Gender, religiosity and self-esteem among Afghan refugee women

The Afghan refugee women sample, who were forced to migrate from their country due to reasons such as war, political impotence, and violence, and who are in a disadvantaged position as both a refugee and a woman, needs to be understood and examined from different aspects. It is considered a noteworthy issue to examine the self-esteem of Afghan women, in other words, the degree to which they are satisfied with themselves, and to examine this in terms of demographic variables as well as variables such as religion and gender perceptions, which are important dynamics in the individual's life. The main purpose of the research is to examine the gender perceptions, internal religious motivations and self-esteem of Afghan refugee women who migrated to Turkey for compulsory reasons. For this purpose, the research using quantitative research method was conducted with 136 Afghan women residing in Elazığ province. It is examined whether there is a relationship between demographic variables and their gender perceptions, self-esteem, and internal religious motivation levels, and it is also investigated whether Afghan women's gender perceptions and internal religious motivation predict their self-esteem. For this reason, the Gender Perception Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale were used in the study. Based on the findings of the research, it was found that Afghan refugee women's gender perceptions differ significantly according to age, marital status, and educational status; It was found that there was no significant difference with the variables of employment status and economic status. While self-esteem differs significantly with education level and economic status variables; It was concluded that there was no significant difference with age, marital status, and employment status variables. When we look at internal religious motivations, it is seen that they differ significantly with age, education level and economic status variables; It was observed that there was no significant difference with marital status and employment status variables. When the results regarding the relationship between gender perception, self-esteem and internal religious motivation are examined; While there is a negative significant relationship between gender perception and intrinsic religious motivation and a positive significant relationship between gender perception and self-esteem; No statistically significant relationship was found between self-esteem and intrinsic religious motivation.