Familialization of care arrangements in Turkey: questioning the social inclusion of ‘the invisible’

This paper examines the dynamics of care arrangements for children,persons with disabilities (PWD), and the elderly, who constitutethe group of ‘the invisible’ in social policy in Turkey. Theinvisibility of these three groups stems from their systematic,consistent and diffuse exclusion from the social, political andeconomic life of the country. The context of social inclusion policiesfor these groups in Turkey presents a challenge to assess theirimplications in three important respects: (I) the lack of data concerningthese groups, (II) the lack of policy tools and instrumentsassessing the existing assistance and services for these groups, toallow comparative evaluations, and (III) general orientation of careservices and policies towards families, therefore not targeting thedirect correspondents of these policies. This paper outlines existingcare policies for children, PWD and the elderly in Turkey, with aview to assessing their implications for promoting social inclusion,in two different aspects. While social inclusion literature is predominantlyfocused on the implication of social policies for the carereceivers,this paper examines the social inclusion implications ofcare policies also for those who are traditionally assigned the roleof caregiver, namely, women. The latter dimension is a consequenceof the increasing familialization of care policies in Turkey,which leads to the exclusion of women from economic and sociallife, thus reproducing the invisibility of these three groups whilesustaining an overarching invisibility, that of women.