Sharing Space-Gendered Patterns of Extended Household Living among Young Turkish Marriage Migrants in Denmark

Abstract

While considerable research exists on US immigrant groups living in extended households, little is available on such households in Europe. Using a combination of register data, survey data and qualitative interview data, this article analyzes extended household living among Turkish immigrants in Denmark, and compares the findings to the situation in Turkey. The analysis shows that as many as 78% of young female and 38% of young male marriage migrants began life in Denmark in extended households in the late 1990’s. However, these figures dropped by approximately one-third over the first five years of married life in Denmark. Another finding is that the share of Turkish males in Denmark who moved into extended households with their brides’ parents is far greater than the share of their counterparts doing so in Turkey. Thus matrilineal extended household living is much more common in a migratory context than in a non-migratory one. Using qualitative interview data, the article also explores how both gender and life cycle stage affect extended household living arrangements, and shows that women in particular may be strongly affected. The effects can be a positively perceived support for child care and household work, but may also be a negatively perceived confinement to domesticity. The confinement to domesticity is partly achieved through a pooling of household income that allows young women to remain outside the labor force. While many young couples move to nuclear living after some years in Denmark, a number of extended families continue cohabiting for decades.