Migration and gender: A study on the Syrian refugee women in Mersin

Migration is an issue worth examining due to its increasing economic, social, cultural and political effects in all spheres of live as well as in international relations. This study examines the experiences of Syrian refugee women - who started to live in Turkey's Mersin province due to the forced migration resulting from the 2011 Syrian civil war – through the prism of gender relations. In the study, interviews are conducted with Syrian refugee women in Mersin in order to uncover their experiences of forced migration as "women". Based on these experiences, the study aims to explore the economic, social, cultural and political effects of gender roles imposed on women and men in both home and host countries. The study has revealed that as a result of the forced migration that occurred from Syria to Turkey, gender relations and roles adopted in the home country have been transformed. In other words, gender roles imposed and accepted in Syria have been reconstructed and renegotiated in host society, i.e. Turkey, revealing that migration shapes and affects existing gender relations and roles.