The forms of intergenerational family solidarity and gender-sensitive division of labor: A case from Gaziantep

The concept of intergenerational solidarity is one of the issues that has gained importance in recent years, when the changing population structure has led to generational diversity. In this thesis, the gender-based division of labor in families is examined in intergenerational solidarity, and the concept of intergenerational solidarity is examined within the framework of feminist methodology. In this context, seven families with four vertical generations living in Gaziantep were reached by using the purposive sampling technique in the research designed with qualitative techniques. Five members of these families were interviewed: from the upper generation with elders, from the middle generation with two individuals as husband and wife, and from the lower generation with two members as husband and wife who are grandchildren and parents as well. It has been discussed how individuals of the three different generations, who are members of the same family, are affected by this solidarity and how they maintain this solidarity. In particular, the situation of panini women who have to support more than one generation due to population aging has been examined. Consequently, as a result of the gender-based division of labor, the roles of women and men vary with the intergenerational solidarity. While men are generally responsible for external affairs that are not related to domestic emotional relations, it is the duty of women to construct and conduct inner-family relations. Therefore, the invisible labourer of the family solidarity are women. In addition, depending on the presence of the horizontal line kinship, there was no panini sandwich generation in the families interviewed in this sample. Keywords: intergenerational solidarity, gender division of labor, care labor, panini sandwich generation