Akademia Doğa ve İnsan Bilimleri Dergisi
Yazarlar: Songül SALLAN GÜL, Büşra BAYRAM
Konular:Sosyal Bilimler, Disiplinler Arası
Anahtar Kelimeler:Poverty,Social Aid,Widow Woman Wage,Patriarchal Bargaining,Elazığ
Özet: In Turkey, the role of social aids in combatting against poverty is significant and poor women are the main beneficiary group. On the basis of gender identity, the only social aid program that is specific to women is “Regular Cash Aid Program for Women Whose Husbands Have Passed Away”. It is known as “Widow's Wage” by the public. This social aid program, launched in 2012, commits to transfer regular income to widows. With the death of the male partner, women, who take the responsibility for providing the livelihood of the family and the double parental role, become more open to patriarchal bargaining. A patriarchal bargaining process is operated to benefit from the program, their poverty is controlled yearly, and the continuation of the status of being widow, that is, not being married and not living with another man to protect their honor is followed regularly every month. In this article, the quality of the widow's wage, which is indicative of the masculine quality of the state and is going through patriarchal bargaining, and patriarchal bargaining dynamics are evaluated in the light of the findings of a field survey. The field research was carried out in 2017 in Elazığ province of Eastern Anatolia, where the poor widow women were the most intense and women's identity was controlled by marriage, kinship and strict traditional gender roles. In this study, women benefiting from widow salary in Elazığ were reached through chain sampling and 14 widows were interviewed by in-depth interview technique based on qualitative research method. In this paper, the meaning of being a woman, the quality of the widow's wage and the patriarchal bargaining process with the state are discussed. The meanings that are ascribed to bargaining with the state by the widows in terms of their dual parenting roles, responsibility to run the household and the hierarchies of marriage, being a widow and femininity defined by them on the basis of widow’s wage are also discussed.