The researcher conducted archival and field research, to collect data on the origins of the pronatalist rhetoric, the scope and nature of the policy change, and the societal reactions, particularly women's protests. The archival research included an investigation of official reports and statistics; policy documents and parliamentary minutes; the coverage by the national dailies of the government's rhetoric, public debates and protests; the reports by non-governmental organisations on topics such as demographic change; the history of demographic politics in Turkey; and the English language literature on pronatalism, demographic change and family policy change especially in Europe. The field research included ten semi-strctured interviews conducted with the experts and spokespersons from non-governmental organisations and movements such as the Medical Association, women's organizations specialised in female employment and women's rights in general, women's platforms on reproductive rights, organisations specialised in reproductive health and family, and leading business associations which pay attention to the issues of demographic change and female employment.
The policy areas include the following: (1) reproductive health (e.g. abortion, C-sections, reproductive technologies, as well as family planning centres), (2) marriage, divorce and childbearing (e.g. incentives for childbirth and marriage and efforts to decrease divorce rates), and (3) work-family reconciliation (e.g. the introduction of part-time work for women with young children and insurance-premium subsidies for employers to hire more women).
The research shows that the new policy approach makes use of both incentives and deterrents, driven by a logic of pronatalism; that is, the goal to increase childbirth rates. While new pronatalism appears to be a rising trend across Europe due to concerns over population ageing, the kinds of policy measures Turkey have recently adopted and their implications for female employment and for women's status in society at large suggest departure from the EU path and a return to emphasise traditional gender roles.
