A qualitative research on food sector shift workers within the context of social gender inequality (Sample on the city of Sakarya)

Characteristics and roles entitled to individuals as the result of the causal presentation of biological gender which is a pattern of nature constitute an outcome of socialization. Thus, biological gender is adopted as a medium for the social gender inequalities despite lacking any social meaning and social gender inequality presents an uneven distribution among individuals. The aim of this study is to detect the social gender inequality problems faced by shift workers and the causes of these problems. Being able to compare the more disadvantageous gender in terms of these inequalities and also to determine social gender perceptions of individuals are other objectives of the study. Semi-structured in-depth interview technique was used for a total of 20 married employees with children (10 females and 10 males) who work in shifts in the same workplace in food sector in the city of Sakarya. Content analysis was used to analyze data gathered through interview and similar and different answers were evaluated based on themes. The assessments showed a classification of duties as female and male duties and thus a formation of different departments for males and females in the workplace. Female employees had higher workload although they had lower salaries. Employees also complained about inadequate weekly holidays and the lack of efficient sleep during daytime following night shifts. Especially female workers complained more about these conditions. Social gender characteristics and roles constitute the cause of these problems. Females and males are both exposed to social gender inequalities. But inequalities cause more problems for females. The study also concluded that the employees had a negative social gender perception and males used sexist expressions more and thus were more traditionalist compared to females.