Guiding Question

Mothers’ perceptions towards child education and child labor in an urban low-income Kurdish migrant community in TurkeyOzgeSensoyBahar University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (osensoy2@illinois.edu)

Guiding Question • What are low-income Kurdish mothers’ beliefs on child labor, and child education, and how does gender play a role?

Methods • Theoretical framework: Parental ethnotheories(Harkness & Super, 1996) • Methodological approach: Ethnographic (Miller, Hengst, & Wang, 2003) • Setting: Sultan neighborhood of Istanbul • Sampling strategy - Purposive sampling - Snowball sampling • Data collection -demographic survey -in-depth interviews (2 to 11 hours) -participant observations

Methods • Sample: 28 low-income Kurdish mothers - mean age: 33.5 -poverty levels: (poverty level for a family of 4 reported in September 2011 is 2,900 TL [TURK_IS,2011]) lowest: 300 TL ($180) for a family of 9 highest: 3,000 TL ($1800) for a family of 8 - only 1 elementary school graduate, 3 had some elementary schooling - mean number of years in Istanbul: 14 - median number of kids per family: 4 (1 to 9) - mean age of kids: 10.2

Preliminary Findings EDUCATION “I want my children to become something, to have a profession” -For both girls and boys, education ensured they would not be “ignorant” like their parents -For both girls and boys, higher education meant a better and more financially secure future For girls specifically: - Even more important for girls, because when they are educated they will be more likely to be respected by husband and in-laws - Only one mother thought her daughter did not need to go beyond middle school

Preliminary findings EDUCATION (Cont’d) • “I will do everything possible for them to continue after middle school. But if we don’t have the financial means, we may not send them to school” • “If they are good students, they will continue their education. If they are not, what’s the purpose of sending them?” • “It is up to them to decide whether they want to continue after middle school. I can’t oblige them”

Preliminary findings CHILD LABOR - 6 mothers said “We will never send them to work before age 18” - 1o mothers said “If they are good students, we will do all we can to keep them in school” - 7 mothers said “If they don’t go to school, they will work” - 6 mothers said “I want them to have an education, but if our family can’t get by, we will send them to work” - 5 mothers said “We will only send them to work during the summer” -10 mothers said “They can start working after the age of 15” (including only during the summer)

Preliminary Findings CHILD LABOR (Cont’d) Child Labor and Gender -Of the 15 mothers who were open to send their children to work, 5 said they would NOT send their daughters to work

Preliminary Findings CHILD LABOR (Cont’d) Alternative explanations to child labor -When they don’t go to school during the summer (or if they dropped out of school), they will work so that they can’t hang out with bad people (criminals) -I want them to get used to working and understand how hard making money is -If they work now, they will be more disciplined -I believe they will appreciate school more when they see how hard it is to work

References • Harkness, S., & Super, C. M. (1996). Parents’ cultural belief systems: Their origins, expressions, and consequences. NY: Guilford Press. • Miller, P. J., Hengst, J. A., Wang, S-H. (2003). Ethnographic methods: Applications from developmental cultural psychology. In P. M. Camic, J. E. Rhodes, & L. Yardley (Eds.). Qualitative research in psychology: Expanding perspectives in methodology and design (Pp. 219-242). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. • TURK_IS (2011), Eylul 2011 AclikveYoksullukSiniri. Retrieved from http://www.turk-is.org.tr/ index.snet?wapp=52521E5F-FCA5-4BDD-940D-A284DA6F151D&catCode=gida

Guiding Question