Rethinking care labor on the edge of precarity: Immigrant women's experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic period

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2711499_(Table of contents)

This thesis aims to investigate how immigrant women in Turkey have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of women’s caregiving labor. The research focuses on the immigrant women’s experiences of companionship for COVID-19 patients. How immigrant women accept the work of companionship for COVID-19 patients is discussed both from the personal perspectives of women and the roles played by different actors. The state, employers, health institutions and employees have caused immigrant women to be exposed to the risk of disease with different roles in this process. In this context, the role of state is analyzed by the continuity of immigrant women’s employment in precarious, temporary, and low-waged jobs during the pandemic period. The changes experienced in the context of neo liberalization in Turkey’s health system since the 1980s resulted in an increase in the workload of doctors and nurses during the pandemic period. In order to cover the increasing needs, the labor of immigrant women has been demanded by both employers and healthcare workers. On the other hand, employers have manipulated immigrant women’s acceptance of companionship work by exploiting their relationship of trust and acquittance with immigrant women as a means of pressure. Even though immigrant women who work as companions for COVID-19 patients are exposed to the risk of disease and know that they are in a disadvantageous position compared to other healthcare workers, they have tried to facilitate the companionship process for both themselves and their care recipients with various strategies.