Today, more than half of the refugee population in the world is facing protracted refugee situations, which denotes the situations in which refugees are living in exile for more than five years. A typical response to such situations is to address the emergency needs of refugees at the border of the host country and providing the refugees with food, clothes, shelter, and hygiene support met through humanitarian aid funds. Although the situation for Syrians in need of protection is different in Turkey, in the face of the absence of an integration plan, dependency on aid programs is a big problem for Syrians.
Today, more than half of the refugee population in the world is facing protracted refugee situations, which denotes the situations in which refugees are living in exile for more than five years. A typical response to such situations is to address the emergency needs of refugees at the border of the host country and providing the refugees with food, clothes, shelter, and hygiene support met through humanitarian aid funds. Although the situation for Syrians in need of protection is different in Turkey, in the face of the absence of an integration plan, dependency on aid programs is a big problem for Syrians. The temporary protection system grants Syrian refugees certain basic rights, including right to work and protection against deportation; however, it does not lead to the necessary set-up to foster social and economic interdependence of Syrian refugees in local settings. Restrictions on freedom of travel and obstacles to the access to labor market might lead Syrian families to a secondary migration via irregular ways. Along with the problem of access to basic rights, aid and social assistance to Syrians provided by the state and non-state institutions alike, can obscure refugees’ empowerment.
Under these circumstances, we will address Syrian refugee women’s economic participation in the labor market through a specific focus on the concept of “resilience” in the context of forced migration/migrant diaspora. Some scholars argue that refugeehood is a specific institutional framework that poses not only obstacles but also opportunities for forced migrants’ economic lives. Current literature on the economy of forced migration has two main strands: those who focus on income-generating activities of the migrants or those which address the impact of forced migrants on the host society. However, individual agency and capacity can transform and reshape the institutional structures and impediments for migrants and other groups in society (Betts et al. 2017). In this research, we will address this agency by centrally focusing on gender. We mainly argue that emerging economic needs can spark a social change for migrant women and that this change, in turn, can contribute to the construction of collective agency and women’s collectivities (Ritchie, 2018). Recognizing that migrant women labor is a precarious form of work, we will focus on varying legal statuses of Syrian migrant women (irregular/unregistered status, residence permit holder, temporary protection status holder with right to work, and Syrians who received Turkish citizenship, etc.). Besides, we will take into account the transnational character of migrant economies as well as the relation between the state and the international NGOs and organizations. Finally, we will examine the role which Syrian women play in the economic participation of the city they reside in.
This research aims at contributing to the policy-making processes in forced migration and Syrian refugee women’s integration into Turkish society. The research also aims at highlighting structural obstacles to economic and social empowerment of Syrian refugee women as well as offering solutions to the national and international NGOs, international human rights organizations and state institutions. This analysis will contribute not only to the elimination of poverty among the Syrian population but also to the elimination of racism and discrimination against refugees.
The main output of the Project will be a report in which the research findings are analyzed. In what follows, we are going to organize a conference to share the research findings with the academic community. Also, through social media campaigns, the results will be widely disseminated.
References
Betts A., L. Bloom, J. Kaplan and N. Omata. (2017). Refugee Economies Forced Displacement and Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ritchie, H. A. (2018). “Gender and enterprise in fragile refugee settings: female empowerment amidst male emasculation—a challenge to local integration?”, Disasters, 42:40–60. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12271
