Talk:
\n\u201cWomen, work and welfare: comparing the conditionality of survivors benefits in Spain and Turkey (1900-2020)\u201d<\/p>\n
by
\nLaura Andrea \u00c1lvarez Tobar
\nDoctoral researcher
\nResearch Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM)
\nUniversity of Bremen
\nlaura.alvarez@uni-bremen.de
\n& Kerem Gabriel \u00d6ktem
\nPostdoctoral researcher
\nResearch Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM)
\nUniversity of Bremen
\noektem@uni-bremen.de<\/p>\n
Tuesday, June 17, 2025, 12:30 p.m.
\nA-130 (FEASS Building)<\/p>\n
Abstract:
\nOur talk explores the way, in which the welfare state has shaped the relationship of women to paid and unpaid (care) work. This is done through a historical exploration of social policy laws with a focus on survivors\u2019 pensions (that target widows, widowers, siblings, children, parents and grandparents). We compare the cases of Spain and Turkey to identify the welfare state\u2019s demands related to engaging into paid and unpaid work to qualify for survivors\u2019 benefits. The analysis takes a historical stand, including laws valid in the early 1900 until 2020.<\/p>\n
Welfare state research classifies both Spain and Turkey as Southern European regimes, marked by traditional values and strong familial roles in welfare provision. In both countries, survivors\u2019 benefits play an outsize role in the welfare regime. We identify a series of systemic parallels in both countries that reveal a broader narrative about the transformation and persistence of institutionalized gender roles, the enduring influence of religion and nationalism on political structures, and the impact of international actors such as other nations and the EU.<\/p>\n
The paper contributes to the debate on gender and the welfare state by longitudinally studying an underexplored benefit and including other family members besides spouses. We address the historical, legal construction of women and the ideas that frame it. Similarly, we contribute to the conditionality literature by adapting a historical perspective, which is seldom done in conditionality research. Conditionality for survivors is mostly based on the perpetuation of values, structures and power relations within the family and marriage, which is not dealt with extensively within the literature. We argue this perspective warrants greater prominence in the social policy research agenda.<\/p>\n
Short Bio:
\nLaura Andrea \u00c1lvarez Tobar is a doctoral researcher at the research center Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM, University of Bremen) in Germany and a member of the BIGSSS (Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences). Originally from Colombia, she completed a bachelor\u2019s in political science at Universidad Javeriana Cali and worked at the Institute of Intercultural Studies, a think tank supporting the Colombian Peace Process. Afterwards she completed a master program in Development Studies at the University of Passau (Germany). Her dissertation project is about the construction of social groups within social policy legislation, with an emphasis on Spain and Turkey and from a feminist, historical perspective.<\/p>\n
Kerem Gabriel \u00d6ktem is a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM) at Bremen University, Germany. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Bilkent University for his thesis \u2018Pathways to Universal Social Security in Lower Income Countries: Explaining the Emergence of Welfare States in the Developing World\u2019. His research focusses on questions of how to conceptualize, measure and assess social policy developments throughout the world, with a focus on the Global South. Currently, he works on measuring welfare states in the project \u2018Bilkent-Bremen Research Lab for Welfare Policies\u2019 and explores the sequence of inclusion into social security in Turkey and India within the project \u2018Mechanisms of Social Policy Diffusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Talk: \u201cWomen, work and welfare: comparing the conditionality of survivors benefits in Spain and Turkey (1900-2020)\u201d by Laura Andrea \u00c1lvarez Tobar Doctoral researcher Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM) University of Bremen laura.alvarez@uni-bremen.de & Kerem Gabriel \u00d6ktem Postdoctoral researcher Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM) University [\u2026] <\/p>\n