Türkiye'de kültürel bağlamda kadın emeği: Konfeksiyon atölyelerinde çalışan kadın işçiler üzerine bir araştırma
Özet
ABSTRACT The post- 1980 Turkey has experienced great transformation of women's labor both in quality and quantity. More and more women from urban lower strata are employed in labor intensive exporting sectors. In this study, the nature of labor relations are inquired to explain the effects of this process on women workers. Field survey is conducted on workshop production in clothing sector, where mainly young unmarried girls are employed. The study focused on social and cultrual aspects of the labor process by emphasizing the role of cultural codes related to the concept of sexual honor (namus, in Turkish), which is expected to restrict the way of labor participation of women. The study analyzes such relations in the context of workshop production which is characterized by its marginal position in the international subcontracting relations. During the field research a family like relations between the employer and employee was observed. The former behaves as "father" or "mother" who are expected to be the guardian of sexual honor of their daughters in the local cultural context. Because of such relations between employers and employees, parents are able to send their daughters to the workshop without any hesitation. At the same time, employer is able to keep enough labor force at cheap price. It is possible to say that the local cultural codes are exploited by capitalist economy to provide cheap and flexible labor. However this structure of exploitation is dynamic by nature. The recent changes of labor relations toward more economically rational-one can be explained by the result of the transformation of the concept of sexual honor among the local people and also the structure of clothing sector.