Women's labour force participation: Rethinking the role of civil society

This thesis aims to explore the roles and responsibilities given to civil society organizations (CSOs) under welfare mix system and the implications of these roles over depoliticization of CSOs. To this end, this thesis focused on three women's CSOs working on the economic participation of women and analyzed how these organizations framed the problem of women's employment, the kinds of solutions they offered, and how they interacted with the state. Through in-depth interviews with representatives of CSOs and the analysis of the activities of CSOs this thesis found that when CSOs engage in activities in educational, economic and social welfare settings, they become depoliticized. This is because engaging in service-based activities decreases the capacity and interest of CSOs in developing rights-based discourses that could go against the state. This thesis contributes to the literature of civil society by way of pointing out the changing agendas and discourses of CSOs while developing service-based activities under welfare mix system in the context of Turkey.