Understanding the integration process through the experiences of syrian women workers: The case of Bağcilar district

Some of the refugee women who migrated to Turkey after the Syrian crisis started to participate to work life due to changing living conditions and economic conditions. The participation of these women in wage labor markets has brought about various changes. Due to their disadvantaged positions, many of these women were only able to find a place for themselves in business sectors where informality is high. The textile sector is the one of the informal sectors where refugees are heavily involved due to many reasons such as the constant shortage of workers and the lack of need for qualified workforce. Despite all the negative conditions, the relationship between the participation of women refugees in economic processes and their integration is extremely strong. Women's participation in working life, due to their caring, teaching and unifying qualities in the family and society, creates a "transformative" effect for their communities, especially in the new countries they migrate to. For this reason, it is thought that there are important differences in the integration processes of women who work with the local people, participate in public life and develop new relationships, and refugee women who have not participated in working life. Therefore, in this thesis, it is aimed to understand the integration processes of the two women refugee groups mentioned above, based on working experiences. In order to achieve this, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 women (15 textile workers, 15 non-working) in Bağcılar, one of the districts with the highest number of refugees. At the end of these interviews, 9 areas showing the integration processes were determined and the field findings were examined in line with these areas. Keywords: Integration, Refugee, Syrian Woman, Immigrant Labor, Unregistered Employment, Textile Workship