Being a unionized female: A comparative research study over teachers in Kırklareli province in the slope of work and domestic lives

The purpose of this research is to compare union member and non-member woman teachers' thoughts on unions and views of professional life and to determine similarities and differences between them. Accordingly, a semi-structured interview form, which has 9 questions for woman teachers that are union members and 6 for non-member woman teachers, in total 15, has been composed and in-depth interview method has been used. 25 union member woman teachers and 25 non-member teachers, 50 in total, have been chosen at random from preschools, primary schools, middle schools and high schools in Kırklareli. Collected data have been analysed using content analysis method. Whether they are a union member or not, woman teachers face problems in their professional lives, they have expectations from professional life and they find the number of female employees in school administrations evenly insufficient. While unions provide unity and solidarity according to union member woman teachers, they cause discrimination and exclusion among teachers due to unions' associations with politics according to non-member woman teachers. Therefore, union activities are considered to be insufficient. Union member woman teachers also state that there is no gender apartheid in unions and that the number of women in union administrations is insufficient.