Belaboring Gender: The Spatial Practice of Work and the Politics of ‘Making Do’ in Istanbul

Abstract

From focus-group and survey research conducted in Istanbul between 1998 and 2002, I argue that the spatial practice of work is critical to the constitution of what it means to ‘be a woman’ in the Turkish context. My approach to gender and work makes use of Butler's theory of performativity in order to show how discourses and practices of work are not only implicated in the production of male and female gender identities but also provide a variety of routes through which different aspects of masculinity and femininity are performed. In my reading of the discussions and debates assembled by the focus-group texts, I try to show how work compels various performances, such as the ‘good woman’ or the ‘bad girl’ in Istanbul. Further, work not only calls forth different ways of being a woman in relation to the city but also produces differentiated female bodies. Finally, I argue that work is a spatial practice through which belonging, identity, and rights are staked in the urban environment.

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