Anneliğe İlişkin Karar, Deneyim ve Mücadele Süreçlerine Dair Türkiye’den Feministlerin Görüşleri

Abstract

Motherhood has almost always been controversial within feminism. The first dimension that constitutes the source of this controversial quality within the patriarchal social organization is that the decision to become a mother or not cannot be a product of a woman's free will. The second dimension is the infiltration of motherhood into women's areas of personal freedom. On the other hand, motherhood can also be experienced as an area of empowerment and struggle. Therefore, there is a multidimensional and dynamic relationship between motherhood and feminism. The aim of this study is to understand the decisions and experiences of feminists in Türkiye regarding motherhood from a feminist interpretive perspective. To this end, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 28 feminists, 14 mothers and 14 non-mothers. The findings were analyzed around 6 themes: (1) the definition of motherhood, (2) the dynamics that play a role in the decision about motherhood, (3) the relationship between motherhood and feminism, (4) the experience of non-mother feminists, (5) approaches to motherhood, and (6) the feminist experience of motherhood. In the study, it was observed that there were various reflections of feminist identities in the way the research subjects dealt with motherhood, in their decisions regarding motherhood, in the stance of non-mothers against the oppression of motherhood, and in the motherhood experiences of mothers. While non-mother feminists feed on feminist values while experiencing an alternative to motherhood, feminists who are mothers apply feminist values in their motherhood practices and reshape their feminism in line with these experiences. In this context, motherhood stands out as an area of struggle for feminists. The results of the study reveal the diversity of feminist thought and movement on motherhood.