Emerging Challenges: The Experiences of Turkish Women Immigrants in Saudi Arabia

Introduction

Women immigrants have received less attention in immigration studies due to a perception that they occupy a dependent status and follow rather than lead in most migration contexts. Their movements are generally viewed “as secondary movements generated by the original migration of economically motivated young males” (Houstoun, Roger & Barrett, 1984, p. 919). The perception that women’s migration is secondary has led women’s migration to exist in the shadow of migration research on men.

However, in the last several decades, inquiries about women’s roles and experiences in the migration process and how they influence and are influenced by migratory movements have helped immigration scholars to recognize gendered patterns of immigration. Such inquiries deliberately shift research efforts to include women as a subject worthy of study and aims to comprehend migration patterns through a gender perspective (Piper, 2008). This growing literature, grounded in an intersectional approach, has shown that immigration and its dimensions affect individuals differently based on their social identities, most prominently gender (Amelina & Lutz, 2019; Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1999; Pessar & Mahler, 2003). Considering the political and socioeconomic structures that denote dominant positions to men in almost every society, immigrant women are more likely to occupy a vulnerable position and to be exploited and discriminated against in a new destination relative to men. Nonetheless, women are not homogenous in their experiences. For instance, immigrant women’s experiences can vary based on women’s status in the hierarchical social order of the arrival society as well as any efforts by the arrival society to ensure and protect women’s rights. Therefore, in this chapter, the goal is to reveal how gender as an organizing category of life has a significant role in the adaption process of Turkish immigrant women in Saudi Arabian society, where an institutionalized system of male authority is pervasive (Mtango, 2004).

Previous research on the adaption experiences of Turkish immigrants abroad generally focuses on those residing in Western countries. The experiences of Turkish immigrants, and specifically immigrant women in Middle Eastern countries, remain unexamined. Thus, the objectives and contributions of the current study are twofold. First, this study contributes to the visibility of women in migration studies and demonstrates how gender shapes the adaptation experiences of immigrants in receiving societies. Second, this study explores the reasons behind Turkish¹ women’s emigration and analyzes their post-migration adaptation experiences in Saudi Arabian society. Saudi Arabia (SA) represents a unique case in understanding the impact of gender on immigrants’ adaptation because men’s dominant position is protected and enforced by state law and sociocultural norms grant men control over many aspects of women’s lives (Hamdan, 2005; Quamar, 2016). Specifically, this research investigates why Turkish women immigrate to SA, how Turkish immigrant women adapt to living in Saudi Arabian society, and to what degree their adaption process is influenced by their gender identity.

With these questions in mind, the author interviewed 115 Turkish immigrant women who reside in SA while they were in Hatay, Turkey for their summer vacation. The findings demonstrate that Turkish immigrant women’s adaptation process is influenced by the religious, social, economic, and political structures of Saudi Arabian society. Turkish immigrant women simultaneously encounter opportunities and obstacles in their adaptation process: their social and cultural capital in SA ease their transition, yet they also face exclusion and discrimination due to their gender identity.