Migration experiences of Turkish women: Notes from a researcher's diary

Abstract

The article reviews the migration experiences of Turkish women who were either involved in external migration or were exposed to migration by being left behind upon the emigration of their husbands. It includes notes on statements made by some returning women and women whose husbands returned home. The statements were encountered during a comprehensive field survey conducted in Turkey. Since the literature on women and external migration is, in general, blinded by a view of migrant women as "traditional" regardless of their ethnic, regional, religious and other background variables, it is expected that their exposure to the "modern" western culture will automatically pave the way to their emancipation. The diary entries of statements made by migrant women portrayed in this article question such an axiomatic proposition by pointing to the signifi-cance of background variables and certain features of household structures.