Gendered dispossession and women’s changing poverty by slum/squatter redevelopment projects: A case study from Turkey

Abstract

Informal settlements have been crucial sites of spatial dispossession and neoliberal urbanization with the displacement of the urban poor from profitable urban areas. This study examines the gendered implications of dispossession and changing dimensions of women’s poverty as a result of slum/squatter redevelopment projects. Based on the research of the Kadifekale Urban Transformation Project in Turkey that resettled residents of a highly concentrated Kurdish migrant squatter settlement into a new mass housing estate, the study highlights the impacts of profit-driven urban development projects on women's access to affordable housing, support networks, care work, and employment opportunities. Kurdish women's experiences of displacement and resettlement illustrate in particular the intersectional aspects of gendered dispossession and asset erosion with their exclusion from affordable housing options, dispersal of their communities, and separation from their ethnic employment niches. Drawing upon dispossession and feminist development literature, the study sheds light upon the gendered experiences of displacement, changing livelihood opportunities, gendered access and control over resources, and strategies of resistance that result from slum redevelopment projects.

Analysis of Residents’ Livelihoods in Transformed Shantytowns: A Case Study of a Resource-Based City in China

“…A study in Africa shows that how residents perceive the effects of shantytown transformation is influenced by economic, technological, and environmental factors, among which affordability and the sense of housing use are both important [20]. Borsuk observes that a shantytown transformation in Turkey is a process of deprivation accumulation which exacerbates the precariousness of survival for local women and makes their access to resources more limited [46]. It is known from Debnath et al's [28] study that the quality of housing in India's slums after slum upgrading is low as well as poses health hazards to the residents, the higher electricity bills for the low-income groups living in the new houses is another form of exploitation.…”

Gendered analysis of development induced displacement in the Global South: A systematic review

“…It was discovered that urban infrastructure development projects that push the urban poor, especially women, frequently select relocation sites on the outskirts of the city, where women experience greater livelihood insecurity. A study from Turkey that demonstrates how slum/squatter redevelopment programs have gendered effects on eviction and the changing nature of women's poverty is another excellent illustration (Borsuk, 2021).…”

“…Women have historically not been allowed to inherit or own property in the developing world, either by the law or by custom (Borsuk, 2021). Women who do not own land are more dependent, vulnerable, and at risk of being left out of the decision-making process during displacement because, in most circumstances, one's 'ownership' of land determines one's entitlement to compensation.…”

Consolidating and Contesting Authoritarian Neoliberalism in Turkey: Towards a Framework

“…Neoliberal policies implemented by the AKP brought about the convergence of market-oriented policies with gendered and patriarchal policies. Development projects that affect urban, environmental, and rural areas enabled gendered dispossessions and amplified gendered and intersectional inequalities (see Borsuk, 2021;Erman & Hatiboglu, 2017). Feminist organisations have launched a series of campaigns for equal pay for equal work, state-sponsored child care, anti-femicide, and LGBTI+ rights campaigns.…”