Gender inequality, the welfare state, disability, and distorted commodification of care in Turkey

Reforming care regimes to cover the care deficit and enhancing the marketization of care to promote individualism and gender equality have been on the European agenda since the 1990s. However, both implementation and results have been path-dependent. This study first underlines some specificities in the Turkish case-namely, the limited welfare state, a large shadow economy, gender roles, patriarchal backlash, Islamization, and neoliberalism, all of which receive little treatment in the welfare state literature. It then analyzes how these specificities interact in the construction of the care regime in Turkey, conceptualizing the outcome as distorted commodification of care-namely, the continuing ambiguity of care services despite these activities producing precarity and positional suffering for caregivers and recipients. Finally, the study provides concrete examples from the less studied topic of long-term disability care. It presents a perspective on Turkey that foregrounds the connections between gendered care imagery and case-specific qualities of the commodification of care shaped by the long-standing shadow economy, the outsourcing of disability services to for-profit private companies, and the introduction of the cash-for-care policy. The study analyzes the outcomes of distorted commodification of care under these conditions in Turkey vis-a-vis visibility, valuation of work, working conditions, and gender inequality.

Automated summary

This study examines the specificities of the Turkish care regime and provides insights into long-term disability care, highlighting the ambiguity of care services and the positional suffering experienced by caregivers and recipients. By focusing on these issues, it sheds light on the outcomes of distorted commodification of care in Turkey, particularly in terms of visibility, work valuation, working conditions, and gender inequality.