Abstract

This article investigates the twin cultural (conservatism) and economic (neo-liberalism) challenge to gender justice through a discussion of female employment in Turkey, where essentialist views of women's difference continue to be used to legitimize the confinement of women to care work and the character of employment relations in a neo-liberal environment renders women's participation in working life practically impossible. The article shows how neo-liberalism can actually act in tandem with cultural conservatism to shape a social order where traditional gender norms are reasserted, crippling parity of participation. It is argued that a widely shared tendency to regard cultural norms and labor market relations as natural phenomena presents an obstacle against the development of a transformative agenda for the eradication of gender injustice.

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