Gendering Social Research: Embedding gender perspective into the research process

Abstract

This presentation aims at discussing engendering research in social sciences both as an analytic tool and
a normative contribution to creation of scientific knowledge. In doing so, it first illustrates the analytical
approach for embedding a gender perspective throughout the research process. Then, drawing on
exemplary evidence from gender-responsive budgeting, labour market analysis, and social policy
evaluation, it discusses and highlights the importance of integrating feminist political economy and social
reproduction theory into empirical research design. The discussion underscores how mixed-method
approaches, comparative policy analysis, and evaluation practices can be mobilized to uncover gendered
dimensions of poverty, care, and social protection. By situating research within diverse institutional and
national contexts, the presentation aims at demonstrating how gender-sensitive inquiry enhances
analytical rigor, fosters inclusivity, and contributes to more equitable policy development. Ultimately, it
argues that embedding gender perspectives is not only a methodological ‘imperative’ but also a scholarly
practice that advances theoretical innovation and strengthens the ethical accountability of social research.

About speaker

Burcu Yakut-Cakar is an associate professor of labour economics with extensive work and publications related to
gender, youth employment, and social protection in Turkey. She received her BA degree in 2000 and MA degree in
2003 from the Department of Economics, Boğaziçi University. After being awarded a short-term visiting fellowship at Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex (UK) in 2007 for her PhD project on tax-
benefit microsimulation, she received her PhD degree from the Department of Economics, Marmara University in 2010. Between 2004 and 2011, she worked at Bogazici University Social Policy Forum and contributed to several
research projects as a researcher. As an associate professor of labour economics, she worked as a full-time faculty
member at Kocaeli University, as a part-time faculty member at Boğaziçi University Department of Economics
between 2012 and 2016. Her research interests lie in the intersection of social policy and political economy. She has
been working on topics such as the economics of social policy, public policy analysis, and female employment, gender budgeting, micro-simulation, tax-benefit analysis, poverty and social exclusion, pension reforms and the labour
market in a comparative perspective. She has been involved in collaborative national and international research
projects on social policy transformation, poverty and inequality, trajectories of female employment, gender budgeting, social assistance mechanisms as well as social policies targeting women and conceptualization of well-being. As an independent researcher and consultant, she is currently affiliated with Development Analytics Research.
Centre (UK) as a research associate and with Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS) (Germany) as a
member of Team UBI & Gender (UBIG). She also holds professional memberships of both International Association
for Feminist Economists (IAFFE) and National Research Group of Feminist Economists (KEFA). She has published
journal articles in Development and Change, Journal of European Social Policy, Social Science and Medicine, Social
Policy and Administration, Global Policy and contributed to several books as well as research reports published in
Turkish and in English.