THE IMPACT OF TURKISH CULTURE ON EDUCATED WOMEN’S ROLES

Abstract

Throughout history, Turkish women have been contributing to their society in multiple domestic, economic, educational and social roles on various social levels. Especially after economic breakdowns, these women became involved in the work force. Amendments on human rights legally removed the obstacles for Turkish women to participate in all institutions of society. However, these women’s culturally assigned domestic roles remained as their primary roles. Along with these other roles, women’s time soon became insufficient for the responsibilities that came with all their roles. Cultural pressure, economic needs and women’s self actualization combined to become a greater pressure on women choosing roles they wanted to fulfill. Thus, multiple roles became burdens, and Turkish women had conflicts with the expectations and the pressure gender roles had placed upon them. The purpose of this study is to examine female Turkish graduate students’ awareness of their multiple responsibilities, gender role expectations and how these multiple roles affect their lives. In order to answer the research questions, one to one in depth interviews was conducted with female Turkish graduate students. A content analysis method was used to analyze the data and the results were explained in light of previous research.

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Keywords

Multiple Roles, Gender roles, Women's gender roles, Role conflict, Cultural impact

Citation