Pursuing Sustainable Development Goals
Multiple Disadvantages in the Labor Market of Türki̇ye: a Qualitative Study of Women with Disabilities
İlhan Doğan, Ezgi ÜnalPromoting sustainable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all are essential parts of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Disabled people, one of the target groups for reducing non-decent work, are considered as one of the particularly vulnerable groups in many societies. The multitude of discriminatory and exclusionary attitudes faced by the disabled women both in the labor market and in their social lives raises the issue of disabled women and multiple disadvantages. Many disabled women are more likely to experience “non-decent work” in the job market as a result of these various disadvantages. The issue of “non-decent work conditions” is brought up in this study as a challenge faced by women with disabilities, on the axis of discrimination and exclusion in the job market in many regions and countries. This study makes arguments on how decent working standards arise in the working lives of 17 disabled women in the labor market of Türkiye by examining their working-life and job-seeking experiences. In this study, interviews were done utilizing a phenomenologically based semi-structured interview technique. The MaxQDA was used to conduct content analysis on the interviews. The findings showed that disabled women experienced condescending language and actions from their managers and coworkers, they weree rejected from jobs by their managers, they had struggles with accessibility, and experienced other issues. The disabled women who were looking for jobs, first struggled with poverty, and they were unable to locate occupations that would be appropriate for their occupational profiles and disabilities. Furthermore, they were subjected to employers’ unfavorable attitudes throughout the job search, and lacked social networks that could have assisted them in finding jobs. The aforementioned problems were both the source and the effect of social exclusion and discrimination. According to this research, there should be a variety of policies developed for “women with disabilities” in labor markets in order to provide criterias for decent work.