GENDER AWARENESS OF TURKISH WOMEN MIRRORED THROUGH REGRETS IN THE COURSE OF LIFE

What is it about?

In this article, the results of a qualitative study on gender awareness of Turkish women mirrored through regrets in the course of life are discussed. The study composed of life history interviews and focus groups interviews with Turkish women, who were 1960–1970 graduates of various Girls’ Institutes and working as schoolteachers and academics showed that the women reflect on their lives in gendered terms. The women’s regrets arose mainly in relation to three domains: work, marriage and motherhood, which revealed that women separate their feelings of regret regarding marriage from the satisfaction they derive from motherhood. In the evaluations of the past, an ignored women’s history surfaces within the context of modernization reforms in Turkey, which provided women the means of ‘‘standing on our own feet’’ without depending on men.

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Why is it important?

This qualitative study showed that women reflect on their lives in gendered terms. The women’s regrets, which arose mainly in relation to three domains: work, marriage and motherhood, are instrumental in tracing women’s awareness of gender inequality. Women’s regrets are also useful measures of gender construction. This was illustrated in this study by revealing that many of the respondents separate their feelings of regret regarding marriage from the satisfaction they desire for motherhood. The women’s wage labor facilitated their ability to make that distinction. This study made it clear that women are conscious of their positioning in the gender order and that they question it.