Abstract:

‘The Domestic’ of the Academia: Science, Gender and The Case of a Technical University1Abstract: The literature on Turkey and education underlines that the process through which women were included in the universities in Turkey has been to some extent different than the Western European and Anglo-Saxon examples. Despite the quantitative stronghold of women in Turkish academia, the organization of the academic institutions and life, the patriarchal structure of the business sector and university demand us to explore this quantitative visibility. As there are many studies that explore the experiences of women in academia in Turkey Öncü 1979; Günlük-Şenesen 1996; Özel 2007; Hacifazlıoğlu 2010 , there is no nationwide study that employs qualitative and quantitative methods simultaneously. Hence the ability to make comparisons on women in academia between scientific disciplines and universities are limited. This study aims to explore women’s experiences in academic life, production, mobility and analyze gendered differences in terms of work-home balance. The research for this study is conducted in 7 universities of Turkey in which a survey was conducted with 1390 respondents and each university team conducted 16 in-depth interviews with the academicians in their universities. This paper, based on the case of Yıldız Technical University aims to analyze women’s academic production with a gender perspective which particularly focuses on the relations between home and academia. YTU data was collected through online surveys total 134 respondents and in-depth interviews with 8 female and 8 male academicians. Statistical data of the numbers of male and female students, academicians in faculties and departments and academic managerial positions for the years 2010 and 2012 was also collected during the field study for comparative reasons. Based on YTÜ case, this study aims to delve into ‘the domestic’ of the academia in Turkey

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