Intellectual activism and pivotal paradigms in casting the model woman of the early Turkish Republic: the voices of Şükûfe Nihal and Nezihe Muhittin

ABSTRACT

Feminist historiography on the late Ottoman and early Turkish Republican era treats female women’s rights advocates typically as merely activists or literary figures and rarely focuses on their intellectual property, which constitutes the origin of their theoretical contribution to and active struggle for women’s equality. The academic corpus on the two prominent figures of the era, Şükûfe Nihal and Nezihe Muhittin, follows this pattern and concentrates predominantly on their literary works or activism, leaving their intellectualism overshadowed. This article employs an innovative perspective and argues that they were genuine intellectuals first. The article uncovers the intellectual lenses behind their discourses and claims their views were embedded in the premises of Enlightenment thought, positivism and nationalism, which constituted the building blocks of their paradigms on feminism, gender equality and womanhood. Unearthing their ideal woman image in the early Turkish Republic rests on the methods of contextual deconstruction and textual analysis.

KEYWORDS:

• Women’s history
• early Turkish Republic
• modernization
• ideal woman
• feminism

Acknowledgment

This article is part of a TÜBİTAK project entitled ‘Kelime, Kavram ve Terimler Üzerinden Osmanlı Türk Modernitesini Okumak” (OT2KT) and numbered 121K982

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The working definition of an intellectual is understood as engagement in critical thinking, research, reflection on social realities, and solution proposals for the problems of society. SeeJennings and Kemp-Welch, “The Century of the Intellectual.”

2 Hill Collins, On Intellectual Activism, xy, In another work, she defines it as “the myriad ways in which people place the power of their ideas in service to social justice” “Truth-Telling.”

3 Şükûfe Nihal (Başar), 1896–1973, educator, poet, writer, women's rights activist.

4 Nezihe Muhiddin (Tepedelengil), 1889–1958, educator, journalist, novelist, women's rights activist, political leader.

5 Argunşah, Bir Cumhuriyet Kadını, 51–5.

6 Erkmen Güngördü, “Nezihe Muhiddin,” 1496–510.

7 The adjective “Republican” was added after the formation of the party on November 10, 1924.

8 Şükûfe Nihal, “Fırkamızın Mefkuresi.”

9 “Tarihçe.”

10 Yuval-Davis, Cinsiyet ve Millet.

11 Sancar, Türk Modernleşmesinin Cinsiyetir.

12 Sirman, “Feminism in Turkey,” 9; White, “State Feminism,” 146; Saktanber, “Kemalist Kadın Hakları Söylemi,” 327.

13 Kandiyoti, “End of Empire,” 41.

14 Çaha, Women and Civil Society, 51–2.

15 Saktanber, “Kemalist Kadın Hakları Söylemi,” 327.

16 For best examples, see Nezihe Muhiddin, “Affeden En Büyük İnsandır”; Nezihe Muhiddin, “Cumhuriyetin Yaratıcı Kudreti”; Şükûfe Nihal, “Cumhuriyette Kadın”; Şükûfe Nihal, “Sakat Cemiyet,” April 5, 1947; Şükûfe Nihal, “Kara Günler”; Nezihe Muhiddin, “Kurtuluş Bayramımız.”

17 Şükûfe Nihal, “Neye Duruyoruz?”; Nezihe Muhiddin, “Cumhuriyet’in Türk Kadınlığı Üzerindeki Feyzi”.

18 See Jayawardena for contextualizing the rise of feminist movement in the rise of anti-imperialist and national struggle. Jayawardena, Feminism and Nationalism.

19 This combination speaks to their identities as intellectuals since the majority of late Ottoman and early republican intelligentsia shared similar outlooks in varying degrees.

20 For further information see: Berkes, The Development (Chapters 4–14); Davison, Reform; Mardin, The Genesis.

21 For further information see Özervarh, “Positivism,” Korlaelçi, Pozitivizmin Türkiye’ye Girişi.

22 For further information see Mardin, The Genesis; Parla, Ziya Gökalp; Georgeon, Türk Milliyetçiliğinin Kökenleri; and Heyd, Foundations.

23 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Mesail-i Hayatiyeden.”

24 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Cumhuriyet’in Türk Kadınlığı Üzerindeki Feyzi.”

25 Nezihe Muhittin, Türk Kadını, 23–61.

26 Şükûfe Nihal, “Yeni Bir Temel Daha.”

27 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Kıymettar Bir Teşvik.”

28 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Cumhuriyet’in Türk Kadınlığı Üzerindeki Feyzi.”

29 Şükûfe Nihal, “Kara Günler, Işıklı Yıllar ve Ant.”

30 Şükûfe Nihal, “Ekonomi Haftalarından Sonra.”

31 Şükûfe Nihal, “Kara Günler.”

32 Şükûfe Nihal, “Neye Duruyoruz?”

33 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Mesail-i Hayatiyeden,” Şükûfe Nihal, “Temizlik Savaşı”; “Hümanizma ve Biz”; “1880’liler Grubu.”

34 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Bir Mütalaa.”

