Türkiye is an increasingly aging country, with 8.7 million senior citizens as of 2023. The statistics regarding the aging population have triggered debates and questions about how to develop social systems to support elderly people in Türkiye. According to TurkStat, in 2023, more than 1.6 million senior citizens were living alone. For the elderly who live alone, family members mostly prefer the care-at-home model, which allows them to live in the environment that they are accustomed to. Thus, there is a growing home care sector in Türkiye, which hosts migrant women from the Caucasus and the Central Asian Republics. This chapter explores the experiences of the Uzbek (Central Asian) and Georgian (Caucasian) migrant women who worked as elderly carers during the pandemic in Türkiye. To understand their experiences in times of COVID-19, the following research questions are addressed: To what extent were their working/living arrangements affected by the mitigation measures? How did they adapt to the pandemic conditions? How did they deal with the challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic? The study is based on participant observation in three households where Uzbek and Georgian women worked. Informal chats with four Uzbek and Georgian women during their off days became valuable sources for the inquiry. Such an inquiry made the research attentive to the perspectives and voices of Uzbek and Georgian migrant workers.

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Taking Care of the Elderly During the Pandemic Days

  • Bezen Balamir Coşkun

摘要

Türkiye is an increasingly aging country, with 8.7 million senior citizens as of 2023. The statistics regarding the aging population have triggered debates and questions about how to develop social systems to support elderly people in Türkiye. According to TurkStat, in 2023, more than 1.6 million senior citizens were living alone. For the elderly who live alone, family members mostly prefer the care-at-home model, which allows them to live in the environment that they are accustomed to. Thus, there is a growing home care sector in Türkiye, which hosts migrant women from the Caucasus and the Central Asian Republics. This chapter explores the experiences of the Uzbek (Central Asian) and Georgian (Caucasian) migrant women who worked as elderly carers during the pandemic in Türkiye. To understand their experiences in times of COVID-19, the following research questions are addressed: To what extent were their working/living arrangements affected by the mitigation measures? How did they adapt to the pandemic conditions? How did they deal with the challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic? The study is based on participant observation in three households where Uzbek and Georgian women worked. Informal chats with four Uzbek and Georgian women during their off days became valuable sources for the inquiry. Such an inquiry made the research attentive to the perspectives and voices of Uzbek and Georgian migrant workers.