The issue of education in Late Ottoman women's periodicals (1869-1895)

Abstract

This thesis examines late Ottoman women̕s periodicals (1869-1895) and triesto reveal what kind of discourses these periodicals created and how women receivedthem. It looks at male writers who were the first to publish periodicals for female readers, seeking to educate them in domestic matters such as motherhood and scientific housewifery by holding these roles important for the well being of the individual and the community. It draws attention to the empowering side of this discourse and suggests that women wanted to enlarge their sphere of activity by using the same discourse, by linking their domestic and social roles to the well- beingof their community. Parallel to this empowerment and as a result of the Ottoman State̕s educational investments for its female subjects, in late Ottoman societywomen were in the public sphere through their criticism, through philanthropic activities, and through their promotion of the interests of their fellow women and nation.