Working conditions of women employes and strategies to manage together paid work with unpaid domestic and care work: The case of Izmir

This thesis study investigates the working conditions of women employed in paid jobs in the city of Izmir and how they manage unpaid household and care work alongside their employment outside the home. Through quantitative and qualitative data obtained from 30 married women with at least one child, factors influencing women's employment along the axis of paid and unpaid labor, such as double burden, reproduction, and educational capital, are analyzed from a sociological perspective. In this study, firstly, the welfare regime in Turkey and care policies related to working mothers are explained through the welfare state and welfare regimes. Then, the Southern European model, including Turkey, is elucidated through familism and clientelism. Demographic structure, family, work life, the double burden between paid and unpaid work, and post-pandemic work life data were analyzed using hierarchical clustering analysis and k-means clustering method. It was discovered that interviewees were divided into 4 clusters. The quantitative data from these 4 clusters were compared with qualitative data from in-depth interviews. Additionally, reciprocity analysis was conducted using the SPSS 25.0 program with variables of educational status, employment status, and childcare, and two-dimensional reciprocity maps were created. According to the research results, there is a parallel relationship between women's educational status and their participation in the labor force. It is observed that the participation rates of participants in trade unions are low, and in childcare, it is almost seen that the majority of participants rely on family members for care. Women are seen to actively participate in the labor market while simultaneously managing the double burden of household and care work indicating the continued dominance of a familial welfare regime.