Mothers’ perceptions towards child education and child labor in

an urban low-income Kurdish migrant community in Turkey

Ozge Sensoy Bahar

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

(osensoy2@illinois.edu)

Guiding Question

What are low-income Kurdish mothers’ beliefs on child labor, and child education, and how does gender play a role?

Methods

Theoretical framework: Parental ethnotheories (Harkness & Super, 1996)

Methodological approach: Ethnographic (Miller, Hengst, & Wang, 2003)

Setting: Sultan neighborhood of Istanbul

Sampling strategy - Purposive sampling - Snowball sampling

Data collection -demographic survey -in-depth interviews (2 to 11 hours) -participant observations

Methods

Sample: 28 low-income Kurdish mothers- mean age: 33.5 - poverty levels: (poverty level for a family of 4 reported in September 2011 is 2,900 TL [TURK_IS,2011])

lowest: 300 TL ($180) for a family of 9 highest: 3,000 TL ($1800) for a family of 8

- only 1 elementary school graduate, 3 had some elementary schooling

- mean number of years in Istanbul: 14- median number of kids per family: 4 (1 to 9)- mean age of kids: 10.2

Preliminary Findings

EDUCATION “I want my children to become something, to

have a profession”-For both girls and boys, education ensured they would not be “ignorant” like their parents-For both girls and boys, higher education meant a better and more financially secure futureFor girls specifically:- Even more important for girls, because when they are educated they will be more likely to be respected by husband and in-laws- Only one mother thought her daughter did not need to go beyond middle school

Preliminary findings

EDUCATION (Cont’d)- “I will do everything possible for them to

continue after middle school. But if we don’t have the financial means, we may not send them to school”

- “If they are good students, they will continue their education. If they are not, what’s the purpose of sending them?”

- “It is up to them to decide whether they want to continue after middle school. I can’t oblige them”

Preliminary findings

CHILD LABOR- 6 mothers said “We will never send them to work before age 18”- 1o mothers said “If they are good students, we will do all we can to keep them in school” - 7 mothers said “If they don’t go to school, they will work”- 6 mothers said “I want them to have an education, but if our family can’t get by, we will send them to work”- 5 mothers said “We will only send them to work during the summer”-10 mothers said “They can start working after the age of 15” (including only during the summer)

Preliminary Findings

CHILD LABOR (Cont’d)Child Labor and Gender-Of the 15 mothers who were open to send their children to work, 5 said they would NOT send their daughters to work Possible jobs for girls

Undesirable jobs for girls

Possible jobs for boys

Undesirable jobs for boys

Textile (8 people) Textile (3 people) Textile (6 people) Textile (3 people)

In a grocery/ clothing store (6 people)

Cafes/bars/restaurants (6 people)

Cafes/restaurants (5 people)

Bars (6 people)

Barber (3 people) Construction (3 people)

Mechanics (2 people)

Preliminary Findings

CHILD LABOR (Cont’d)Alternative explanations to child labor-When they don’t go to school during the summer (or if they dropped out of school), they will work so that they can’t hang out with bad people (criminals)

-I want them to get used to working and understand how hard making money is

-If they work now, they will be more disciplined

-I believe they will appreciate school more when they see how hard it is to work

References

Harkness, S., & Super, C. M. (1996). Parents’ cultural belief systems: Their origins, expressions, and consequences. NY: Guilford Press.

Miller, P. J., Hengst, J. A., Wang, S-H. (2003). Ethnographic methods: Applications from developmental cultural psychology. In P. M. Camic, J. E. Rhodes, & L. Yardley (Eds.). Qualitative research in psychology: Expanding perspectives in methodology and design (Pp. 219-242). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

TURK_IS (2011), Eylul 2011 Aclik ve Yoksulluk Siniri. Retrieved from http://www.turk-is.org.tr/ index.snet?wapp=52521E5F-FCA5-4BDD-940D-A284DA6F151D&catCode=gida