Capitalism’s Demand for Labour and Female Migrant Labour

Year 2023, , 3049 - 3072, 22.09.2023

Gülay Toksöz

https://doi.org/10.54752/ct.1364591

Abstract

As a regime of production and accumulation, migrant workers play an important role in providing the labour force required by capitalism. Changes in the regime determine the extent and nature of the need for migrant labour. When looking at these changes, the gender of labour provides an important point of analysis and helps to see the similarities and differences between migrant women's labour and migrant men's labour. This article discusses the period following the Second World War from a historical perspective in Europe under three main headings, first in the factories and mines of the Fordist production regime, then in the crisis of reproduction observed in the neoliberal globalization process following the economic crisis of the 1970s, and today's cognitive capitalism from a gender perspective.
Based on a comprehensive literature review, this study examines the gender distribution of the unskilled labour force needed in the manufacturing industry, mining, services and agriculture in Western European countries in the first period following the Second World War and sheds light on the presence of migrant women workers in this period, which was perceived as the migration of men. Following the 1973 economic crisis, the period of neoliberal restructuring of capitalism was also a period of reproduction crisis due to socioeconomic and sociodemographic changes. In order to overcome the reproduction crisis, in other words, the care deficit, the employment of migrant women in domestic and care work has increased the demand for migrant women labour. Recently, in line with the needs of cognitive capitalism, the migration of highly skilled labour has come to the fore. Developed countries encourage the migration of skilled labour, especially in the information and communication and health sectors, and highly educated women participate in the migration process to the extent that they react to the unequal conditions in their home countries

Keywords

Capitalist production and accumulation regime, demand for migrant labour, migrant women workers

Kapitalizmin İşgücü Talebi ve Göçmen Kadın Emeği

Abstract

Bir üretim ve birikim rejimi olarak kapitalizmin ihtiyaç duyduğu işgücünün temininde göçmen işçilerin önemli yeri vardır. Rejimdeki değişiklikler göçmen işgücüne ihtiyacın boyutlarını ve niteliğini belirler. Bu değişikliklere bakılırken emeğin toplumsal cinsiyeti önemli bir analiz noktası sunar ve göçmen kadın emeğinin göçmen erkek emeğiyle benzeşen ve farklılaşan yönlerini görmek bakımından yarar sağlar. Bu makale İkinci Dünya Savaşını izleyen dönemi tarihsel bir perspektiften Avrupa ekseninde üç ana başlık altında ele alarak, önce Fordist üretim rejiminin fabrika ve madenlerinde, sonra 1970’lerdeki ekonomik krizi izleyen neoliberal küreselleşme sürecinde gözlenen yeniden üretim krizinde ve günümüzün bilişsel kapitalizminde göçmen işgücünü toplumsal cinsiyet perspektifinden tartışmaktadır.
Kapsamlı bir literatür incelemesine dayanan bu çalışma, İkinci Dünya Savaşını izleyen ilk dönemde Batı Avrupa ülkelerinde imalat sanayiinde, madencilikte, hizmetlerde ve tarımda ihtiyaç duyulan vasıfsız işgücünün cinsiyet dağılımını ele almakta ve erkeklerin göçü olarak algılanan bu dönemde göçmen kadın işçilerin varlığına ışık tutmaktadır. 1973 ekonomik krizinin ardından gelen kapitalizmin neoliberal yeniden yapılanma dönemi aynı zamanda sosyoekonomik ve demografik değişikliklere bağlı olarak yeniden üretim krizinin yaşandığı dönemdir. Yeniden üretim krizini, bir diğer deyişle bakım açığını aşmak için göçmen kadınların ev ve bakım işlerinde istihdam edilmesi, göçmen kadın işgücüne talebi artırmıştır. Son dönemde bilişsel kapitalizmin ihtiyaçlarına uygun olarak yüksek vasıflı işgücünün göçü ön plana çıkmaktadır. Gelişmiş ülkeler özellikle bilişim ve iletişim ile sağlık sektörlerinde vasıflı işgücünün göçünü teşvik etmekte, eğitim düzeyi yüksek kadınlar da kendi ülkelerindeki eşitsiz koşullara tepkileri ölçüsünde göç sürecine katılmaktadır.

Keywords

Kapitalist üretim ve birikim rejimi, göçmen işgücü talebi, göçmen kadın işçiler

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