ABSTRACT
Women constitute a noticeable part of the refugee and immigrant population in contemporary migration flows. However, their noticeability for migration studies and policies is not linked only with the size as a group but also much related to their particular needs in the integration process and the challenges that they encounter in their new destinations. Consequently, “feminization of migration” becomes an important debate in migration studies which policy-makers need to take into account while designing their policies for the migrant hosting societies. According to the Directorate General of Migration Management, more than 45 percent of around 3.5 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey under temporary protection are female (DGMM, 2018). The Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and other academic field studies reveal the challenges facing women refugees both in the camps and out of the camps by indicating their “emergencies” in accessing basic needs and health services. However, the permanency of Syrian refugees” stay in Turkey necessitated initiatives more than the basic ones such as integration into work life and livelihood, and adaptation to life in Turkey. In this regard, this chapter aims to discuss the challenges that refugee women encounter while also analysing the strategies of the state and non-state institutions to cope with these challenges by taking the case of Syrian women in Turkey as an example. Beyond the existing debates in the academic literature about refugee and immigrant women, the study will present practices from Turkey since the start of the Civil War in Syria in 2011.
