Effects of COVID-19 on integration of women refugees into Turkish society

Abstract

The objective of this research is to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced integration of women refugees into Turkish society. The study was designed as a qualitative study between March 2020 and June 2020. The notion of integration is redefined as an eight-dimensional model composed of education, sociocultural, health, economy, legal, shelter, family and security. Semi-structured interviews were conducted by telephone, with 50 women refugees in Turkey, about the impact of COVID-19 on integration. The results of the research indicate that most women refugees had both positive and negative experiences in economic, education and sociocultural dimensions of integration. The COVID-19 outbreak affected their integration in an unprecedented way, especially in daily and work life as well as access to health services. Similarly, language barriers faced by refugee women create significant challenges and obstacles, making the integration process more complex. Refugee women stated that COVID-19 positively influenced the security dimension of integration.