FEMINISM IN TURKEY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 25, 27 December 1932, Page 2

FEMINISM IN TURKEY

THE LIFTED VEIL; The decision to employ women in the Turkish police force follows closely the appearance of women as barristers in the Courts and the appointment of women as Judges to the Bench. These innovations are the most recent instances of the changed attitude towards women which have been inspired in Turkey during the last' 10 years by Gliazi Mustapha Kemal in the face of the obstacles which tradition and prejudice have placed in his way. In the days of the Sultans a Turkish girl at the age of 14 passed from a childhood in which education was at best very perfunctory into womanhood. From then onwards she was veiled, and only before other women, her father, and brothers could she appear unveiled. Unless she was a peasant girl and worked on the land, she spent her time lazing indoors, eating sweets, exchanging gossip with other women, and watching the passers-by through heavily latticed windows. Occasionally she went out, but always accompanied by other women or eunuchs; and when she travelled in ferry boats or trams seats carefully screened from the public gaze were reserved for her. At the age ob 15 or 16 she was married by arrangement to a man she had never seen. Her future was, however, precarious, for her husband could get rid of her at a moment’s notice. He had merely to state before two witnesses that lie had no further need of her and the marriage was annulled. As a rule daughters of high dignitaries of the State married men of a lower class. Only rarely did the daughter of a Pasha liecome the wife of another Pasha’s son. The chief qualification for a husband was that he should be good-looking, and once married he usually lived in the house of his fatlier-in-law, in whose influence lay his chief hope of advancement. When the father-in-law died the son-in-law frequently - repudiated his wife. RIVAL WIVES. Instead of seeking wives in their own station of life, men of the upper classes bought Circassian girls (Halaiks) from the slave market and took them into their houses. When a Halaik bore a child to her master she was raised to the rank of Oda.lik, who became one of his wives. All the children of Sultans and high officials of the old regime were born of Odaliks. The natural outcome of such a system of marriage was that family life hardly existed. With polygamy frequent and divorce easv to the men, married women had practically no status, legal or otherwise; their lot and that or their children was uncertain in the extreme, while rivalry and intrigue between wives and hatred between children of different mothers were common -to every polygamous household. As soon as the Turkish Republic was firmly established polygamy and the veil were abolished, and marriage and divorce laws based on those of the most highly Civilised countries were adopted. Hence-forward, too. girls were required to follow a proper course of education, for. which primary aud secondary schools were opened throughout the ~ country. To-day women are admitted to the universities on an equal footing with men and are eligible for practically all the professions They vote at municipal elections, and it is expected that the Parliamentary franchise will shortly he extended to them. They mingle freely with men in the streets, in restaurants, danmng halls and cinemas; many work in shops an Mo°sf C of’ the women who have ah ready entered the pro essmns or found tfs.™?' 0 /™';! »&<£•« a. to tne veil t? , tliev have so more remarkable tha ormorreadily taken advantage of the■ oppew the Western world. freedom A- a result of the new * , • m,o*irisli women now marry into their growing up and exercising an incieasfngly important generah ho old system of marriage and the old has mst to ue hag ideas about r rAr»iiS rsiM command, and walk tc, the scene iln'shoukT'rides on’a donkey.’. Still, man siiou , disseminated through 11 school teachers, Government KiKifil m J Evi)* is opened by the People’s Party + organise social and cultural enteithe peasant will bow to the m Thus b the Turkish woman is moving rapidly towards complete emancipation ST i HS,r >l x c T;,s. I “=i' ™ ele tf Turkey from Spa Tcivic welcome Ind an ovation of which a great coirh arduous’ campaign piight^w^l^i^^^ \vas nmiid The reception accoided hei ius not prompted merely by national pride It the success- of a Turkish girl m a world beauty competition: her trnmmh + ak-inl her place among civilised nations. Miss Universe herself summarised the feelings of her fellow-country-men when she telegraphed her acknowledgment of his congratulations to the Ghazi. She said, ‘My.success is the result of the ideas inspired by you in the women of our country. But what a swift change from the Age of the Veil!—London Times.