There was also a change in the position of women in the westernization effort of the second constitutional period. With the thought that women are in a different position in the West, the idea that they should be like their Western counterparts has emerged. There are publications on the feminist movements in Europe, and attempts are made to bring westernism altogether. It is thought by the authors of the Turkism movement, which gained strength after the 1910s, that a patriotic and progressive youth will be created with the education of the mother.
The Associacion of Ottoman Womens Rights (Osmanlı Müdâfaa-i Hukuk-u Nisvan Cemiyeti) defends that women should have the same working conditions as men and argues that women should work as a remedy for the salvation of the country’s economy. Halide Edib has written articles that will form the basis of the women’s movement by showing examples from the west. The Committee of Union and Progress has also prepared an environment suitable for the women’s movement in terms of legislation. The family provisions of Mecelle were changed in 1917 with the Family Law Decree. This change is aimed at replacing the traditional Ottoman family with the patriotic national family of the party.
During this period, Demet by Hakkı Bey, Kadın Duygusu(Emotion of Women) by Nigar Cemal, Women’s Way(Kadın Yolu), later Turkish Women’s Way, issued by the Turkish Women’s Union and owned by Nezihe Muhiddin. Women’s World(Kadınlar Alemi) by Feriha Kamuran, Hacı Cemal, Süleyman Tevfik and Nigar Women’s(Kadınlık) magazines published by Women’s magazine is published with the motto “It defends the existence of womanhood and that it has a place in the country”. In addition to these, in addition to the Terakki newspaper, 48 issues of Muhadderat newspaper were published for women. Here are the letters from the women. It has disseminated women’s movements in the West and that women should be educated. Monogamous marriage has been advocated.
The intellectual background of the women’s movement was prepared in magazines by women writers of the period such as Halide Edip, Nezihe Muhittin, Belkıs Şevket, Feriha Kamuran, Sabiha Zekeriya and Şukufe Nihal. The following sentences written by Şukufe Nihal on 21 March 1914 in the first issue of Kadınlık magazine give an idea about the content of this movement: “O young woman! Answer those deliriums that are groaning in pain-filled voids. Look, the poor fell into this fearful world without a mother, without a guide. You were poor, without a guide, but now you know your position. You will save this nation, this destroyed, tired nation, before they fall into the miserable sleep of their grandmothers.“
The women’s movement, also known as Ottoman feminism in the literature, tried to put into practice with associations such as the Committee of Union and Progress Women, the Association for the Protection of Women, Teali Nisvan Society, the Ottoman Women’s Progressive Society, and the Ottoman Society of Nisaiyye. Like the Law-ı Nisvan Society, the Society for Employing Islamic Women focused on economic conditions and claimed that they would find a cure for society through women. They state their purpose as “the purpose of this society is to find a job for women and to protect them by accustoming them to honorable provision”. Fourteen thousand women applied to the society in one and a half months, which aims to find a job for women who want to work.
The women’s movement takes place within the framework of the effectiveness of authors and societies who want to equalize women’s rights with men during the second Constitutional Monarchy period. As a matter of fact, in 1913-14, Bedrii Osman was the first officer without a teacher. For the first time in this period, women started to be seen in tasks such as theater and factory work. They were even taken back to the service military duty as a battalion of women in the first army.
The Second Constitutional Monarchy mobilized women who are familiar with the Western literature with democratic principles and led them to practice with the spread of the concepts of secularism and freedom. Although women had a respectable position in society’s life, they were lagging behinde men in terms of legal and economic freedom. Women, who were a part of culture and social life in every period of Turkish history, wanted to have legislation and economic guarantees like Western women in this period.
Resources
Ümut Akagündüz, II. The women’s movement in the Second Constitutional Era and Şükufe Nihal’s article for today’s young women, Fe Dergi 8, no. 1 (2016), 111-117.
Nilufer Ozcan Demir, II. Ottoman Feminism in the Constitutional Era, Hacettepe University Journal of the Faculty of Letters Vol: /6/ Issue: 2 / pp. 107-1/5