between husband and wife reflects this inequality.
Even in households where both marital partners
are working outside, husbands do not share any
housework responsibilities; women often care for
children and the sick, cook, wash, clean the house,
and iron alone. In only about 20 percent of house-
holds do women have domestic help (Koç and
Ergöçmen 2001).
Studies show that domestic violence is consider-
ably high across the classes (AAK 1995). The
prevalence of honor killing is especially a problem
for women in less developed eastern Turkey. The
state issued the Law for the Protection of the
Family in 1998. The primary aim of this law is to
protect the family in cases of domestic violence by
recommending the “faulty party” – often men – to
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Ankara 2002.Ferhunde Özbay262 household forms and composition
The United StatesHousehold form and membership among Mus-
lims living in the United States differ greatly accord-
ing to country of origin, education, class, generation
since emigration, and many other factors. Some
young Muslims who came to the United States for
education live on their own or with roommates.
Sometimes siblings or other relatives may share a
home. The mother who can afford it may accom-
pany one or more children who have come to
attend high school or college. Often a young person
coming for education may live for a while with rel-
atives. Even when people finish school, start work-
ing, and become settled in the United States,
households may fluctuate as parents and other rel-
atives come to visit for extended periods of time.
In general, household boundaries among people
of Muslim background are relatively permeable
and flexible. Visits to family, relatives, and friends
are frequent and may involve staying for several
nights. Even when people are living separately, they
may frequently gather together, maintain daily tele-
phone contact, and cooperate closely with such
tasks as cooking or childcare. A nephew or niece,
grandparent or other relative may live with a fam-
ily for a time. Some families of means own two
homes, one in the United States and one in the
country of origin to accommodate their trans-
national households.
Parents of Muslim background generally want
their children to attend a university close by so that
they can continue to live at home. Even if children
go to another city for educational purposes, they
may frequently live with their parents again upon
graduation. Muslim parents generally expect their
children, and especially females, to live at home
until they marry, despite social or educational class.
Especially among first and second generation emi-
grants, ideas of female modesty and the emphasis
on female virginity and chastity influence residen-
tial choice for young, unmarried females and even
for divorced and widowed adult women. Often
parents expect children, especially females, to stay
at home and engage in any outside activities with
the family rather than with peers. Among conser-
vative families, sometimes a young girl will be sent
back to the country of origin for schooling, in order
to keep her away from the more liberal interaction
between sexes in the United States. Conversely,
males may go back to the country of origin to find
a bride who has not lived in the freer American
environment. Generally only young adults from
educated, modernized, secularized, middle- or upper-
class backgrounds will consider cohabiting before