Bio
Merve Yılmazbilek I mwervee@gmail.com
Undergraduate (2006-2010): Anadolu University, Faculty of Letters, Department of Sociology. MSC (2010-2012), Ph. D (2015-): Anadolu University, Institute of Social Sciences, Sociology Department. Recent Publications: Yılmazbilek, Merve (2017) “Transphobia and Hate Crimes: Forced Sex Work and Rape Experiences of Trans people”, XV. National Social Sciences Congress, 29 November-1 December 2017, Ankara, Turkey. Yılmazbilek, Merve (2018) “A Different Approach as a Feminist Consciousness-Building Process in Women’s Liberation: Discussing Meditation”, Akdeniz University Journal of Social Sciences Institute, 3, 96-103. Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey.
Abstract
While being a mother is experienced quite challengingly within patriarchal boundaries, Covid-19 makes this experience more difficult for women. For pregnant women, this process poses a risk of going to the hospital and giving birth to a healthy baby; it causes increased pressure over what motherhood means for women with children. During the first year of the global covid-19 pandemic, many women lost their jobs and had to return to the domestic sphere. Those who didn’t lose their jobs experienced these two processes as two different pressures. Those who had to go to the workplace experienced the despair of leaving their child alone at home for a long time because the daycare centers were closed. At the same time, the psychological pressure they put on themselves from the anxiety they experienced of potentially bringing viruses home from work and infecting their children continues. Women who work remotely from home are happy because they can spend time with their children, but on the other hand, they are trapped in the difficult situation of working remotely from home while being stuck in the domestic space due to domestic responsibilities. Patriarchal capitalism is entirely responsible for women’s experience as mothers, trapped by economic and psychological violence. While patriarchal capitalism suppresses women’s labor, motherhood is the main area for this pressure to continue. I evaluate how patriarchy in Turkey affects the experiences of mothers in the light of the data I obtained from 8 women I interviewed for this article
Balancing Motherhood and Covid-19: Patriachal Experiences in Turkey
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