Everyday lives of Ottoman women: Hanımlara Mahsûs Gazete (Newspaper for Ladies) (1895-1908)

Abstract

The creation of the concept of the Ottoman “citizenship” paved the way for a fresh understanding of “new identities” for the Ottoman subjects and the previously neglected parts of society such as women and children, gained more currency during this construction process. Although social transformations mainly started in the Tanzimat era, they really blossomed after the Tanzimat, especially in the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II. In this era, the concept of modernity influenced by the West started to be internalized by the society, mostly by the upper and middle classes and the printing press becomes one of the prominent means to reflect on this transformation. Published for thirteen years (1895-1908) Hanımlara Mahsûs Gazete (Newspaper for Ladies), with its articles and news published on education, family, household, household management, child-rearing, hygiene, health, beauty, embroidery, leisure and fashion is a precious source reflecting the “ideal” everyday life of an “ideal” Ottoman woman of the upper and middle classes of the Ottoman society in the era of modernization and westernization as well as oppressive censorship policies of Sultan Abdülhamid II on the press. In this sense, the main argument of this thesis to examine the characteristics of an urban, upper and middle class “ideal Ottoman Muslim woman or womanhood” and her “attributed” everyday life during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II according to the articles in Hanımlara Mahsûs Gazete.