" 'THE V OREGON SUNDAY ' JOURNAL, .PORTLAND, SUNDAY, RaSUING. FEBRUARY V 1903
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y CULTIVAT-
NG f f mi of
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iter own me
k woman of ur-
key ts rapidly
emancipat i n g
herself after
. .
centuries of
galling S e rv I-
tude to the lord
and master of her little world. No longer
;Mshe be tie meek selling creature
, cflhe past; she has begun to wage a war
" for her rights the inalienable rights of all
women and she ts gaming her point.
, : For centuries, for instance, she-has
y concealed her beauty with the hideous yash
'; ' mak, a covering over her face, with only
two slits for the eyes. She is now putting
" the yashmak away, and not even with
v mothballsf Instead of the bloomers and
sashes, she is donning gowns made after
Parisian fashions.
Instead of tending to canary birds and
cats and nursing dolls in her harem, she
, has oegun to read the latest foreign lit
erature; instead of prattling childish gossip
about some of the numerous other inmates
of her husband's house, she. hies herself to
" 4 teacher of languages. She is learning to
" paint and to play the piano.
. . Truly, she is the New W oman of igo8.
N'
'OT without alarm have the conserv
ative people of this steel-riveted,
conservative and backward country
viewed the steady evolution of wo-
v man during the past fifteen years.
. ,', Slowly and quietly the change of thought,
1 ; ' the change in the status of woman was taking
' place, and unknown to men, the spirit of inde
'pendence in the little bosom of the gazelle-eyed
' wife or daughter was growing.
Within the past year or so the , Turkish
; woman has raised her head, drawn aside the
' humiliating yashmak and begun to express her
opinion in determined tones to her husband,
' father .and brother.
With feelings akin to. horror, the orthodox
Moslems have viewed the growing epirit of
independence in the feminine heart, and not
long ago the Sheikh-ul-Islam, head of the Mo
hammedan priesthood, issued orders to all the
priests to discourage the adoption of western
customs and ideas by the women in every pos-
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sible way by public exhortations and, corporal
punishment, if necessary. 1 -' ' : ' ' '- "",
Opposed to the emancipation of the women
' are all of the .'old .Turks' a party which in-.
v eludes the state, functionaries and the rigid
church pfeople.
According to "Professor Hinneberg, a noted
German traveler, who has contributed an arti
cle to a Berlin: magazine on women's life in-
; Turkey, no phase of pubUc Hf e in the Ottoman
Empire has been so affected by western'' ileas
as the 'culture : and status of women. - -
Were- a person who had visited Turkey fif
teen, years ago T to v visit the 'capital of the
sultan this year be would .be amazed , by . the
changes in the - feminine dress. And woman's
drees, say sociologists -and s.i"okemakers both
of wbom are pretty nearly right ;is an index
"to. woman's mental attitude. . .' '
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Life in a Turkish home, under the old con-
ditions, was not the ploasautcst sort of exist-
ence to young and ardent woman. It was
confined and narrow; a woman was always
undcr (hft doflMt espionflge
6he waa unable to see any-men, other than
those of the immediate family", and her female
'companions were selected for her. Nowadays
many 01 tn0 women ot .the harems
are not only allowed to receive their
frijda at will, but go out walk-
ing and shopping in the company
of f ernaJe relatives, or friends.
. inysicians, who V were formerly
"ft focnTS Set
homes, are now freely consulted.
The women select their own pas-
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times, and what is most
significant is the growing,
desire to read foreign lit--
'' ' erature. A
There is little oppertii
nity iu Turkey for female education, and only
the daughters of , very rich, men enjoy, the privi
lege of learning from European professors.
Through the agencies of the missionary schools,
however; many Turkish women have got ideas .
yof modern civilization and western thought,
J and these ideas are no sooner implanted than
(they spread remarkably. ,
Escaping from the harem of her husband,
Prince; Samy, the Princess Sheref Hilmy Guir
idy Zade, . a daughter of the late Hilmy Pasha
- and a niece of -the sultan, made her way to
: Paris several years ago, where she met the Kus
siajn. Frince, Urusoff.; After obtaining a divorce
she was' married to him in London. The action
' of the princess at that' time was unprecedented,
and created great consternation in Cons tan ti- "
' There had been escapes from the harem be-?
