At a semposium organised by the Turkish Class Research Centre (TÜSAM), Cagla Ünlütürk Ulutas reported on "The globalisation of home serivces: Migrant women working in homes in Turkey."
Many women from the former Soviet Union have come to Turkey because lack of employment in their home countries has forced them to. Women from the Turkish-speaking Gagauz region in Moldovia and from the Turkic republics work in Turkey for very low wages.
12 women in Ankara
For her research, Ünlütürk Ulutas spoke with 12 women working in private homes in Ankara; eight of them were from Moldovia, three were Turkmen, and one was from Romania.
Nine women were married, seven of them with Turks, two were single and one was divorced. Their ages ranged from 39 to 51. Only four of them have a residence permit, and only three have a work permit.
Nostalgia for the past
Before the Soviet Union fell apart, one of them was a social services expert, one a nursery school teacher, one a health official, one an accountant, and one a tailor. The others had worked in various factories.
For eleven of the women, the migration has been a strategy to allow the family to survive. The high rates of unemployment in their countries, the low wages (an average of 15-30 dollars a month) and the difficult economic conditions were all named as reasons for migration.
All the women expressed a longing for the past: "We were very happy with the Russians. Granted, we were not very rich, but we had everything. Here they have described the situation to you very negatively, but we were fine."
Four of the married women's husbands were unemployed, two of them because of serious illness.
Those women with small children worked in order to pay for their education, while those with married children worked in order to support their own and their children's households. A lot of the women planned to buy homes on their return to their home countries. However, as house prices increase, they keep having to extend their stays here.
All of the interviewed women entered Turkey legally with a tourism visa. There are agencies who find them work, but they ask for a full month's wage in return. That is why many women rely on informal networks which they build up when they change jobs.
Many of the women had to borrow money in order to pay for the migration.
"Like one of the family", but...
Many of the women said that they were treated like members of the family, two of them for instance calling the elderly woman they cared for "mother". However, these kind of maternalistic relations are also exploited in order to hide class difference and, for instance, to put pressure on women not to take days off.
Difficulties of illegal status
On their days off, the women mostly socialised with women from their home country. However, out of fear from the police (and being deported), they do not speak much in public.
They all expressed great longing for their children. Their lives in Turkey were shaped by the fear of police and being looked down on, loneliness and boredom. Their illegal status means that they have to accept whatever working hours and conditions are arranged for them.
Tania, who migrated to Turkey and married a Turk, summarised her hopes: "All I want is bread, peace and health. If I have those, I can cope with everything."(NZ/TK/AG)
