the rights of seasonal agricultural workers.

Section: The Labor Bonding Regime: Ethnic-based Network and Agricultu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Harvesting precarity: The regimes governing migrant labor in Türkiye’s agricultural sector

Dedeoğlu

2023

“…Although there are significant cultural, religious, gendered and ethnic differences among asylum seekers, such differences do not seem to be taken into account when it comes to the settlement of migrant women in the satellite cities, affecting their lives negatively. For asylum-seeking women, the relatively small and conservative city environment in the satellite cities has often meant more frequent exposure to racial prejudice and sometimes to abuse and violence (Dogutas, 2019; Leghtas and Sullivan, 2017; Soykan et al, 2021; Teke Lloyd, 2018; Yüceer Kardeş et al, 2021). In addition, being lonely and vulnerable with an uncertain future is a part of the fragile and precarious migration experience of migrant women (Coşkun and Eski, 2022; MÜLTECİ-DER, 2014).…”

Section: Vulnerability or “Precarity”: A Gendered Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered precarity of migrant women in the satellite city of Isparta, Türkiye

Sallan Gül,

Kahya Nizam,

Türkmen Er

2023

This paper focuses on the experiences of asylum-seeking and forced migrant women in one of the satellite cities in Türkiye and discusses how gender affects women’s precarious living and working conditions. Based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 migrant women from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria in 2019, our findings suggest that asylum-seeking women have limited access to economic and social resources available in the satellite city of Isparta due to gender inequalities. The findings of the study indicate that factors, such as (1) gendered and informal employment structure, (2) traditional gender roles, (3) crowded and patriarchal family structure, (4) loosened kinship and solidarity, (5) language incompetence, (6) restrictive migration management and (7) satellite city policies, all have a role in determining the experiences of these migrant women. These factors often prevent migrant women from accessing some basic services, social networks and employment opportunities, and push them to live precarious, impoverished and excluded lives.

“…Here, unlike the common assumption that women are voiceless and more dependent on the decisions of others during migration process, women emerge as actors who adopted the strategy of separation to ensure family continuity. Indeed, women’s active agency in deciding to separate from their family has been studied by several other scholars of gendered migration (Archambault, 2010; Schmidt et al, 2022; Teke Lloyd, 2018).…”

Section: Migration As a Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

A gendered analysis of Palestinian refugee women’s experiences of migration from Syria to Türkiye

Kurtoğlu,

Teke Lloyd,

Salimoğlu

2023

After the outbreak of the conflict in 2011, millions of people fled Syria across its borders. This gave way to a new category of people, “Syrian refugees.” While this categorical understanding constitutes the basis for legal entitlements, it homogenizes all fleeing Syria and results in concealing the differential experiences and vulnerabilities of particular groups. The paper challenges this blanket categorization by focusing on the migration experiences of Palestinian women from Syria to Türkiye around the concepts of biological and social reproduction which represent the largely neglected aspects concerning the process of forced migration. By drawing on six women’s experiences, the paper concludes that the homogeneity of the Syrian migrants is an illusion; women’s migrations are shaped through their gendered and ethnic history; and women face gender-specific challenges and opportunities in both home and host countries. We particularly argue that policies on border control and migrant’s integration fail to consider the subjective conditions and needs of particular groups within the Syrian migrants.