ABSTRACT

In the neo-liberal phase of capitalism, production process has been fragmented in the framework of the restructuring of the division of labour on a world scale, and different parts of production have been shifted spatially to minimize labour costs and maximize profit rates. Home-based work is integrated into this process from the bottom as the weakest link. The fact that this work is carried out at home together with house and care work by women devalues it as a work and the products of women’s labour. This causes both employers and workers themselves to treat it as a leisure activity that contributes to household income. The aim of this study is to analyze changing meanings of home and leisure historically and according to social classes through home-based women workers. In the empirical part of the study, the related data of the comprehensive field study conducted in May 2021 in the poor neighbourhoods of Kocasinan, one of the central districts of Kayseri, are used. Qualitative research method and in-depth interview technique are used in the field study. The findings of the field study indicate that home-based work is a job that requires long hours and intense work pace. The women who do this work try to overcome/alleviate the impoverishment increased by the already existing crisis which is deepening by the effects of the pandemic, and that they sometimes share the livelihood of the household with the male members or sometimes they are the main income earners. Therefore, it is claimed in the study that home-based work is neither a leisure time activity nor a contribution to the household budget, but a survival strategy that poor women find as a result of patriarchal capitalism leaving no other choice.