35 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Mesail-i Hayatiyeden,” “Türk Irkı ve Adem-i Merkeziyet.”

36 Şükûfe Nihal, “Milli Kültür Meselesi,”; Şükûfe Nihal, “Sen Argo Mu Konuşuyorsun?”

37 Şükûfe Nihal, “Terbiyemiz Ne Oldu?”

38 Şükûfe Nihal, “Memnun Musunuz?”

39 This tension has been pointed out by Jayawardena in her analysis on feminism and nationalism in Third World countries. Jayawardena, Feminism and Nationalism.

40 Şükûfe Nihal, “Eski Türkler.”

41 Şükûfe Nihal, “Sakat Cemiyet,” March 29, 1947.

42 Şükûfe Nihal, “Cumhuriyette Kadın.”

43 Şükûfe Nihal, “Bugünün Genç Kadınına.”

44 Nezihe Muhittin, Türk Kadını, 7.

45 Muhittin provided a systematic digest of her ideas about feminism and equality her introductory piece (methal) entitled “Kadınla erkek arasındaki farklar ve ben Feminizmi nasıl anlıyorum?” to the following book: Nezihe Muhiddin, Türk Kadını, 5–8.

46 Nezihe Muhittin, Türk Kadını, 8.

47 Nezihe Muhiddin, Türk Kadını, 11–2.

48 Şükûfe Nihal, “Cumhuriyette Kadın.”

49 Şükûfe Nihal, “Geride Kalanlar.”

50 Ibid.

51 Şükûfe Nihal, “Kara Günler, Işıklı Yıllar ve Ant.”

52 Şükûfe Nihal, “Cumhuriyette Kadın.”

53 Şükûfe Nihal, “Kurtarma Bayramı.”

54 Şükûfe Nihal, “Fırkamızın Mefkuresi.”

55 Nezihe Muhiddin, Türk Kadını, 11.

56 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Cumhuriyet Kadını.”Also see Nezihe Muhiddin, Türk Kadını, 23–30, 31–57, 58–61.

57 Nezihe Muhiddin, Türk Kadını, 23.

58 “Davamız esas itibarıyla kazanılmıştır.” See Nezihe Muhiddin, “Cumhuriyet’in Türk Kadınlığı Üzerindeki Feyzi.”

59 Şükûfe Nihal, “Varak-ı Mihr.”

60 Şükûfe Nihal, “Ön Plandaki Mesele”; “Şişli Çocuk”; “Her Anne”

61 Şükûfe Nihal, “Evli Barklı Hanımlar.”

62 Şükûfe Nihal, “Erkmen Kadınları.”

63 Şükûfe Nihal, “Genç Kızlara Dikkat!”

64 Şükûfe Nihal, “Ön Plandaki Mesele”; “Şişli Çocuk”; “Her Anne.”

65 Şükûfe Nihal, “1880’liler Grubu,” “İdeal Kıtlığı.”

66 Şükûfe Nihal, “Monden Cemiyetin Çocukları.”

67 Şükûfe Nihal, “Eski Hikaye.”

68 Ibid.; Şükûfe Nihal, “Sakat Cemiyet,” May 10, 1947.

69 Şükûfe Nihal, “Eski Hikaye.”

70 Şükûfe Nihal, “Sakat Cemiyet.”

71 Şükûfe Nihal, “Fin Milletvekili.”

72 Ibid.

73 Şükûfe Nihal, “Terbiyemiz Ne Oldu?”

74 Şükûfe Nihal, “İnkılap Kadını Böyle Mi Evlat Yetiştiriyor?”

75 Şükûfe Nihal, “Bizde Kadın Telakkisi.”

76 Şükûfe Nihal, “Genç Kızlara Dikkat!”

77 Şükûfe Nihal, “Mekteplerde Kıyafet.”

78 Şükûfe Nihal, “Bizde Kadın Telakkisi.”

79 Nezihe Muhittin, Türk Kadını, 59.

80 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Türk Ocağı’nda İlk Kadın,”

81 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Çocuklarımız Bakımsızdır.”

82 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Türk Kadını ve Barlar.”

83 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Felaketlerin Esbab-ı Hakikiyesi.”

84 Muhittin defined the gist of her ideas on the nature of women’s education in “Mesail-i Hayatiyeden”; In her later monograph she elaborated her views on the subject further. See Nezihe Muhiddin, Türk Kadını.

85 Nezihe Muhiddin, “Türk Kadınının Hakkı.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ş. Akile Zorlu

Ş. Akile Zorlu received her B.A. degree in Western Languages and Literatures from Boğaziçi University in İstanbul, her M.A. degree in European History from Bilkent University in Ankara, and her Ph.D. degree in Ottoman-Turkish History from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Currently she is a member of the Department of History at Middle East Technical University in Ankara. Her research interests include Ottoman-Turkish modernization, identity formation, intellectual history, and nation-building.

Gökten Doğangün

Gökten Doğangün received her B.S. degree from Hacettepe University and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. Currently she is a member of the Programme of Political Science and International Relations at the Middle East Technical University’s Northern Cyprus Campus. Her research interests include multiple facets related to Gender Studies.