EQUALITY IN TURKEY.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 270, 10 January 1929, Page 3

EQUALITY IN TURKEY.

“ Nowadays the only difference between Turkish women and the women of the Occident is that the former do not flirt, ” declared Emine Advie Hanoum, a professor of the American school at Constantinople, grand-daughter of the well-known Turkish writer, Fatma Aie Hanoum, a daughter of the former Minister, Djelal Mouktar, to «n English newspaper recently. Discussing the present day position of women in Turkey, Emine Advie declared that the Western impression of Oriental, and particularly Turkish, women as a romantic, mysterious veiled beauty hidden most of the time in the seclusion of a harem and vicing with three or four ether wives for the first place in the affection, of her husband, has always been greatly exaggerated, and is now completely erroneous. Three or four generations ago, it is true, the custom prevailed of veiling the young girls at the age of 13 or 14 and marrying them immediately afterwards, the marriage being arranged by the parents, and the young couple seeing each other for the first time on their wedding day. Curiously enough, there were few divorces in those days, as the wife, by beginning young, learned, to adapt herself to her husband’s character, and incompatibility of character was rare. “It is erroneous, however, to attribute these practices to Islamism,’’ con- \ tinued Emine Advie, “for there is no ; religion more feministic than that. The ] Prophet’s first wife was a business ] woman and his second a warrior. Although the Koran permits polygamy, it insists on equality of treatment for the wives and respect for their moral qualities. As for polygamy in Turkey, in my entire life I have known but two men who practised it, and they had but two wives.

“It inay be that Turkish men have sometimes abused their power over their wives, but this has never been I granted. The peasant woman has never I been sequestered and has always lived on an equal footing with her husband. For many years women of higher society have lived exactly like society women in the West, going to teas, balls, ! and lectures, while there have long been women doctors, advocates, and teachers in Turkey. j 1 * Since Mustapha X&mal Pasha last [ year formally forbade polygamy and the repudiation of wivCstit the pleasure of their husbands, the position of women in Turkey has corrpletely changed. Women now marry To establish a i homo and share it on tG/Tns of equality l with their husbands, and they cannot be I divorced except by a Court decree. They have welcomed the new law with i i joy and women of all classes now take part in sports just like the men. ”