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fore, but. this action of a woman of JS?Hiigh
rank created a precedent ' which stirid iht
hearts of the Turks with alarm. Tbfeii appre
" hension was well founded, for some time later
the beautiful ' Saila 1 Omarunyi, daughter of a
wealthy banker of Constantinople, escaped from
the harem of her husband, an influential -official,,
and also went to Paris. She .was followed
by several other women.
'The women of Turkey," declared the Prin
cess Sheref Hilmy on her arrival in Paris, "are
beginning to, resent the close seclusion in which
they are kept. .A daughter is brought up with
the view of marrying and obeying the husband
' selected for her if he is as ugly and repulsive as
the monsters, of the Bosporus.
"Her hope of heaven, her religion teaches her,
depends ..upon her submission to her husband.
Until we knew better' we were contented. But
European books got into the harems and homes.
We. learned of the freedom which women enjoy
in other countries.' We learned that woman in
Europe and America was not the slave of man; ..
that. she could select the man whom, she 'wished
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to - W
to love instead of marryine a polvsra-.
mous monster. . .
"Then our hearts longed for free- : - r
doin, we talked togetlier of freedom, '
and we resolved that we should be free. Withm
the last few years several, foreign women have
made their way into the harems and the stories
they .told of the life in foreign lands whetted
our curiosit( and stirred nd increased our un
rest.: ; ;: ": - f ; '":4; t " I
"I loved my, husband, but the intrigues among
the other women ; of ; ; the household '. disgusted
me," she declared. "Many of the' women are not"
satisfied to share "the affection; of the. husband
with many others. It; is -becoming, customary
for the wealthy parents - to secora European
teachers for the daughters. '"From them the wo
men of Turkey got the first ideas of western
Me.- - . . -; " '. - j
"Then 'we learned French and English, Und. 1
books written in these languages ' drifted into growing feeling among Turkish women 'that
the bomes. I have read de Maupassant, Bourget they should be supreme in the affections of the . -and
Zola. Our husbands do not see what we husbanda desire in the heart of every woman '.
read and they -do not know what a revolution "has raised the standard of home life. ? .
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such books will make in our manner of thought
Then, too, we got fashion journals. I remem
ber that several of the women in the harem of
the Prince Samy demanded French costumes,
lie finally ordered them, but prohibited them
from wearing the dresses outside the harem."
Within the past year, however, travelers say,
the change in the street costume of the women
is striking. Many women wear dresses which
are a sort of combination of the picturesque
native co?tume and the European garments.
A significant indication of the change of po
sition of the Turkish woman and her adoption
of western customs is the use of the sewing
machine in the Turkish home. During one year
a single New York firm sold 60,000 machines in
the land of the Sultan. American fabrics are
also imported in large quantities.
A number of young women, daughters of
some of the most prominent men of Constan
tinople, have become famed for their painting
and proficiency at music ,Zeineb llanum,
daughter of Nouri Bey, the first secretary of
the Ottoman State Department, b,as written a
volume of poetry. Scores of women, the wives
of prominent men, no longer wear the yashmak.
Chief among those who conduct a harem is
the Commander of the Faithful, the sultan,
who supports about 300 women. Even thia
despotic and inhuman ruler has contributed to
the emancipation of the women of his nation,
for his harem is run quite respectably. During
the reign of the Sultan Mejid indescribable
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orgies , were carried on in. the harem. Abdul :
Aziz, however, when he ascended the throne un
dertook to reform the harem and insisted on
its being conducted in a strictly proper manner.
v Most -of the women in the harem are recruited
from themost beautiful women of the Circas-'
sian. race. Before they are introduced to the
royal master the - women selected undergo a
course of training for a year ot two. They are
taught; all the arts of feminine coquetry,4 the
various graceful dances and all the likes and
dislikes of Abdul Hamid. .- Many r are presented
by -the sultan to friends.
A woman presented by the sultan io; one of
,hh friends-in marriage is greatly honored, and ':
maintains -the i first place in her home, i The i
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