WOMEN AND THE HOUSING ENVIRONMENT - THE EXPERIENCES OF TURKISH MIGRANT WOMEN IN SQUATTER (GECEKONDU) AND APARTMENT HOUSING

This article investigates the experiences of rural migrant women in an apartment district and a squatter (gecekondu) settlement in Ankara, T urkey. It demonstrates the significant role the housing environment pl ays In the lives of women, both by defining who they are and by shapin g their daily lives through encouraging some behavior and discouraging others. Gecekondu housing Is potentially a source of negative identit y for those migrant women whose reference group is the modem establish ed urbanites, whereas those migrant women who take the gecekondu commu nity as their reference group tend to preserve a positive Image of the mselves. On the other hand, apartment housing enhances a feeling of ac hievement in its residents of village origin. Furthermore, gecekondu h ousing encourages intimate social relations and thereby social control , whereas apartment housing demands some formality in neighborly relat ions and provides privacy. As social agents, women use their environme nt actively, attempting to foster certain images of themselves, and co mmunicating those images to others as well as to themselves. This is p articularly apparent in the case of modem gecekondu women who, by thei r outward appearances and demeanor, challenge the negative image attri buted to gecekondu residents by the larger society.