Date

2017

Author

Gacal, Kübra

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Local politics is closer to citizens in both social and spatial sense than central politics. Citizens’ daily lives are directly influenced by local policies so local governments have significant potential to make effective and efficient policies in order to solve local residents’ problems and to meet their expectations. Similarly, importance of local governments in providing gender sensitive public policies has been frequently highlighted. Municipalities as the main carriers of local services have been regarded as significant institutions in emancipating women from gender burdens, because gender inequalities occur with their most tangible forms in daily life practices, that is, at the local level. Since many women spend most of their times around their neighbourhoods, insufficiently provided services at the local level mostly influence women. Accordingly, municipal services carry a different meaning and more importance for women in comparison with men. At this point, mainstreaming gender sensitive approach into whole local services is crucial. This emphasis has been made in the related literature by mainly focusing on women’s needs and interests different from men. On the other hand, the argument that women experience gender inequalities in different conditions and at different levels,therefore needs, expectations and problems differ among women themselves as well as from men is another matter emphasized in the feminist theory. According to that, gender inequalities and needs can be analyzed truly only when other factors’ effects are taken into account. This emphasis has also been reflected on the gender equality policy debates. Such an approach is important because it both avoids homogenizing women’s needs and provides a comprehensive framework for developing more suitable gender sensitive policies. In this context, this thesis tries to reveal similar and different expectations, needs and problems of women about the municipal services, and effects of those services on women coming from different conditions. For this, it focuses on the interrelated effects of social-class and gender on the interaction between women and municipal services. Around this aim, it makes a comparative analysis by studying two neighbourhoods located in the Tuzla District municipality, namely Orhanlı and Postane. Findings from the in-dept interviews with women having different socio-economic situations are evaluated.. 

Subject Keywords

Local government., Municipal government., Local government, Municipal government

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12620922/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/26411

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis