572

August 2021
This study argues that the YWCA’s mainly American staff, observing that familial,
social and educational structure prevented women from independent decisionmaking
in Istanbul, promoted individuality by their labor and health practices
between 1913-1930. The YWCA contributed to a discourse on the role of women
that accentuated their individuality by promoting an autonomous professional
identity instead of women’s maternal and marital roles. Putting emphasis on their
individual’s needs first, they encouraged women to stand on their own, and to
formulate and pursue their own professional goals as well as take care of
themselves. The YWCA’s American staff promoted both having a profession and a
healthy body as aims in and of themselves without links to nationalism, or
motherhood, thus forming a contrast with the late Ottoman State’s and Early
Republican state’s ideologies while simultaneously challenging the gender roles
iv
and patriarchal codes. Their prioritizing having a career over marriage and
motherhood contributed to feminist activism.
Keywords: Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), working women,
individuality, career, health
v

Bu çalışma İstanbul’da 1913-1930 yılları arasında, aile, sosyal ve eğitim yapısının
kadınların bağımsız karar vermesini engellediğini gözlemleyen YWCA’in esasen
Amerikalı kadrosunun iş ve sağlık pratikleri üzerinden kadınları birey olmaya
teşvik ettiğini savunmaktadır. YWCA, kadınların annelik ve evlilik rolleri
üzerinden tanımlanan rollerindense özerk bir profesyonel kimliği teşvik ederek,
kadının konumu hususunda birey olmayı vurgulayan bir söyleme katkıda bulundu.
Kadınların önce bireysel ihtiyaçlarını vurgulayarak, kadınları kendi ayakları
üzerinde durmaya, kendi profesyonel hedeflerini formüle edip peşinden koşmaya ve
kendilerine bakmaya teşvik etmişlerdir. Milliyetçilik ve annelikle ilişkilendirmeden,
kadının kendisi için profesyonel meslek ve sağlıklı bedene sahip olmayı teşvik eden
YWCA’in Amerikalı kadrosu, geç Osmanlı dönemi ve Erken Cumhuriyet Dönemi
ideolojileriyle bu açıdan zıtlık oluşturmuş, toplumsal roller ve patriarşik kodlara da
meydan okumuştur. Evlilik ve annelik yerine kariyere önem vermeleri feminist
aktivizmine de katkı sağlamıştır.
vi
Anahtar Kelimeler: Genç Kadınlar Hristiyan Derneği [Genç Hristiyan Kadınlar
Birliği], çalışan kadın, birey olma, kariyer, sağlık
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my core committee members Kenneth Weisbrode, Owen
Miller, and Dennis Bryson for their help, guidance and contributions to this work. I
would like to thank Selim Tezcan and Adile Aylin Erkman Özman for their
participation and comments. I am thankful to Orhan Aytür, Edward P. Kohn, and
Alan Lessoff. I would like to thank Humberto DeLuigi and Jake Stern for their
assistance. I would like to thank my mother Oya Karabağ and my family for their
unconditional support, faith and love.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………......iii
ÖZET……………………………………………………………………………......v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………..... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………. viii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……………………………………….……… 1
CHAPTER II: BACKGROUND ON THE ISTANBUL YWCA……….…...... 21
2.1. General Information on the YWCA. …………………….…….... 23
2.2. The Cadre of the Istanbul YWCA…………………………….………. 27
2.3. Members………………….…………………………………………....... 34
2.4. Non-religious definitions, and difference between missionaries and the
YWCA……………………………………………………………………. 38
2.5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………….......43
CHAPTER III: THE YWCA AND FEMALE FACTORY WORKERS IN
ANATOLIA………………………………………………………………........45
3.1. Merzifon……………………………………………………………........ 51
3.2. Sivas……………………………………………………………… 55
3.3. İzmir……………………………………………………………….….. 57
3.4. Adana …………………………………………………………………. 58
3.5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………. 61
ix
CHAPTER IV: LACK OF CAREER GUIDANCE IN ISTANBUL…………... 63
4.1. Lack of career guidance at home………………………………………. 64
4.2. Lack of guidance in education…………………………………………. 70
4.3. Society’s lack of career guidance……………………………………. 74
4.4. Women in the late Ottoman State and Early Republican Turkey……. 78
4.5. Westernization…………………………………………...……………. 82
4.6. Conclusion………………………………………………………......... 91
CHAPTER V: FROM STAY-AT-HOME WOMEN TO CAREER-MINDED
WOMEN: THE ISTANBUL YWCA……………………………………. 93
5.1. Stay-at-home Women…………………………………………………. 95
5.2. The Employment Bureau……………………………………………… 105
5.3. Training………………………………………………………….…...... 125
5.4. Career-oriented Women……………………………………………….. 133
5.5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 150
CHAPTER VI: SELF-CARE…………………………………………………… 152
6.1. The Istanbul YWCA…………………………………………………… 157
6.2. Dancing………………………………………………………………… 160
6.3. Camps and Sports……………………………………………………… 165
6.4. Health and fitness ……………………………………………………... 168
6.5. Training for health-related jobs ………………………………………. 182
6.6. Conclusion…………………………. ………………………………… 187
CHAPTER VII: CONCLUSION………………………………………………. 189
BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………… 197
APPENDICES………………………………………………………………….. 209
A map of YWCA centers in Istanbul in 1928.............................................209
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The 1910s were an era of instability, changing borders and maps, the rise, fall, and
reinvention of nations, and calls for war or pleas for peace. The fact that so many
went to war and lost their lives on the battlefields also encouraged a higher number
of women to join the workforce. It was during these times of transformation that the
Young Women’s Christian Association’s staff came to the late Ottoman State,
precisely in 1913. This association1 would witness not only war but also the
foundation of modern Turkey in the 1920s.
The Balkan Wars (1912–1913), World War I (1914–1918) [WWI] and the
Occupation period/War of National Liberation (1919–1923) caused a proliferation
in the number of women’s associations in which philanthropic services and
mobilizing relief work for the poor, orphans, soldiers, war widows, refugees, and
the wounded became urgent. In parallel to the difficulties caused by wars, the
number of women associations providing aid and temporary work increased
simultaneously. Kadir Yıldırım has written that non-Muslim women would request
1 In 1913 Frances Gage and Anna C. Wells (Brown) were appointed to work in Turkey by YWCA
National Board of United States. See [White], “Summary History by Margaret White,” undated, p.1,
microfilm reel 63, Microfilmed Records Reel List Part 2a. Subject Files, 1899-1950, YWCA of the
U.S.A. Records, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA (hereafter cited in text
as microfilm reel number, YWCA-SSC).
2
the state to take action in unemployment before 1908 whereas before that year, the
working lives of Muslim women were quite limited. The associations interested in
directing women toward positions as tailors and seamstresses included the
Charitable Women’s Organization for the Consumption of Local Products
[Mamulât-ı Dahiliye İstihlâk-i Milli Kadınlar Cemiyet-i Hayriyesi] (1912), the
Ottoman Society for the Defense of Women’s Rights [Osmanlı Müdafaa-i Hukuk-ı
Nisvan Cemiyeti] (1913), the Ottoman Turkish Club for the Protection of Women
[Osmanlı Türk Hanımları Esirgeme Derneği] (1913) and the Turkish Women’s
Tailor’s Cutting Home [Türk Kadınları Biçki Yurdu] (1913).2 The Ottoman Society
for the Defense of Women’s Rights, interested in girls, widows and children who
had suffered financially as a consequence of war, was also eager to promote
education and vocational training for poor girls. With the opening of an arthouse,
production of sewing and Turkish handicrafts was also encouraged. The 1913
Ottoman coup led by Enver Pasha and Talaat Pasha signified the start of a new
period until the end of World War I, in which the Committee of Union and Progress
[CUP]3 was in charge. The CUP’s centralized policy and fervent nationalism
contributed to the discontent in the Balkans which erupted in the Balkan Wars
(1912-1913). One year after the Balkan Wars, the Ottomans would join Germans to
fight against the allies in the First World War (1914–1918). In a period of transition
throughout which wars shaped the nation, the issues surrounding women were also
2 Kadir Yıldırım, Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler (Istanbul:
İletişim, 2013), 94–5.
3 The reign of Abdülhamid II (1876–1909) ended with the Committee of Union and Progress taking
power. Mehmed V (1909-1918) came to the throne after the Young Turk Revolution which restored
the Constitution and the Parliament. The sultan’s power was now only symbolic as the CUP was the
dominant political power, “try[ing] to control the grand viziers.” The CUP had a kaleidoscopic
structure: Islamists, liberals, Turkish nationalists and secularists reflected the complexity of the
CUP’s cadre, having a variety of different interests simultaneously. See Norman Stone, Turkey: A
Short History (London: Thames&Hudson, 2010), 136.
3
on the agenda of the CUP cadres. Yavuz Selim Karakışla has focused on the
Society for the Employment of Ottoman Muslim Women [Kadınları Çalıştırma
Cemiyet-i İslamiyesi], whose Board was composed of male officials from the
CUP—in charge of the government, was set up by Enver Pasha in 1916. An
increase in the number of Muslim prostitutes along with poverty and starvation, a
source of concern to the public and the CUP government played major roles in the
birth of this association. Providing temporary work for war widows during WWI,
the aim was to preserve the honor and chastity of women by offering them shortterm
employment, while at the same time directing women towards marriage and
quitting their jobs, thus allowing their husbands to be the breadwinners. Karakışla
has remarked that until the beginning of the WWI men were expected to work
while their wives were expected be housewives and it was not at all common for
women to participate in working life. Disintegration of family ties due to women’s
joining workforce concerned the cadre of the Society for the Employment of
Ottoman Muslim Women. Therefore, they came up with a law (an article), obliging
women members to marry at a certain age. Creating professional opportunity for
women was not the main goal of the Society for the Employment of Ottoman
Muslim Women; the main aim was to protect women from the evils of the world by
offering temporary work for them.4 The 1910s also signified increasing numbers of
journals and freedom in the press under the CUP rule. While journals proliferated
during the time and male writers dominated the press, Kadınlar Dünyası stood out
from the rest on women’s periodicals, with a female cadre focusing on feminist
issues, questioning their social and educational status. Receiving an education, the
4 Yavuz Selim Karakışla, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Savaş Yılları ve Çalışan Kadınlar: Kadınları
Çalıştırma Cemiyeti (1916–1923) (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2015), 73–199.
4
opening of more schools, the right to join the workforce were among the subjects
for which women advocated in the context of the feminist movement in the late
Ottoman state.5 Zihnioğlu classifies the period from 1908 to 1922 under the
grouping as the Second Constitutional Monarchy Period Ottoman Feminism in
which the women’s movement demanded to be more visible in the public sphere by
being involved in political and working life.6
Alan Duben and Cem Behar have stated that the prominent radical feminists
of the 1910s called for women’s participation in the political and public spheres,
and demanded the right to work without excepting women’s main roles as mothers
and wives.7 Nezihe Muhiddin—a suffragist of the 1910s and 1920s and a key
founder of the Turkish Women’s Union for women’s earning the right to vote—
advocated for women to be active in both the public and political sphere, stated that
the sacred role of women was motherhood.8 Halide Edip Adıvar, one of the leading
feminists of the period, defended women’s right to vote and wished to expand their
roles in public sphere; she also glorified the role of motherhood. She stated that
women should be as qualified as men; however, women should also maintain their
domestic duties, as well as their patriotic and maternal roles; “A woman, first, is an
Ottoman, a patriot... The rights of a country are a thousand times more important
and honorable than those of women. Thus, while yelling out for their rights, women
must remember that these rights are for breeding a child for the homeland.”9
5 Serpil Çakır, Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi (Istanbul: Metis, 1994).
6 Yaprak Zihnioğlu, Kadınsız Inkilap: Nezihe Muhiddin, Kadınlar Halk Fırkası, Kadın Birliği
(Istanbul: Metis Yayınları, 2003), 20–24.
7 Alan Duben and Cem Behar, Istanbul Households; Marriage. Family and Fertility, 1880-1940
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 215–17.
8 Yaprak Zihnioğlu, Kadınsız Inkilap: Nezihe Muhiddin, Kadınlar Halk Fırkası, Kadın Birliği
(Istanbul: Metis Yayınları, 2003), 105–107.
9 Muzaffer Derya Nazlıpınar Subaşı, “Halide Edip Adıvar and Her Perception of ‘New Woman’
Identity,” Uluslararası İnsan Çalışmaları Dergisi / International Journal of Human Studies 1, no.2
(2018), 277–84.
5
The key feminist association, the Ottoman Society for the Defense of
Women’s Rights, established in 1913, supported women’s right to work using
rhetoric that stressed the national and economic benefits of such engagement.
Nicole Van Os has argued that the key motivation of such action was neither the
individual need nor desires of women, but the economic need of the country.10
Once the Republic was established, women’s movements were suppressed,11 the
state-sponsored feminism dominated the era, encouraging women to have jobs,
pursue careers, and participate in charitable work projects, but at the same time
expecting them to be educated mothers and wives first and foremost because
mothers had the responsibility to raise the next generation for the well-being of the
nation. Motherhood and nationalism were thus concepts intrinsically linked with
one other. In the Early Republican State, the Turkish Civil Code12 legitimized men
as breadwinners and decision-makers, and wives needing the consent of their
husbands if they decided to work.13
Women’s maternal roles were glorified and given the utmost importance
both in the late Ottoman state and Early Republican period. Motherhood was
associated with the nation’s progress and well-being. In the period of the CUP,
although job opportunities for women were opened, women were nevertheless not
10 Nicole Van Os, “Osmanlı Müslümanlarında Feminizm,” in Modern Türkiye'de Siyasi Düşünce
Tanzimat ve Meşrutiyet'in Birikimi, Vol. 1, ed. Mehmet Ö. Alkan (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları,
2001), 335–47.
11 In 1923, the Women’s People Party defended women’s right to vote and petitioned to be
recognized as an official party. Their request was not processed by the male officials, who thus
delayed full suffrage rights for women in the 1920s. The Kemalist regime was in favor of creating
the perception they were the ones who granted women their rights. Yaprak Zihnioğlu, Kadınsız
Inkılap: Nezihe Muhiddin, Kadınlar Halk Fırkası, Kadın Birliği (Istanbul: Metis Yayınları, 2003),
50–149.
12 The Turkish Civil Code (1926) was adapted from the Swiss Civil Code.
13 Zehra F. Arat, “Turkish Women and The Republican Reconstruction of Tradition,” in
Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity, and Power, eds. Fatma Müge Göçek
and Shiva Balaghi (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 62–64.
6
intended to pursue a career; their employment was planned only to be short-term.
This expectation of the state could be seen in the example of the Society for the
Employment of Ottoman Muslim Women, where women were expected to get
married and quit their jobs so that their husbands could provide a living for them.
During the Early Republican period, women were not treated the same as male
breadwinners and career-oriented men, and women did not have freedom to start
their own business without the consent of their husbands. Women were also
expected to be educated mothers for the progress of the nation.
The health politics of the state emphasized motherhood as well. Women
were encouraged to do sports with rhetoric claiming that they needed to be strong
for the sake of raising strong children during the CUP reign.14 Selim Sırrı Tarcan, a
leading statesman both in the late Ottoman State and in the new Republic, urged
women to participation in sports. He argued that women should join sports because
their reproductive rate would greatly benefit from having stronger bodies.15 While
“… the Kemalist state continued to employ a traditional definition of female roles
and emphasized reproduction and child care as the primary functions of women,”16
Sertaç has stated that “Sport was a crucial tool in Atatürk’s nation-building project,
and women’s involvement was essential. As future mothers of the next generation,
women were expected to have healthy and strong bodies.”17 Neither regime
14 Osman Tolga Şinoforoğlu, “Selim Sırrı Tarcan ve İsveç Jimnastiği: Beden Eğitimde İsveç
Modelinin II. Meşrutiyet Dönemi Türk Eğitim Sistemine Entegrasyonu” (PhD diss., Gazi
Üniversitesi, 2015), 106–7.
15 Gertrud Pfister and Ilknur Hacısoftaoğlu, “Women’s Sport as a Symbol of Modernity: A Case
Study in Turkey,” The International Journal of the History of Sport 33, no.13 (2016), 1470–82;
Demet Lüküslü and Şakir Dinçşahin, “Shaping Bodies Shaping Minds: Selim Sırrı Tarcan and the
Origins of Modern Physical Education in Turkey,” The International Journal of the History of Sport
30, no.3 (2013): 195–209.
16 Zehra F. Arat, “Turkish Women and The Republican Reconstruction of Tradition,” 72.
17 Sertaç Sehlikoglu, “Sports: Turkey” in Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, vol.14, eds.
Suad Joseph and Elora Shehabuddin (Leiden: Brill, 2017).
7
separated women’s maternal and nationalistic roles from their health-related
practices in the period 1913-1930, as they did in their labor practices.
Yet, as this study claims, in this period, there was an agency, the YWCA’s
mainly American staff, promoting women’s participation in the workforce,
pursuing careers and healthy bodies with a different rhetoric, which put the
emphasis on personal necessity and related these issues more to the progress of
one’s self. It was the YWCA of the USA, which started their work in Istanbul in
1913, opening programs officially in 1919 in the same city, as well as operating an
Employment Bureau. Their health practices also emphasized personal necessity
rather than maternal and nationalistic aspects, which thus conflicted with the
governments of the period.
Not only has existing scholarship on labor neglected the existence of the
Employment Bureau of the YWCA in Istanbul, the literature on women’s
movement and feminism in Turkey has also ignored the presence of the YWCA18
18 The existence of the YWCA does not appear in the historiography of labor and feminism
movements of the early twentieth century of Turkey. Yavuz Selim Karakışla, in his book Women,
War and Work in the Ottoman Empire: Society for the Employment of Ottoman Muslim Women
(1916–1923) referring to Donald Quataert’s article published in 2001 entitled “Labor History and
the Ottoman Empire 1700–1922,” mentioned the limitations of the historiography on working
women. In the literature, for the period between 1913-1930, there is not a single study covering non-
Muslim women’s labor associations and Muslim associations simultaneously in a detailed way.
While the focus is on Turkish women associations, the literature on the women’s movement
bringing the perspectives of both Muslim and non-Muslim women movements together in the 1910s
and 1920s in terms of analyzing their similarities, diversions and collaboration is absent and needs
further to be developed. Studies that focused on other labor and women associations contributed to
the women labor historiography to a great extent are Yavuz Selim Karakışla, Osmanlı
İmparatorluğu’nda Savaş Yılları ve Çalışan Kadınlar: Kadınları Çalıştırma Cemiyeti (1916–1923)
(Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2015); Kadir Yıldırım, Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma
Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler (Istanbul: İletişim, 2013); Elif Mahir Metinsoy, Ottoman Women during
World War I: Everyday Experiences, Politics, and Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2017); Yüksel Işık, Osmanlı’dan Günümüze İşçi Hareketinin Evrimi (1876–1994) (Ankara:
Öteki, 1995). Studies that focused on women associations and women movements include Zafer
Toprak, Türkiye’de Yeni Hayat: İnkılap ve Travma 1908–1928 (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, 2017), Serpil
Çakır, Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi (Istanbul: Metis, 1994), Yaprak Zihnioğlu, Kadınsız Inkılap: Nezihe
Muhiddin, Kadınlar Halk Fırkası, Kadın Birliği (Istanbul: Metis Yayınları, 2003).
8
and its cadre. The existing scholarship on the YWCA in Turkey19 has been scarce.
Amanda Izzo, by pointing out that the YWCA in Turkey had “a non-proselytizing
program,” and was open to all faiths and nationalities, drew attention to the
indigenization of the YWCA staff without a detailed analysis of its centers and
without revealing local board members. She has claimed that the new Republic’s
secular law, separating the religion from the state, banned dissemination of
religious and missionary education in Turkey, and pushed the YWCA staff to make
the choice of whether they would keep “Christian” in their name; by changing their
name, they relinquished their Christian identity for the sake of spreading their
Christian ideology such as love, Christian sisterhood and serving others.20 Resul
19 Regarding the YWCA’s activities in the USA, the historiography is more extensive. The Social
Gospel Movement of the 1890s to some extent catalyzed origins of a non-religious transformation of
the YWCA and YMCA in the USA. The rise of urbanization, along with mechanization and
industrialization in the Gilded Age increased social inequalities, namely the gap between rich and
poor. The Social Gospel movement, in which theologians such as Walter Rauschhenbusch played a
key role, brought social and moral reform to the fore, urging urban middle and upper class to take
action to reduce social and economic inequality, at a time the state did not promote or develop
dynamics of welfare. By taking action, they would thus bring God’s teachings to life and practice
rather than leaving them in the realm of theory. See Harald Fischer-Tiné, Stefan Huebner, Ian
Tyrrell, eds., Spreading Protestant Modernity: Global Perspectives on the Social Work of the YMCA
and YWCA (c.1889–1970) (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2021), 1–5. See Cecelia Tichi,
Civic Passions: Seven Who Launched Progressive America (and What They Teach Us) (Chapel Hill,
North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2009). Although the American YWCA had its
roots within an evangelical culture, in the early twentieth century, the association focused on
advancing the rights of women in work and social issues, rather than being concerned primarily with
the goal of moral improvement. See Raymond A. Mohl, “Cultural Pluralism in Immigrant
Education: The YWCA’s International Institutes 1910–1940,” 113, and Joanne Meyerowitz,
“preface,” in Men and Women Adrift: The YMCA and the YWCA in the City, N. Mijagkij and
M.Spratt, eds., (New York: NYU Press, 1997). Educational opportunity, higher wages, and the right
to vote were some of the issues the YWCA primarily concerned itself with in this period. While it
was common to perceive the YWCA as only offering sports programmes, it also actively engaged in
issues related to women’s class, ethnicity, and race. See Nancy. M. Robertson, Christian Sisterhood,
Race Relations, and the YWCA, 1906–1946 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007), 3. Focusing
mainly on the global activities of the Young Men’s Christian Association [YMCA] and the
YWCA’s branch in Shanghai, and emphasizing their “secular agenda,” a recent study argued that
the YMCA and the YWCA’s programs regarding health, sports, education and recreation spread
Western knowledge in a global context and promoted a “Protestant modernity.” See Harald Fischer-
Tiné, Stefan Huebner, Ian Tyrrell, eds., introduction to Spreading Protestant Modernity: Global
Perspectives on the Social Work of the YMCA and YWCA (c.1889–1970) (Honolulu: University of
Hawai’i Press, 2021), 1–26.
20Amanda L. Izzo, “ ‘By Love, Serve One Another:’ Foreign Mission and the Challenge of World
Fellowship in the YWCAs of Japan and Turkey,” Journal of American-East Asian Relations 24,
no.4 (2017): 347–72.
9
Çatalbaş, in an article focused mainly on the YMCA Turkey, briefly mentioning the
YWCA’s recreational and educational programs, has claimed that both the YMCA
and YWCA advocated Protestantism and pursued missionary activities along with
contributing to nationalistic propaganda among minority groups.21 Bilgi has
incorrectly stated that Dorothea C. Blaisdell was an American missionary carrying
out missionary work and devotion to Christianity. Bilgi added that American
missionaries provided services in health and education to the Armenian community
in Adana.22 In contrast to the existing scholarship majorly focusing on the Christian
ideology of the YWCA, the present study presents the YWCA as promoting and
contributing to women’s individuality in the late Ottoman and Turkish state as an
active feminist association.
This study argues that the YWCA’s mainly American staff, observing that
familial, social and educational structure prevented women from independent
decision-making, promoted individuality by their labor and health practices
between 1913–1930. The YWCA contributed to a discourse on the role of women
that accentuated their individuality by promoting an autonomous professional
identity instead of women’s marital and maternal roles. They encouraged young
women in Istanbul to make more decisions about their careers and health-related
activities, urging detachment from parental and societal authority. Putting emphasis
on their individual’s needs first, they encouraged women to stand on their own, and
to formulate and pursue their own professional goals as well as take care of
themselves. The YWCA’s American staff promoted both having a profession and
21 Resul Çatalbaş, “Young Men’s Christian Association’ın Türkiye’de Faaliyetleri,” Ankara
Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 55, no.1 (2014):101–122.
22 Mahinur Bilgi, “20. Yüzyıl Başlarında Anadolu’da Faaliyet Gösteren Amerikalı Protestan
Misyoner Kadınlar: Dorothea Chambers Blaisdell ve Theresa Huntington Ziegler,” (Master’s thesis,
Ankara Üniversitesi, 2019).
10
exercising to have a healthy body as aims in and of themselves without links to
nationalism, duty, or motherhood, thus forming a contrast with the late Ottoman
State and Early Republican state’s ideologies while simultaneously challenged the
traditional and patriarchal codes. The YWCA’s American staff actually prioritized
having a career over marriage and motherhood, contributing to feminism at the
same time. In order to situate the YWCA within the broader context of women’s
social and political activism, this study also highlights a number of key Turkish
feminist figures such as Nakiye Elgün, Latife Bekir and Lamia Refik Fenmen, who
served as board and committee members for the YWCA, and thus contributes to the
biographical literature as well. This study also further demonstrates the labor
activities of the YWCA in Anatolia to understand the YWCA Istanbul more
comprehensively.
The YWCA of the USA, coming to Turkey, had as its key agenda
progressing the rights of women in the labor force. This study demonstrates that
while in Istanbul the number of women with whom the YWCA staff interacted who
stayed at home was high, although outside the metropolis, in places like Merzifon,
Sivas, Izmir and Adana, the YWCA secretaries also had a chance to interact with
female factory workers and focused on improving their labor conditions including
wages, working hours and leisure times. In Istanbul, by contrast, there was a
different story. In Istanbul, they observed that young women were not supported in
making their own choices because of familial and societal pressure. The YWCA’s
mainly American staff, interacting with a high number of women who stayed at
home, had to change their labor strategy in Istanbul by first promoting the idea of
‘working for one’s self,’ ‘following a career,’ ‘take care of one’s self’ rhetoric.
They developed an alternative strategy by first establishing the value of work as a
11
practice for the development of selfhood. The YWCA staff disseminated the idea of
pursuing a profession by guiding members through their Employment Bureau,
offering professional training, organizing talks, and presenting career-oriented role
models. The aim was to instill the value in young women of prioritizing career over
marriage even if this meant individuals would end up in familial and social
conflicts. The YWCA’s mainly American staff was against the idea that marriage
itself was a career. Financial independence was foregrounded as the means for
young women to direct their personal choices, take control of their lives, and
achieve liberation from oppressive structures. The YWCA’s American staff
claimed that “The complete independence of choice in marriage will be realized for
young women only when economic independence is more assured.”23 The
YWCA’s American staff were successful in bringing professional skills to the ones
they were able to influence, enabling them to start a career-oriented life, and
reminding them that marriage should not be the ultimate goal of a women or
regarded as a career plan. With the ones they were able to influence, those
participants would start to question their conceptions about work. For example, in
Belkıs Halim Vassaf’s case; after her talk with the YWCA’s American camp
director, she stated “ ‘It is my mission and patriotic duty to go to Anatolia, the
remotest part of Turkey for work, or go anywhere where my motherland assigns me
to.’ She [The YWCA secretary] was astonished by what I said. She said ‘No’ to me.
‘There is not anything called duty. If a person likes the job, s/he does it, if s/he does
not, s/he does not.’ ” In her account, she added that “However, because we are
always raised for the purpose of duty, it is very strange for me and hard to
23 Ruth Woodsmall, “Survey of Social Conditions in Turkey,” October, 1926, pp.2–30, reel 64,
YWCA-SSC.
12
understand that people should work based on their preference rather than duty at
that moment.” This woman, after attending the YWCA camp, later joined the
YWCA as a board member. Receiving a scholarship with her YWCA connection,
she went to the United States and her husband had to go along despite her social
circle’s questioning whether she was crazy.24 In another case, the YWCA staff
encouraged a young woman follow her own career and not to marry despite her
mother's trying to marry her to a wealthy husband that she was not in love with.25 It
was no coincidence that the YWCA’s American staff encouraged young women to
write about the expansion of freedoms they would obtain once women started to
support themselves financially and independently. Simultaneously, women’s
decision-making power regarding marital status would increase. By assigning their
participants essays prioritizing financial freedom over marriage, they promoted the
idea that economic independence was a step towards individuality, allowing the
opportunity to use one’s skills, take control of one’s life and enhance one’s role in
the decision-making process. From 1913–1930, at a time when the late Ottoman
State and the Early Republican state prioritized women’s main roles as mothers and
wives, the YWCA’s mainly American staff were successful in terms of making
young women question their maternal/marital roles as the primary goal of their
lives as well as making them question familial and societal pressure.
Standing on one’s own feet financially and socially, pursuing a profession
and taking care of one’s self out of personal desire and inclination rather than
simply to fulfill maternal or marital obligations can be considered as expressions of
individuality.
24 Gündüz Vassaf, Annem Belkıs (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2000), 116–120, “my translation.”
25 “Report of Miss Jane Brewern, Education Secretary to Constantinople YWCA, from October-
December 1923,” p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
13
American feminist women in the early twentieth century, who explicitly
called themselves “feminists,” were involved in the concept of “individuality.”
American historians of women have written about two or three generations of “the
New Woman,” beginning with the appearance of college-educated new women,
such as Jane Addams, who pursued “careers” in settlement houses and other
venues; these women generally dedicated themselves to the service of others,
applying various maternalistic-inflected notions to reform and the public realm. By
the 1910s, a new cohort of women with very different outlooks, attitudes, and
values appeared. These women, many of whom identified themselves as
“feminists” and/or radicals of one sort or another (socialists, anarchists), often did
not primarily dedicate themselves to serving others, but to expressing and
developing themselves, getting jobs as journalists, writers, and professionals,
demanding suffrage and full civil rights, as well as claiming the right to express
their heterosexual desires and other characteristics on par with men. The term
“feminism” covers this context and this is the group of American women that
confronted the “modern” in the most direct sense—mainly by rejecting old-style
Victorian ideas of what it meant to be a woman. Sara M. Evans also wrote, “the
individuality of the new woman and the working girl also marked a shift away from
communal domesticity, undermining Victorian culture with a new drive toward
autonomy, pleasure and consumption.”26
In the 1920s, the New Woman was associated with involvement in the
political and social issues of her time and motherhood was not necessarily excluded
26 Sara M. Evans, Born For Liberty: A History of Women in America (New York: The Free Press,
1989), 146–7. See Nancy F. Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1987).
14
whereas the Modern Girl was more linked with a more consumer type of woman
who was usually single in the global context, according to a study:
Queries about our use of “girl” have often turned into questions about the
distinction between the Modern Girl and the so-called New Woman. In
answering these, we note that the New Woman is frequently figured as the
mother of the Modern Girl: contemporaries identified the New Woman with
reform and with social and political advocacy and associated her daughter
with the “frivolous” pursuits of consumption, romance, and fashion. While
our research suggests a close association between the Modern Girl and
commodity capitalism in all contexts, it also questions hard and fast
distinctions that align New Women with political activism and Modern
Girls with consumption. New Women were often avid consumers and
passionate advocates of “free love,” and Modern Girls embraced a variety of
political projects including socialism and nationalism.27
The YWCA’s American staff came into a late Ottoman context which was being
shaped by the new nationalist movements and the clash between the “old” versus
the “new, the “modern” versus tradition, “alla turca” versus “alla franga,” and
“eastern” versus “western.” In a transforming atmosphere like this in which
families and social circle were involved in women’s decision-making, how did the
female individual’s choices relate to her career and body evolve? This study also
traces this question by arguing that the YWCA promoted individuality through its
Employment Bureau and health policies. Although the terms individualism and
individuality are different, and there are different types of individualism, one may
nevertheless provide a background for the other one to develop in a non-western
context. There is a huge Western literature on individualism ranging from
Tocqueville, Émile Durkheim, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Karl Popper and other
thinkers. Habits of Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life is one
27 Alys Eve Weinbaum, Lynn M. Thomas, Priti Ramamurthy, Uta G. Poiger, Madeleine Yue Dong,
and Tani E. Barlow, eds. The Modern Girl Around the World: Consumption, Modernity, and
Globalization (Durham; London: Duke University Press, 2008), 9–10.
15
of the classics on different conceptions of individualism in the American Context.
Harry C. Triandis wrote:
[Robert] Bellah et al. (1988) also identified several kinds of individualism:
religious, utilitarian, and expressive. For example, according to the biblical
individualist, the individual relates directly to God; the utilitarian
emphasizes exchanges that maximize returns for the individual. Expressive
individualists emphasize having fun. The self is the only reality that really
matters. However, individualism is compatible with conformity, since
people who do not know what is right have to depend on social comparisons
to guide their life.28
In Black Reconstruction in America (1935), sociologist, historian, civil rights
activist, W. E. B. Du Bois observing that it was the individualist mindset preventing
America to reach socially and economically levels of a democratic nation– claimed
that the Civil War changed the perception of white Americans because they started
to have faith in reaching success in their lives by working hard and having selfdiscipline,
as a consequence of individualist thinking.29 One of the representations
of this figure in the popular culture was American president Herbert Hoover, who
became an orphan at the age of nine and later made a success out of himself by
working hard, had a faith in “rugged individualism.” Anyone could achieve on their
own without the help of the government. Participating night classes, earning his
own money while he was a student, he had an inspiring rag to riches story as a selfmade
man. He worked as a miner worker, then as an engineer. At the same time, in
his book entitled American Individualism published in 1922, he identified himself
as “an American individualist;” in his interpretation, the reflection of the term was a
28 Harry C. Triandis, Individualism & Collectivism (New York: Routledge, 1995), 30.
29 Jack Turner, “American Individualism and Structural Injustice: Tocqueville, Gender, and
Race,” Polity 40, no.2 (2008): 197–215.
16
more “progressive individualist,” which put emphasizing on helping other people
who are in need.30
Inglehart and Welzel in Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy:
The Human Development Sequence, have emphasized that “High levels of
individualism go with high levels of autonomy and high levels of self-expression
values.”31 This could be seen in the late Ottoman context, as well. Alan Duben and
Cem Behar, in their book Istanbul Households: Marriage, family and fertility
1880–1940, have mentioned that in the second half of the nineteenth century, the
French Revolution’s ideas and western values circulated among elite circles.
Translated French novels concerned with the idea of love challenged arranged
marriages. The concept of love and liberty were seen as connected with each other,
as could be seen in the example of Ahmed Midhat’s short story (1871), entitled
Teehlül (Marriage). One of the main characters named Mazlum Bey (Sir Mazlum)
in the story asked this question in one of the scenes: “when there are still no
individual liberties (hürriyet-i şahsiye) in our country how can a man choose the
girl he wants, or a girl the man she desires?” In another novel, Sergüzeşt
(Adventure) published in 1888 at a time marked by Abdülhamid II’s autocratic
regime and censorship, the character Celal, in a conversation he had with his uncle,
revealed his dislike for arranged marriages. Giving examples from novels of the
late nineteenth century, Duben and Behar have observed: “Was this rebellion
against parental (and, indirectly, state) authority in the literary world of late
nineteenth-century Istanbul a reflection of nascent individualism in Ottoman
30 Eric Daniels, “A Brief History of Individualism in American Thought,” in For the Greater Good
of All, Donelson R. Forysth and Crystal L. Hoyt, eds. (New York Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 76.
31 Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The
Human Development Sequence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 135–46.
17
society?” The idea of individualism was hard to be accepted among people who
lived in Istanbul and valued communal life but still, the concept of love in the
novels challenged those norms indirectly. Ottoman intellectuals, who were part of
the New Literature movement, spread “utopian individualism,” as a consequence of
their envy toward European life in terms of its wealth, science, and autonomy.
“Individualism, as the late nineteenth-century Ottomans first came to know it,
whether in love or politics, was the expression of a rejection of the past, and of the
shackles of repressive family, community and authority,” according to Duben and
Behar. From 1908 to 1918, as nationalism gained momentum, anything against
national, moral and patriotic values would often also be linked with
individualism.32 In the newly established republic, although the West was taken as a
model in the modernization process, not all of its concepts were admired or
adopted. One of the Western concepts that was ignored was individualism, in the
sense of standing out from the rest.33 One of the influential thinkers of the late
Ottoman State and Early Republican State until his death in 1924, Ziya Gökalp,
whose thoughts on education were fundamental to the “Kemalist nation-state,”34
was in favor of an education for the masses which would serve the interest of the
nation rather than the individual’s personal interest.35 “In both Gökalp's and
Atatürk’s terms it was perceived that society is a source of individuality, freedom
32 Alan Duben and Cem Behar, Istanbul Households: Marriage, Family, and Fertility, 1880–1940
(Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1991), 92–94. Duben and Behar referenced to scholar Niyazi
Berkes on “utopian individualism.”
33 Hande Eslen-Ziya and Umut Korkut, “Political Religion and Politicized Women in Turkey:
Hegemonic Republicanism Revisited,” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 11 (2010),
311–326.
34 Raşit Çelik, “Unity vs. Uniformity: The Influence of Ziya Gökalp and John Dewey on the
Education System of the Republic of Turkey,” Education and Culture 30, no.1 (2014):17–37.
35 Mansoor Moaddel, Islamic Modernism, Nationalism, and Fundamentalism: Episode and
Discourse (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005), 157.
18
and creativity for people. This notion however is in contradiction with the western
concept of individuality in that men is conceived as a source of freedom and
creative resources for the society,” as noted by Ayvalıoğlu.36
In the mainstream historiography of American individualism, as suggested
by Linda K. Kerber, the individual is usually implied as male.37 To trace the
development of female individuality, women’s perspectives, accounts and
movements inevitably became a source for exploring this theme.
The first chapter will introduce the staff of Istanbul YWCA. Not perceiving
themselves as missionaries, the YWCA staff differentiated their mission from the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions [ABCFM]. Revealing
prominent feminists and modern figures of the late Ottoman State and Early
Republican Turkey who participated in the activities of the YWCA and served as
Board members, this chapter will also provide a bird’s eye view of the participants
in Istanbul. To understand Istanbul case better, the second chapter will highlight by
contrast how the YWCA aimed to develop labor policies for the female factory
workers they contacted elsewhere in Anatolia; the YWCA's American staff took the
initiative in terms of contacting factory directors to discuss improving the wages
and working hours of female factory workers, as well as encourage recreation and
leisure activities during breaks. Thus, they acted almost as a local trade union of
sorts. Along with pointing out the structural obstacles preventing women from
developing career thinking in Istanbul in the late Ottoman State, the third chapter
will also offer a historiographical background for understanding Early Republican
36 Namık Ayvalıoğlu, “Cultural Revolution of Atatürk,” Psikoloji Çalışmaları 15 (2012): 49–58.
37 Linda K. Kerber, “Women and Individualism in American History,” The Massachusetts
Review 30, no. 4 (1989): 589–609.
19
Era women and Westernization. The fourth chapter will suggest that in Istanbul
from the beginning the YWCA staff were not in contact with factory workers. They
were in contact with a high number of young women who stayed at home. The
YWCA’s mainly American secretaries saw young women who stayed at home as
lacking a sense of individuality, since they did not have career goals or purposes.
They encouraged young women to develop individual identity and exercise selfexpression
by guiding them to be independent career-oriented women, because for
them, standing on one’s own feet financially and acquiring a profession that one
loved to do were the ways that young women could gain control of their own lives
and were therefore indispensable if these women were to become individuals. They
prioritized having a career over marriage and motherhood. In the fifth chapter, the
YWCA’s contribution to individuality by the health practices38 will be explored.
The YWCA’s American staff educated young women to be more conscious of their
physical bodies and health practices, contributing to the spread of the idea of
individuality by promoting recreational activities for one’s own self and
empowerment; it was thus more a responsibility to one’s self rather than a national,
maternal and patriotic duty, contrasting with the late Ottoman State’s and Early
Republican state’s ideologies.
This study shows that the Istanbul YWCA stressed the idea of working for
one’s own self and focusing on one’s own career despite social and familial
pressure since having a profession was a vital tool for attaining individual selfhood;
they prioritized career over maternal roles, developing a feminist discourse. This
study claims that in Istanbul the YWCA’s American staff, by prioritizing career
38 Michel Foucault, finding roots of the “care of the self” in the Ancient Greco-Roman world,
elaborated on self-care and self-cultivation as a form of individuality in the first and second volumes
of his work History of Sexuality.
20
over marriage/motherhood, encouraged young women to pursue a career and stand
their own feet financially so that they could also take the control of their own lives
and have a say in their choices at a time when parents and social circles were
involved in their decision-making, as well as the ideologies of the state which
prioritized maternal roles. The YWCA Istanbul also offered a different approach to
how women should take care of their bodies and minds. While the state constructed
its labor and health culture through maternal and nationalist politics, the YWCA’s
American staff promoted an understanding of physical self-care and sports as a part
of responsibility to one’s own self and happiness in the 1910s and 1920s.
The entire YWCA archives are located in the Sophia Smith Collection of
Women’s History at Smith College. Sophia Smith College’s archives on the
YWCA, biographical and research work of the YWCA staff will be used as main
primary sources, supplemented by the newspapers, the journals, statistics, and
books of the period.
21
CHAPTER II
BACKGROUND ON THE ISTANBUL YWCA
In a cosmopolitan, multiethnic and international hub like Istanbul, an urban woman
was not satisfied with being a member of only one club; like a kaleidoscope,
women’s memberships were multiple. It was through these associations that women
increased their public visibility and took social action. The characteristic of the
educated women who went to women’s clubs was to enter and exit different
associations, co-operate with other associations in social and economic terms, and
maintain productive interactions with each other despite having different goals. It
was thus not surprising that the YWCA secretary Clara L. Bissell, the executive
secretary of Stamboul YWCA Center, taught a course for free at Turkish Hearths,39
while another YWCA secretary Melika Emir was also involved in the same
association which ardently promoted nationalism.40 Other local organizations the
YWCA was in touch with included the Turkish Red Crescent, the Turkish
Women’s Union, orphanage foundations, hospitals, Constantinople College and
other schools in Istanbul as well as international civil and business organizations
39 Turkish Hearths [Türk Ocakları] was founded in 1912. Spreading Turkish nationalism was one of
the major goals of the association.
40 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.79, p.84, p.153.
22
such as the YMCA, the League of Nations, the American Red Cross, Near East
Relief, and other relief groups. This chapter highlights the cadre of the YWCA and
its multinational members, as well as providing background information on the
work of the YWCA. In a cosmopolitan city like Istanbul, where the population had
changed due to wars, the YWCA of the USA - by establishing an association in the
capital of the late Ottoman state – was no different than Istanbul itself in terms of
its multinational and multi-religious structure with its cadre and its members,
although from its establishment until 1930 the American staff was mainly in the
supervisory role in its centers.
This chapter also highlights that the YWCA staff, defining themselves more
broadmindedly than the ABCFM, conflicted with some of the members of the
ABCFM in issues involving women’s liberation in the public sphere. Another
reason the YWCA staff saw themselves as more broadminded than the ABCFM
was that the ABCFM did not have any local Board members. By recruiting Turkish
board members, the YWCA gave power to its local staff and put forth an effort to
be accepted as a women’s association rather than a religious one. The YWCA not
only recruited feminist and modern figures of the late Ottoman State and Early
Republican Turkey under its roof, but was also feminist in terms of political issues
by promoting consciousness regarding the suffrage issue through women like
Nakiye Elgün in the 1920s; in the 1930s, it lent full support to the IWSA. The
YWCA increased the number of Turkish Board members in the 1930s; a number of
them were key figures in the struggle for suffrage and were involved in advocating
the rights of women in education.
23
1. General Information on the YWCA
Social and physical mobility in Istanbul was remarkable in the early twentieth
century; the demographic structure of Istanbul was transformed during the war
years; it was a center for Muslim and non-Muslim refugees, immigrants from
Anatolia, locals, philanthropists, and relief workers. When these new settlers came
to Istanbul, they brought their mentalities, backgrounds and traditions with them,
making it distinctive city of interaction, a crossroads, in which one of the parties
was the YWCA of the USA.
The alleged claims of the de facto presence of the YWCA in Turkey could
be traced back to the speech given by A. H. Haigazian in 1893, saying that the
YWCA and the YMCA, as well as Christian Endeavor Societies had been
established.41 Yet, the idea of setting up an official YWCA branch in Turkey was
discussed only two decades later, in 1911 after the World’s Student Conference
which took place in Istanbul. In 1913, the National Board of the YWCA in the USA
directed two secretaries, Frances C. Gage and Anna C. Wells (Brown), to work in
Turkey, both in Istanbul and in the interior, contributing to war relief. Besides
Istanbul, the YWCA had secretaries in Merzifon, Harpoot, Sivas, Talas, as well as
local centres in Izmir and Adana, which were closed in 1922.42 The closure of the
Adana Center was due to political and economic reasons whereas the Izmir center
was closed due to a fire. The Istanbul YWCA’s Pera Center opened programs for
41 A. H. Haigazian, speech, “Have Missions in Turkey been a failure?” 1893. Haigazian was USeducated
missionary.
42 [White], “Summary History by Margaret White,” undated, p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC,
and “Memorandum on the Y.W.C.A. in the Near East,” September 27, 1926, microfilm reel 64, p.1,
YWCA-SSC.
24
young women in 1919; the Stamboul Center of the YWCA was set up in Beyazıt43
in 1921.44 During World War I, the YWCA had helped young women whose
families had fallen apart. The famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova’s sister was
one of them, losing her brothers, husband and her baby in the wars. On her way to
England, she reached Istanbul by boat in 1919. The YWCA offered her shelter and
protection.45 One of the YWCA’s branches, entitled Migration Service, also helped
refugees move to new cities, providing them with passports and tickets during the
Occupation period. The International Migration Service of the YWCA, opened in
1921, “[gave] friendly aid to women, children and families,” “[gave] practical
advice before they start on their journey, assisting them in securing passports and
tickets, providing information on emigration laws and customs of the country to
which they are going, helping locate lost friends or relatives, protecting girls
travelling alone.”46
Margaret White, who worked as the general secretary of the YWCA in the
late Ottoman State, coming to Istanbul in February 1919, noted that the first task of
the YWCA was to make a general survey regarding working women. Talking to
employed women and employers in stores on the Grande Rue de Pera, she found
43 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” Appendix B,
“Memorandum on the YWCA (1927),” p.21, Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, Record Group 5; “Report of
the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.32, Box 329 Folder 7, Record
Group 5. International work, YWCA of the U.S.A. records, Sophia Smith Collection MS324, Smith
College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts. (hereafter cited in text as Box number
Folder number RG number, YWCA-SSC)
44 [White], “Summary History by Margaret White,” undated, p.1, History section, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
45 “Copy of Miss Margaret White’s letter” to Miss Lyon, June 8, 1919, p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
46“Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.97, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC. In 1930, the Migration Bureau did not run any more although
assistance was provided in emergency cases. Maro Depanian of the YWCA’s Pera Center helped
with those cases, reporting to the Headquarters of the International Migration Service. Even in 1929,
the YWCA handled 36 migration cases, twenty-seven were completed during the year and nine still
awaiting completion”
25
out that many of them requested that the YWCA teach English. At least 100 girls
participated in evening lessons at Sommerville House, which White claimed
comprised “the nucleus of girls that immediately enrolled as members when the
Service Center was opened in June at 31 Rue Yemenidji.” Their work in Istanbul
“developed with great rapidity” once Carrie Young and two more secretaries joined
them in August 1919.47 From the start of the Istanbul YWCA, its Board, which
conducted the administration of the YWCA, consisted largely of American women
who were well educated, having graduated from well-known colleges and
universities; the majority of them had international teaching experience.48 In the
1930s, the number of Turkish Board members would increase.49 In a Progressive
era in which social activism was becoming the norm for women, the YWCA in
Turkey had humanitarian and philanthropic concerns which included raising funds
for children in orphanages and the poor, providing medical care such as treatment
for trachoma, accommodating travelers, sheltering female refugees, and even
providing them with official passports. The YWCA offered a range of courses and
programs from language learning to gymnastics, tennis, history, swimming, music,
literature, dancing, and reading classes. The YWCA also had groups such as drama,
citizenship, and art, and also sponsored organized recreational and educational
activities at schools, hospitals, factories, orphanages and playgrounds as well as
sending physical education teachers and leaders to orphanages and schools, all of
which contributed to urbanization in the late Ottoman and Turkish state. In 1924,
47 Notes to Appendix, p.156 in “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929
June, 1930,” Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
48 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.42, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
49 “Who’s Who-Board Members Istanbul Service Center, 1938-1939,” p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
26
securing an educational permit from the Turkish government, the YWCA continued
its work under the name of the American School of Language and Art (Amerikan
Lisan ve Sanat Dershanesi).50 In April 1933 budget restrictions led to the closure of
the Pera Center, while the Stamboul Center continued its work.51
New public areas such as libraries, YMCA centers, and playgrounds
emerged and were transformed as a result of urbanization. Considering the YMCA
as a “reform-oriented urban institution,” Thomas Winter in Making Men, Making
Class: The YMCA and Workingmen, 1877–1920, has stated that “Such spaces
played important roles in the attempts of urban, entrepreneurial elites and emerging
new, professional, managerial middle class to define themselves and their social
purpose and to give shape and direction to social change.” Emphasizing that urban
elites were eager to shape people’s behavior with such public spaces, he added that
they were also willing to transfer their cultural codes to cities that grew and spread
in an uncontrolled way. Middle-class professionals, bringing their skills and
knowledge to such institutes like the YMCA played a leading role in those public
spaces and contributed to the social transformation.52 The YWCA was not different
than the YMCA in terms of contributing to the urbanization and modernization of
the city. Working for the good of the community, the YWCA was an active agency
in shaping the city with their organizations in schools, orphanages, and hospitals.
During the late Ottoman state, the YWCA was not under any control of the state
which enabled them to act freely. They did not need any official permission to
50 It was recognized by the Turkish government as a private school, “dershane.” See “Report of the
Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.27.
51 “Summary History by Margaret White,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
52 Thomas Winter, Making Men, Making Class: The YMCA and Working Men, 1877-1920
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2002), 1-2.
27
operate whereas in the new Republic they would have to secure a permit from the
government.
2.2 The Cadre of the Istanbul YWCA
Frances C. Gage53 was one of the first secretaries of the Istanbul YWCA along with
Anna Welles Brown. Gage54 graduated from Carleton College, in Minnesota. She
had received teaching education and practiced her field in the United States. She
later wished to extend her work abroad. She chose Turkey over China to work as a
teacher. In 1890s, she worked at the Girl’s School in Merzifon, having learnt
Turkish quickly. After her teaching experience there, she returned to America to
work as the travelling secretary of the YWCA in centers including Oregon,
Washington, Idaho, and Montana.55 She came back to Turkey in 1913, this time as
a YWCA secretary with Anna Welles Brown. Anna Welles was a graduate of Bryn
Mawr College. She was involved in the British Student Movement and with the
British American work in Paris. She participated in the World’s Student Christian
Federation Conference in Constantinople in 1911.56 Dorothea Chambers Blaisdell
was also a graduate of Bryn Mawr College. However, she had been born in
53 Establishing the YWCA in Constantinople was vital for Gage, because the city had a strategic
importance, being that it was “the key to all Western Asia and always will be”, in her words. See
Frances C. Gage, Letter to Miss Spencer, January 8, 1916, p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
54 Gage had also an office at Bible House in Istanbul. Notes to Appendix, p.156 in “Report of the
Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5,
YWCA-SSC.
55 Elizabeth Wilson, The Road Ahead: Experiences in the Life of Frances C. Gage (New York: The
Women’s Press, 1918) 1–50.
56 Bryn Mawr Alumnae Quarterly vol. 7-8 1913–1915 V. 7-8 (Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr
Alumnae Association 1913–1915).
28
Erzurum in 1896. As someone born and raised in Turkey, she was effectively a
local, knowing the customs and languages of the Ottoman State. Speaking Turkish
fluently, she had also learned Greek and Armenian from her friends and French
from her private lessons. After completing her BA degree at Bryn Mawr and an
MA degree at Columbia University, she came to Adana and worked as the YWCA
secretary. Her father was William Nesbit Chambers who worked for the American
Board of Mission in Erzurum and Adana. Her mother, Cornelia Pond Williams
Chambers—who worked at Women’s College in Istanbul, was also “a missionary
daughter.”57 Another missionary daughter who worked at the YWCA in Turkey
was Margaret B. White. White’s father was George Edward White, the President of
Anatolia College. White was “familiar with the languages spoken of the country,”58
having spent “much of her youth” in the Ottoman State. Like Blaisdell, she went to
the United States for her education, and received her degree from Northfield
Seminary and the National Training School.59 Gage, Brown, Blaisdell and White
were not the only YWCA secretaries who had graduated from well-regarded
schools. From the beginning, its Board, which conducted the administration of the
YWCA, consisted largely of American women.60 These women in the main had
international teaching experience,61 in China, the Americas, and India.62 By the late
57 She had mentioned that the ancient history courses she had attended at the university broadened
her perspective and understanding of the history of her hometown Adana. Missionary Daughter:
Witness to the End of the Ottoman Empire (Author House, July 29, 2002), v–19.
58E. Dodge Huntington, “In Constantinople during the War,” [reprinted from Women's International
Quarterly] (1919), The Muslim World, 10: 36–41.
59Young Women's Christian Association of the U.S.A. War Work Council. War Work Bulletin (New
York, N.Y.: The Council, 1917–1919).
60 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.42, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
61 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.42, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
62 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.50
Box 329 Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
29
1920s, three board members of the YWCA were Turkish while the administration
related to finance and management was mostly American.63 “Aims for 1930”
included having “more non-American members” on the committees.64 The
Turkification of the YWCA directory board of Turkey then increased in the
1930s.65
The YWCA also had picked Board members who made contribution to the
feminist movement in Turkey. Nakiye Elgün, a leading figure regarding female’s
education, was one of them; she served as an Honorary Board member of the
YWCA in the 1920s.66 According to Zihnioğlu, Elgün was not truly a feminist
because she was not sufficiently committed to the fight for women’s suffrage.67
Elgün was a feminist, however, promoting suffrage education at the YWCA in the
years before the right to vote in national elections and be elected was granted to
women in December of 1934. For YWCA use, she prepared materials concerning
the right to vote and definitions of citizenship since she defended that it was “the
responsibility of an individual” to cast the ballot.68 The YWCA was also feminist,
promoting women’s consciousness regarding the suffrage issue through women like
Elgün. She herself was one of the first women to be elected to parliament in the
1930s. Latife Bekir [Çeyrekbaşı] and Lamia [Refik] Fenmen, both of whom served
63 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.146, Part 2 Box
330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
64 Constantinople Service Centers Rules and Regulations for Board of Directors Adopted May 15,
1929, p.31, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
65 Constantinople Service Centers Rules and Regulations for Board of Directors Adopted May 15,
1929, p.8, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. The YWCA in 1929 had to require the secretaries to
obtain “a character or good conduct certificate secured from the Imam of the district which she
resides[d] in.” The Imam had to approve whether the secretary was “of good moral character and
leads an orderly life.” Constantinople Service Centers Rules and Regulations for Board of Directors
Adopted May 15, 1929, p.8, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
66 Clara L. Bissell, “Annual Report, Jan. 1, 1931,” pp.1–6, reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
67 Yaprak Zihnioğlu, Kadınsız Inkılap: Nezihe Muhiddin, Kadınlar Halk Fırkası, Kadın Birliği
(Istanbul: Metis Yayınları, 2003), 58–59.
68 Bissell, “Annual Report, Jan. 1, 1931,” pp.1–6.
30
on the directory Board of the suffrage-focused Turkish Women’s Union, joined as
Board members of the Istanbul YWCA in the 1930s. Latife Bekir was a supporter
of both education rights for women and suffrage; she was “interested in all kinds of
social work” engaged in “the child welfare organization and mothers union as well
as the [YWCA] Center.”69 Lamia Fenmen served as the vice-president of the Board
of the YWCA70 and “[learnt] much through her experience at the [YWCA] Service
Center, which she [used] in the other organizations,” including serving as a delegate
to the [International] Woman Suffrage Alliance Conference.71 The YWCA staff
lent full support to women’s suffrage by participating in the IWSA.72 Tezer
(Ağaoğlu) Taşkıran, head of the Turkish Normal School, became a board member
of the YWCA in 1936;73 and later served as the deputy of Kastamonu and Kars.
One decade later, her sister Süreyya Ağaoğlu, known as the first Turkish female
lawyer who successfully demanded that the law faculty be opened to women,
would also work at the YWCA.74 Belkıs Halim Vassaf, the sister of Zekeriya Sertel,
69 She was married to “post master general at Ankara [sic].” See “Who’s Who-Board Members,”
Istanbul Service Center, 1938–1939, p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
70 “Who’s Who-Board Members, Istanbul Service Center, 1938–1939,” p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
71 Istanbul Service Center, “Leadership” [“General file for more detailed confidential report
prepared for Miss Lyon for her trip July 1934 by M. B. White”], microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
“Lamia Hanim- has been active on the Board and Activities Committee since the fall of 1932.
Chairman of the latter since Mehlika Hanim resigned. She is prominent among Turkish women
leaders through being Vice-President of the Kadin Birli[ğ]I [sic] (Women’s Union) and on the
Hunayi Etfal [sic] (Child Welfare Board) [sic]. She was one of four women voting delegates at
the Balkan Union in Istanbul , the fall of 1931, also a delegate to the Woman’s suffrage Alliance
Conference in April 1933. She is learning much through her experience at the Service Center, which
she uses in the other organizations.”
72 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “The International Suffrage Alliance Congress, Istanbul, April 18–25, 1935,”
Box 35, Folder 6, Series IV Writings: Publication and Reports, Miscellaneous 1935–46, n.d.,
YWCA-SSC.
73 “Turkey Community Folder: New Board Members,” October 10, 1936, reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
74 “Boğazların Müdafaası: Amerikada [sic] bulunan Süreyya Ağaoğlu’nun basına beyanatı,”
Cumhuriyet, January 2, 1947, 1–3.
31
was affiliated with the Stamboul Center of the YWCA in 1929–1930.75 Vassaf —
who had graduated from American College for Girls, Turkish Normal School and
Istanbul University, and worked as a teacher—served as Vice President in Board
members of the YWCA Istanbul from 1938–1939.76 Sabiha Sertel, a prominent
feminist, journalist and the wife of Zekeriya Sertel, interacted with YWCA’s
Stamboul Committee in the 1920s.77 Nermin Muvaffak [Menemencioğlu], whose
father, Ahmet Muvaffak Menemencioğlu, was one of the Young Ottoman leaders
and Namık Kemal’s grandson, worked at the YWCA as an English teacher from
1929–1930.78 She was a graduate of the American Girls’ College and Brown
University. Nebahat Karaorman, Director of the Department of Education at the
Turkish Normal School, served as the Chairman of the Education Committee of the
YWCA.79 A socialist and a prominent figure of the Labor Party, Behice Sadık
Boran, had participated in training activities of the YWCA during her studies in
university. Although she was “not on service committee,” she “came to Michigan
University to study for Physical director fall of 1934 [sic.]”80 She would later
become one of the key figures in labor history in Turkey.81
75 Appendix D Personnel, “Stamboul Center 1929–1930,” p.38–40 in “Report of the Service
Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCASSC.
76 “Who’s Who-Board Members, Istanbul Service Center, 1938–1939,” p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
77 “In 1921, Nakie [sic] Hanum was a member of Stamboul Committee, also Madame Houshed Bey
(on the camp commitee in 1928 and so continued her interest to that date at least) and Madame
Zacheriah [sic] Bey (husband, editor of Resimli Ay, but Madame Z. has not been interested or active
of late years).” See Notes to Appendix, p.159 in “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey.
November, 1929-June, 1930,” Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
78 Appendix D Personnel, “Stamboul Center 1929–1930,” p.38–40 in “Report of the Service
Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCASSC.
Her name was written as Nermine Mouvafak in the YWCA’s primary sources.
79 “Who’s Who-Board Members, Istanbul Service Center, 1938–1939,” p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
80 Istanbul Service Center, “Training,” undated, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
81 She wrote a book entitled Turkey and the Problems of Socialism in 1968. She became a member
of Worker’s Party of Turkey in the early 1960s. She was associated with union leaders and
contributed to political awareness by encouraging workers to join the labor party.
32
Taking into consideration that the international and interreligious structure
of the YWCA was like Istanbul itself, a cultural melting pot, where different
ethnicities interacted with each other,82 and in which many layers of interaction had
to be taken into consideration. As for the local staff at the YWCA, a number of
them had graduated from Constantinople Woman’s College including Maro
Depanian, Sona Depanian, Aishe Said, Meliha Ali, Araxie Mukdjian, Nezihe
Shevky, Louise Mamigonian, Philomela Carabashoglu, and Nermino Salih. There
were also a number of local staff who had graduated from the Greek Central School
and the American College in Smyrna.83 Eunice Panousis, a Greek woman who had
graduated from the American School for Girls in Izmir, was the librarian of the
YWCA. Helen Kalaydjoglou, who had graduated from one of the top Greek lycées
in Istanbul and also had Greek origins, worked as an assistant teacher in the typing
and stenography classes, including in English ones. Maro Depanian, an Armenian
college graduate, was one of the best stenographers of the YWCA, and also worked
in migration and commercial work. Aishe [Ayşe] Said was Turkish and had
graduated from Constantinople College; she worked at the Information desk as well
as dealing with translation and interpretation.84 The YWCA was eager to train
young women and then have them employed at the YWCA as staff. However, the
YWCA’s American staff observed that in the early years of the association, “those
young women “[were] not accustomed to carry responsibility and must go through
a long period of individual training.” The YWCA was willing to “turn a gymnastic
82 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul Turkey,” Confidential, November 1929-June 1930,” p.
43, Box 329, International Work Folder 7, YWCA-SSC.
83 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul Turkey,” Confidential, November 1929-June 1930,” p.
43, Box 329, International Work Folder 7.
84 “Constantinople Service Centers January 1928,” p.10, Woodsmall Box 63 Folder 11, Series V.
Professional Activities: YWCA, Post-WWI, Field Surveys, Near East, Reports, Interim,1921–1928,
YWCA-SSC.
33
class over to the local members of the staff.” However, young women, lacking
confidence and distrusting their training still wanted American secretaries to teach
those classes. Eventually, however, they would accept the responsibility to conduct
classes and even surpassed the American secretaries in the number of students.85 A
number of local staff in the 1920s reflected that they had limited power regarding
final decision making in the staff meetings when compared to the American
secretaries.86 Although English was spoken, local secretaries lifted the language
barrier in the association; Vartanoush Parounakian, who worked at the Center, was
Armenian;87 Mehlika Emir, who worked like a social worker, was Turkish.88 There
was a notable number of the American staff speaking Turkish as well.
The Istanbul YWCA did not send delegates to the world conferences in the
late 1920s and also was not connected to world movements of the YWCA.89 The
operating difference of the institution according to the geographical region was
obvious. Mehlika Emir was quite surprised when she was sent to a conference in
Romania by the YWCA. Her remarks on the conference showed that the activities
of the YWCA in neighboring countries could differ dramatically based on the
region, as another YWCA staff of Istanbul noted that “[Mehlika] found how very
different the type of the development of the Association program was in each of
these countries.” After her conversation with the YWCA staff from neighboring
countries, Mehlika became aware that in describing the actions of the YWCA
85 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.75, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
86 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.50, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
87 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.75- 79, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
88 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.79, p.84, p.153
Box 329 Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC. “She [Mehlika Emir] is assisted in her work by a half-time
secretary, who is at present on six months’ trial.”
89 “Report of the Service Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” p.53
34
globally in over-general terms, one would miss the unique contributions the YWCA
made in each country. The question which occupied her mind was “if there were
such differences in countries so close to Turkey, how much greater differences
there must be in countries further removed?” The conference made her realize “the
diversity of their work.”90
2.3. Members
The statistics of the YWCA members in Istanbul were recorded, unlike those of the
members from Anatolia. Registrants’ ages usually ranged from 16–31 years and
above.91 The number of Muslims was low in the Pera Center at the beginning of
the association while in Stamboul Center of the YWCA it was high. In the late
1920s, in the Stamboul center of the YWCA the majority of the registrants were
Turkish and Muslim whereas in Pera center Armenians, Greeks and Jews
90“Annual Report, Confidential, Part II, Genevieve Lowry, General Secretary of Service Centers,
Istanbul, Turkey, From September 1929–1930,” p.3, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
91 In November 1920, 16–19 years old registered members was 400 out of 870 whereas the number
of women who were 20-24 years old was 266, and 25–30 years old was 130, and age 31 and above
was 71. Only three people were 15 year olds. See “Membership Report, Service Center Y.W.C.A.,
Constantinople, Report of November, November, 1920,” microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. It should
be kept in mind that the data excluded mothers who attended the YWCA. Moreover, the YWCA
reached different age range of girls and women through their activities in colleges, schools of
Istanbul. In the late 1920s, 13–31 years and above also attended the Centers. Acting under the name
of Amerikan Sanat ve Lisan Dershanesi, the regulations of the YWCA made clear that for taking
classes, one should not be under 12 and “Those who wish to be registered have to bring Birth,
Vaccination and health certificates.” Constantinople Service Centers Rules and Regulations for
Board of Directors Adopted May 15, 1929, p.8. Girl Guide Group of the YWCA, which wanted
them to train them in being leaders of troups, was organized for girls under 16 years old. In January,
1928, the number of 13–16 year olds were 70 in Stamboul Center and 137 in Pera Center while the
number of 17–20 year olds were 47 in Stamboul Center and 268 in Pera Center; the number of 20–
30 year olds were 51 in Stamboul Center and 139 in Pera Center, the number of women who were
over 30 were 15 in Stamboul Center and 71 in Pera Center. The total number of members was 798,
consisting of 183 Stamboul members and 615 Pera Members in 1928 January. See Clara L. Bissell,
“Constantinople Service Centers. January, 1928,” pp.17–18, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
35
outnumbered the number of Turks. Over the years, deportations caused a decline in
the number of Armenians. In 1921, in the Stamboul Service Center (which excludes
the Pera Center and unregistered participants), out of 165 members, there were 72
Turks, 37 Armenians, and 32 Greeks. The rest included Americans, Russians,
Tartars, Jews, and Albanians. There were 80 Muslims, 32 Orthodox Christians, 22
Protestants, 27 Gregorians, 4 Catholics, and 2 Jewish people.92 The number of
Greeks in the association increased compared to the number of Armenians by the
end of 1921 due to the Greek press praising the YWCA’s work in their
newspapers.93 According to March 29, 1922 report, in two years’ time, the total
number of members reached 3096, excluding unregistered members.94 This data
gives a picture of the ethnicities of registrants although unregistered members were
not recorded:
Annual Statistics Jan. 1- Dec. 31, 1929 95
1.Turkish citizens
Stamboul Center Pera Center Total
Turk Mother tongue 114 39 153
Armenian Mother tongue 59 117 176
Greek 46 131 177
Syrian 1 1
Bulgarian 2 2 2
Georgian 4 4 4
Israelite 1 61 62
Albanian 1 1
Guldanie [sic]96 1 1
Total Turkish Citizens 227 352 579
92 “Report of Miss Clara Bissell, Secretary of the Stamboul Service Center, May 1 to December1,
1921,” microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
93 “Report of Miss Margaret B. White, General Secretary, from January thru’ November 1921,” p.1,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
94 “Facts About the Y.W.C.A. In Constantinople,” March 29, 1922, microfilm reel 64, YWCA-SSC.
95 “Report of the Service Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” p.57–8, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
96 In the primary source, this is written as Guldanie. Since there is not a word or nationality like this,
what Guldanie represents is unclear and unknown. The word might mean Dutch since “gulden”
mean monetary unit of Holland.
36
2. Non-Turkish Citizens
Stamboul Center Pera Center Total
American 7 10 17
English 8 8
Greek 6 35 41
Italian 12 12
Russian 1 13 14
Bulgarian 1 1
Roumanian 2 2
French 3 3
German 2 2
Persian 4 1 5
Austrian 1 2 3
Spanish 3 3
Czechoslovak 1 1
Hungarian 1 1
Dutch 2 2
Polish 1 1
Syrian 1 1
Asyrrian 1 1
Total non-Turkish citizens 20 98 118
Some of the mothers of the registrants used to be cautious when they heard the
name of the YWCA. However, in the late 1920s, an increasing number of mothers
of the participants also attended the weekly recreational programs of the YWCA,97
including lectures, concerts and tea parties.98 Compared to earlier years, the
increase in the number of mothers attending showed that the YWCA was earning
the trust of mothers, even on the Anatolian side of Istanbul.99 Mothers of YWCA
members were not registered members, but they could attend the social activities
97 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.79, p.84, p.153
Box 329 Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC. “She [Mehlika Emir] is assisted in her work by a half-time
secretary, who is at present on six months’ trial.”
98 “Report of the Service Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” p.61, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
99 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.79, p.84, p.153
Box 329 Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC. “She [Mehlika Emir] is assisted in her work by a half-time
secretary, who is at present on six months’ trial.”
37
and trainings of the association just like official members.100 Moreover, some
mothers requested that the YWCA provide information on school children’s
problems.101 Along with providing personal help to mothers, such as how to take
care of a child and knowledge on municipal rights, recreational activities were also
offered.102 Mothers benefited from the information that their daughters learned in
the YWCA courses as the girls would pass education on to their mothers. An
example of this was a girl who taught her mother the new Latin-based Turkish
alphabet.103 The YWCA reported: “Even when the mothers do not come to the
Center, they know what their daughters are doing there and are interested in it. One
mother showed us her notebook: her daughter is learning the new Turkish
characters at the Center, and teaching them to her at night.”104 In the YWCA,
Mehlika Emir was “extremely popular not only with the girls but also with their
mothers who often come to her with their special problems.”105 Phoebe Clary was
also among the mothers’ favorites. Speaking Turkish very well, she interacted with
100 “Report of the Service Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” p.61, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
101 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.91, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC. For mothers, how to take care of a child was one of the courses given
at Stamboul Center: “One of the aims stated, ‘to discover and provide classes and activities which
would interest adults,’ has been partially realized through a course on child care given at Stamboul
Center for Turkish mothers. This course grew out of a remark made by İsmail Hakki Bey (the head
of the Educational Department of Stamboul University), when he attended the Stamboul Publicity
tea. Talks with Nakie [sic] Hanım (outstanding Turkish woman educationalist) revealed that such a
course had never been given before. She stated that various Turkish organizations, such as the
Himaye Etfal, the Red Crescent, the Kadin Birligi [sic], had given lectures to mothers, but that no
outlined course giving opportunity for discussion had been given and that there was a real need for
such a course.” Ibid., p.92.
102 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.152, Part 2
Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
103 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November 1929-June 1930,” 94–95, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
104 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.94–95, Box
329 Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC. One of the things the YWCA contributed to Mustafa Kemal’s
westernization politics by spreading Latin based alphabet to women.
105 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.79, p.84, p.153
Box 329 Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC. “She [Mehlika Emir] is assisted in her work by a half-time
secretary, who is at present on six months’ trial.”
38
families and went to their homes, gaining their trust and confidence.106 Special
occasions, including weekly Tuesday gatherings, were open to participants’ friends,
families and other members of the community.107
2.4. Non-religious definitions, and difference between missionaries and the
YWCA
The YWCA staff emphasized that the membership policy had nothing to do with
religion:
There had always been a Service Center membership which was never upon
a religious basis but upon one of interest and participation in the activities of
the program offered by the Centers. In other words, it has been always
practically as we have it today except that we now call the girls
registrants.108
According to another report, converting people into Christianity was not the main
goal of the YWCA:
We have an enrollment of 773 in the two centers. The girls represent 19
nationalities and 6 religious groups. Of the total, 650 are Turkish citizens
and an increasing number are Moslem Turks. Our non-proselytizing
program of education and service, with its stress on good citizenship and
‘abundant’ personal living makes an ever growing appeal. The secretarial
staff together with teachers makes a group of thirty, would you see us! We
are Turks, Americans, Armenians, Greeks, German, French, Circassian,
Egyptian-Persian. I use to think we were apt to become sentimental over
“living our internationalism” but when I see us all together and know our
mutual interest and co-operation I realize that perhaps these unostentatious
Service Centers where we all pull together are a great and needed
106 Mehlika Emir to Miss Lyon, “(Copy) A letter from A Stamboul Leader (Not for publication)”
January 21, 1930, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC and “Report of the Service Centers Istanbul,
Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” p.61, Box 329 Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
107 “Annual Report, January 1, 1931, Clara L. Bissell, not for publication,” microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
108 Notes to Appendix, p.155 in “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-
June, 1930,” Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
39
contribution to this country, just now. In them Greek, Armenian and Turk
have shared joys and common interests with mutual respect and even
trust.109
As aforementioned, by declaring that the YWCA in Istanbul did not have a
religious mission,110 the YWCA staff highlighted women’s liberation in their aims
despite being confused with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions [ABCFM] by prejudices in Turkey:
A discussion group started by Miss Florence Wilson under the suspices [sic]
of the International Institute for Peace and Education, has led to many
Turkish contacts. The women have been very frank in saying that they
wished nothing to do with the Y.W.C.A. because of the “C” in the name.
They said that the feeling was wide-spread that regardless of the name we
go under, we are the Y.W.C.A and are interested in spreading Christian
influence in Turkey. There have been many frank talks on the matter which,
from our point of view, have been rather disheartening because it makes one
realize how deeply entrenched are the old prejudices and how unwilling are
the women to even consider what advantages an international women’s
movement might have.111
The YWCA identified itself as totally different and independent from the ABCFM
missionaries, finding them “narrower” in mentality in a number of different cases,
although they did contact and collaborate with them occasionally.112 The tendency
to draw the line between the missionary workers and the YWCA workers can be
109 Genevieve Lowry, Memo, “Constantinople February 1, 1929,” microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
110 Notes to Appendix, p.155, in “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929.
June, 1930,” Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
111 “Constantinople Service Centers Rules and Regulations for Board of Directors Adopted May 15,
1929,” p.25–26, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. The YWCA also cared about what officials
thought about them: “There seems to be a change in the kind of missionaries coming out to Turkey.
In the past, thirty years ago, missionaries had given wrong ideas of Turkey. The newer ones were
fair to Turkey, but perhaps still influenced by the older ones. The new ones were more interested in
helping Turkey and less in narrower religious work,” said a VIP in Ankara. See Appendix B,
“Supplementary Memorandum on Interviews with the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of
Education held at Angora, February 18, 1930,”in “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey.
November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.29 Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
112 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Report on Visit to Near East Centers,” April 1921, p.10,
Box 63, Folder 7–11, Series V. Professional Activities, Ruth Woodsmall Papers, YWCA-SSC.
40
seen in the reports of the YWCA’s secretaries. The Board’s contribution to the
YWCA was summarized in these lines: “The rapid development of the Y.W.C.A. in
the Near East has been in large measure due to the long period of preparation by the
missionaries. However there have been no direct pieces of cooperation carried on
with the Mission, and although in close connection, the Y.W.C.A. acts quite
independently.”113 While a few members of the Association were indeed
participants of the Board, the YWCA considered itself, in its own description, as
“an absolutely independent organization on its own feet.”114 In 1929, “On the whole
it has been decided that it might be wiser not to try to have American Board women
become members of the Centers, as it makes for confusion in their minds as to their
status in the work.”115 Clara L. Bissell, executive secretary of Stamboul YWCA
Center, called attention to the fact that the YWCA was different from the ABCFM
since they had Turkish members on their board, which made them “a little broader
in our [their] attitude.”116
The YWCA secretary Dorothea Chambers Blaisdell, who worked in the
Adana YWCA in the 1920s,117 whose parents were missionaries, shared her
concerns about the ABCFM because she observed that it limited the social freedom
of young women. As a non-Turkish woman born in Erzurum in 1896, she witnessed
the last stages of the Hamidian Period, World War I and the Early Republican
113“A short history of Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Activities in Turkey,”
(Istanbul: The Isis Press, 2006). Rifat N. Bali published the primary source.
114 “A short history of Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Activities in Turkey,”
(Istanbul: The Isis Press, 2006).
115 “Constantinople Service Centers Rules and Regulations for Board of Directors Adopted May 15,
1929,” p.25, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
116 “Copy of Letter To Miss Lyon from Clara L. Bissell, March 16, 1932,” p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
117 She had mentioned that the ancient history courses she had attended at the university broadened
her perspective and understanding of the history of her hometown Adana. Dorothea C. Blaisdell,
Missionary Daughter: Witness to the End of the Ottoman Empire (s.l.:AuthorHouse, 2002), v–19.
41
Period. His father’s circle included the Turkish Minister of Marine Djemal Bey,
the Governor of the city, the principal and many other influential people of the
city.
Upon her arrival in Adana where she began her work in the YWCA, she
realized the missionaries’ dissatisfaction about the new workers in their circle, who
in their eyes had begun carrying on the missionary endeavor without the missionary
tradition they had so long been loyal to. To give such an example of the oldergeneration
missionaries’ concerns, she offered up Miss Webb, the principal and
housekeeper of the girls’ school, who was critical upon hearing a rumor. Someone
who worked at the ABCFM told a story about a native nurse being out with one of
the American staff in the Near Relief Ford until midnight and another American
staff member was seen drunk. In Miss Webb’s opinion, such an event was highly
disappointing; she strongly disapproved of it because it was against her moral laws
well as her traditional missionary understanding. Blaisdell believed that the old
circle of missionaries condemned such things as they felt angry at “the fall of the
idol of American purity,” associating it with Christianity. As a missionary daughter
herself and as someone who worked at the YWCA, she wished to stand out not as
William’s daughter but with her professional identity, she emphasized that the
YWCA was fundamentally different than missionary work:
And to the community outside the missionary circle I was still the Badveli’s
[William Chambers’s] daughter. But I came back to Adana as Y.W.C.A.
Secretary, not as Badveli’s daughter. I was an adult representing an
American organization which was allied but not identified with missionary
work, and this was especially important point. To many in America such
fine points may seem overdrawn, but there were things of weight involved
in this differentiation. When I reached Adana, the crux of the matter seemed
42
to lie in the fact that Y.W. secretaries could dance and Near East Relief
workers did dance, but missionaries did not! 118
Blaisdell’s father approved of her participation in dance in the States for dancing
there was not seen as an immoral activity unlike in the late Ottoman State, or so he
claimed. For that reason, he was uncomfortable with her dancing in the late
Ottoman State, as he assessed that in a Middle Eastern country which had “rigid sex
taboos,” dancing would be interpreted in a negative and immoral way. Her father
was disappointed by the fact that she had later defied him on this issue. Unwilling
to see his daughter dancing and thus participating in an activity he did not believe
suitable, he deliberately avoided such parties which the missionary groups, Near
East Relief and the YWCA attended from time to time. Her mother was not
disturbed by her choice, in Blaisdell’s words; “she thoroughly enjoyed watching
what had always been forbidden fruit.” Blaisdell revealed that her French circle
living in Adana had a difficult time in evaluating the YWCA secretaries’
understanding of “Protestant sectarian morals.” She further described the distinction
that “We Y.W. secretaries would not smoke and we would not drink, but we would
dance and play bridge.” She was quite surprised when she was classified as a nun
by a hostess from her French circle due to her abstention from alcohol.119
Blaisdell, in the Adana YWCA, organized recreational activities for young
women both in factories and schools. Having a club composed of around sixty girls
at the American school with limited equipment, they had managed to create
enjoyable activities, such as playing basketball without actual baskets. Basketball
118 Local people might call her father as Badvelli, mispronouncing Blaisdell. Dorothea C. Blaisdell,
Missionary Daughter: Witness to the End of the Ottoman Empire (s.l.:AuthorHouse, 2002), 147–
148.
119 Blaisdell, Missionary Daughter: Witness to the End of the Ottoman Empire, 147–56.
43
was not a threat for the American Board of Missionaries, as dancing was. There
was to be a dramatization of Cinderella, commissioned by Blaisdell, which the girls
would perform in the YWCA’s factory center. Her account showed that the
YWCA’s performance had to be cancelled because of the conservative views of the
older missionaries at the American school- they were disturbed by a scene in which
Cinderella would dance. They prevented the dramatization from going forward, and
opposed Blaisdell’s encouraging the girls towards dancing, much to her chagrin.120
2.5. Conclusion
The Istanbul YWCA’s cadre and members had a multinational and multi-religious
structure much like the city itself. The YWCA brought women from different
backgrounds under one umbrella, providing a platform and an opportunity to share
their opinions at a time the nationalism was gaining momentum in women
movements in Turkey. The YWCA also penetrated into other associations in
Istanbul by teaching courses or recruiting members from them. The YWCA’s
Board and administration were primarily drawn from the American staff in the
1920s, while in the 1930s, the number of the Turkish Board members increased.
The YWCA of the USA picked American staff who had graduated from Ivy League
colleges to work. In parallel, the American staff in Istanbul picked local staff who
were well-educated, and recruited Board members who had been key feminists,
120 Dorothea C. Blaisdell, Missionary Daughter: Witness to the End of the Ottoman Empire, 148–
71.
44
suffragists, and leading figures in education of the late Ottoman State and Early
Republican Turkey. The influence of feminism was evident among the Board
members. The YWCA’s American staff would fight for suffragism through
recruiting figures like Nakiye Elgün in the 1920s, and Latife Bekir and Lamia Refik
Fenmen in the 1930s. The YWCA was more than a relief or philanthropist group in
the late Ottoman context and the Early Republican Turkey, supporting women’s
liberation in politics, as well as women’s social liberation such as dancing. As a
background chapter, also revealing this side of the YWCA is crucial in terms of
understanding that the YWCA was a feminist association in Istanbul.
45
CHAPTER III
THE YWCA AND FEMALE FACTORY WORKERS IN
ANATOLIA
This chapter argues that outside Istanbul, specifically in Merzifon, Adana, Sivas
and Izmir, the YWCA had a chance to interact with female factory workers and
focused on improving their poor labor conditions. In Istanbul, however, interacting
with only a small number of women working in factories, the YWCA had to
develop different strategies compared to those they followed in these other centers;
in Istanbul, they directed their focus towards creating jobs for them first. This
chapter therefore brings out the efforts of the YWCA secretaries for improving the
conditions of employees at tobacco and textile factories as well as contributing to
women’s employment in the lace industry, contacting the managers of the factories
to provide better wages and workhours for female factory workers. Without
organizing workers, the YWCA chose to play an intermediary role between the
managers of companies and female factory workers with the goal of improving the
rights of workers.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Committee of Union and
Progress inherited an economy from Abdülhamid which was characterized by
dependence on foreign capital, running up large debts to foreign countries and the
46
capitulations, which all caused the Ottoman economy to suffer financially.121 After
World War I and the Independence War, the impoverished state would require
significant economic leaps.122 The Ottoman economy’s lifeblood was agriculture;
the industrial life was minimum and quite “underdeveloped,” and so the weather
also played a major role in making profit. In a state where industry was minor, to
choose a job in the industrial sector was difficult for men but especially for
women.123 Mustafa Kemal and his circle thus inherited this underdeveloped
industry from the CUP. Korkut Boratav wrote, “A typical symptom of industrial
backwardness is revealed by symbolization of the slogan of “three whites” as the
Republican’s Turkey’s first industrialization move.” These three whites were
cotton, sugar and flour. The lack of industrial inheritance showed itself in how
hopes were placed in agricultural products such as sugar and flour as having the
potential to develop industry.124
The Ottoman State did not experience the industrial revolution in a similar
way to America or Europe. Some historians have pointed out that the proletariat did
not come into a noticeable existence in the Ottoman State, and this they never
united or came up with a socialist agenda.125 The Ottoman State’ which did not
have a huge number of people working in factories, had a low number of working
women as well as lacking laborer neighborhoods with poor living conditions.
121 Korkut Boratav, Türkiye İktisat Tarihi 1908–2015 (Ankara: İmge Kitabevi, 2019), 24th edition,
21–25.
122 Mahfi Eğilmez, Değişim Sürecinde Türkiye: Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e Sosyo-Ekonomik Bir
Değerlendirme (Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi, 2018), 118.
123 Kadir Yıldırım, Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler (Istanbul:
İletişim, 2013), 84.
124 Korkut Boratav, Türkiye İktisat Tarihi 1908–2015 (Ankara: İmge Kitabevi, 2019), 24th edition,
21–2.
125 Y. Doğan Çetinkaya and Mehmet Ö. Alkan, eds., Tanzimat’tan Günümüze Türkiye İşçi Sınıfı
Tarihi 1839–2014 Yeni Yaklaşımlar, Yeni Alanlar, Yeni Sorunlar (Istanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt
Yayınları, 2015), 9.
47
Istanbul was characterized by artisans and shopkeepers rather than “industrial
workers.”126 In addition to the scarcity of industrial job opportunities, the Ottoman
society had a strong prejudice against the very concept of women’s work due to its
traditional gender roles. Men were usually the breadwinners.127
In the Second Constitutional period, non-Muslims merchants and tradesmen
benefited from liberalism and the politics of economic openness, while Muslim
artisans and craftsmen could not compete with them. A high number of merchants
were non-Muslims whereas the artisans and craftsmen tended to be Muslims. After
the Balkan Wars, the CUP favored a nationalist attitude in the economy, supporting
Muslim artisans and craftsmen. To fuel the Muslims’ business, Muslims were
called to stop shopping at non-Muslim groceries in 1913 and 1914. Moreover, more
than 450 Muslim groceries were opened to support Muslim trade.128
In 1913 and 1915, outside of Istanbul and Izmir, there were only 10
industrial enterprises in the food sector. In Izmir, the number of industrial
enterprises in food was 23 and in Istanbul it was 43. In 1913 and 1915, the number
of soil, leather, wood and stationary industrial enterprises were non-existent in the
Ottoman State with the exception of Istanbul and Izmir. By contrast, the number of
weaving industry enterprises (excluding Izmir and Istanbul) was 55 in Anatolia in
1913 and 1915, and thus weaving was one of the main enterprises in Anatolia,
126 Paul Ginsborg, Family Politics: Domestic Life, Devastation and Survival 1900–1950 (New
Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2014), 84–87. What contributed to shaping the Ottoman
artisan was the concept of the “ümmet” (the Islamic community) and neighborhoods (mahalle)
where low and high classes both lived together. At least ten streets which was located around the
mosque would form a mahalle (neighborhood) in which social life would be shaped by the mosque
(religious festivals or events), hamam (public bath) and the coffee houses, as suggested by Ginsborg.
Coffeehouses was a male’s sphere where women could not be a part of whereas hamam was open
for both sexes (men’s and women’s areas were separate). Women mixed socially with other females
in hamams. It was a popular spot for talking about potential husband candidates for families.
127 Yıldırım, Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler, 84–85.
128 Zafer Toprak, Türkiye’de Milli İktisat 1908–1918 (Istanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları,
2019), 8–11. The book was first printed in 1982.
48
although it still employed only a negligible portion of the population. In 1913, the
number of people who worked in the weaving industry was 7,765 in total, declining
to 6,763 by 1915.129 To put these figures into context, in 1914, 14,450,217 million
people lived in Anatolia.130
From 1913 to 1915, while the number of female factory workers in
munition sector was growing, the number of women who worked at munition
factories was still quite low in the Ottoman state. However, the number of female
factory workers in manufacture industry saw an increase of up to 30 percent. In
1915, Urfa experienced strong demand for female workers in the stocking industry;
the sources indicate that 1,000 women were involved in that kind of work there.
Another popular location where women were employed in stocking factories was
Adana. She added that “there were … 4,780 [women] in carpet making in Izmir,
Sivas, Ankara and Konya (including Akşehir, Isparta, and Niğde); 11,000 in textile
manufacturing in Aydın; and 1,550 textile workers in Kütayha, Eskişehir, and
Karahisar-ı Sâhib.” Women were employed in factories in Kocaeli out of necessity
during the war, and women were also employed in the weaving industry in
Diyarbakır.131 Women worked in the rug workshops of Oriental Carpet Ltd. in
Izmir, Sivas, Burdur, Isparta, Urla, Maraş, and Adana.132 Women who worked full
time at textile and soap factories earned much less than male workers, receiving one
129 Tevfik Güran, Resmi İstatistiklere Göre Osmanlı Toplum ve Ekonomisi (Istanbul: Türkiye
İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2017), 344–351.
130 Servet Mutlu, “Son Dönem Osmanlı Nüfusu Ve Etnik Dağılımı,” Nüfusbilim Dergisi 25 (2016):
3–38.
131 Elif Mahir Metinsoy, Ottoman Women during World War I: Everyday Experiences, Politics, and
Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 120–121. Selanik was among the cities
where noticeable number of women worked in tobacco industry in the late 1890s. See Yıldırım,
Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler, 88-89. Selanik was lost in
1912 and was no longer a part of the Ottoman Empire.
132 A. Gündüz Ökçün, (prep. by) Ottoman Industry Industrial Census of 1913, 1915, Historical
Statistics Series Volume 4, (Ankara: Devlet İstatistik Enstitüsü, 1997), 116.
49
half the pay. Women were paid 4–6 kuruş per day in the textile sector while female
soap workers earned 2–6 kuruş. The wage gap (earning at least fifty percent less
than men) was no different for women who worked in the fields of Izmit, Aydın,
Urfa, or Akka. Along with the poor wages, women worked long hours in Bursa and
Adana in particular, toiling 14 to 15 hours a day. In some cities in Turkey, female
factory employees worked only seven to nine hours a day.133 Prior to World War I,
in a limited industrial life—which was transforming and with the introduction of
modern technology such as cables, electricity, trams—women worked long hours
for low wages in Turkey.134 In 1908, Istanbul and various cities witnessed waves of
strikes, with at least 110 being recorded.135 One of them was among bakery
workers, demanding a pay increase. Strikes of workers from different sectors
tended to emphasize the same problem; the low wages they earned, although
another issue they pointed out was related to working conditions.136 The number of
skilled workers dropped in the Ottoman state due to military conscription during
World War I, with another reason being the deportations of Armenians and Greeks
who had worked as artisans and craftsmen. The increasing number of Muslim
males fighting in the war thus meant an increase in the number of women and
children laboring. However, during World War I, discussing their wages with their
employers was hard for female workers as they could be easily replaced with
another worker due to the sheer numbers of women who wanted to join the
133 Yıldırım, Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler, 90–1.
134 Basil Mathews, “Woman In the Near East,” The Moslem World 9, no.3 (1919): 240–6.
135 Donald Quataert, “Labor History and the Ottoman Empire, C. 1700–1922,” International Labor
and Working-Class History 60, (2001): 93–109.
136 Yavuz Selim Karakışla, “The 1908 Strike Wave in the Ottoman Empire,” Turkish Studies
Association Bulletin 16, no.2 (1992): 153–77.
50
workforce as compared to the previous era.137 From 1913 to 1918, there were only
five strikes.138 During the occupation period, there were only 11 strikes, solely
among railway workers.139 The government discussed a law and prepared an article
to protect female and child labor in 1910, but never approved it.140 At the Izmir
Economic Congress—which was organized in 1923—one of the issues the
participants discussed was how long the duration of pregnancy leave should be.
Attendees were in favor of a total “8 weeks of leave before and after giving
birth.”141
Female labor did not constitute any sort of threat to entrepreneurs, as the
cheap labor was a boon to them. One of the factors lying behind their low wages
was that female membership in unions was very low. Another reason was gender
discrimination which justified low female wages because only men were considered
as “real workers” and women workers had no choice but to accept a secondary
status.142 During WWI, Ottoman women did not want to lose their jobs, and it was
137 Yiğit Akin and Elizabeth Thompson, “Labour, Labour Movements and Strikes (Ottoman Empire/
Middle East)” in 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, eds. Ute
Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson,
issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2017-08-2.
138 Metinsoy, Ottoman Women during World War I: Everyday Experiences, Politics, and Conflict,
144–146.
139 Metinsoy, Ottoman Women during World War I: Everyday Experiences, Politics, and Conflict,
145–146.
140 Yıldırım, Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler, 349–350.
According to the report of American experts, which dated 1936, gender pay gap was high and
needed to be regulated. Another thing which needed to be changed was working hours. They
suggested it to be shortened. The new Republic needed to come up with regulations on safety and
insurance for workers. Another issue they stressed was the necessity of opening Employment
Bureaus in the city. They preferred the State to provide employment bureaus for people. American
experts were not sympathetic to workers to unionize and make strikes. They did not encourage the
State to make concessions in that issue. See Yüksel Işık, Osmanlı’dan Günümüze İşçi Hareketinin
Evrimi (1876–1994) (Ankara: Öteki, 1995), 94–95.
141 Yüksel Işık, Osmanlı’dan Günümüze İşçi Hareketinin Evrimi (1876-1994), 98. By 1936, one of
the articles of the labor law concerned pregnant workers, and granted the right of pregnancy leave
only 3 weeks before the birth and 3 weeks after the birth.
142 Metinsoy cites Ahmet Makal’s book entitled Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Çalışma İlişkileri pp.
196-7 while providing this information. Metinsoy, Ottoman Women during World War I: Everyday
Experiences, Politics, and Conflict, 136.
51
hard for them to negotiate their wages during the war time unlike their British and
American peers. During WWI, the number of British women in trade unions
tripled.143 Unlike in the late Ottoman state in which the female membership in
unions was very low,144 Leo Wolman stated that from 1910 to 1920 in the United
States, female membership in the trade unions quintupled.145
From 1913 to 1918, Kadir Yıldırım has emphasized that there was
“stagnation” in labor movements and strikes, as well as organizations that were
socialist. From 1914 to 1921, most of the strikes took place in Istanbul; the other
cities which witness strikes were Balıkesir, Zonguldak and Izmir.146 Taking into
consideration the low female membership in unions and strikes from 1914 to 1921
and that most of the strikes took place in Istanbul, the rights of female factory
workers in Anatolia were not a priority, although from 1910, women did start to be
more involved in strikes in cities such as Bursa and Bilecik. This chapter
contributes to current historiography by introducing the YWCA’s efforts for
employment and improving rights of female factory workers in Anatolian cities
such as Merzifon, Sivas, Izmir and Adana in those years.
3.1. Merzifon
143 Ibid., 23.
144 Metinsoy, Ottoman Women during World War I: Everyday Experiences, Politics, and Conflict,
136.
145 Leo Wolman, The Growth of American Trade Unions, 1880–1923 (New York: National Bureau
of Economic Research, 1924), 97.
146Yıldırım, Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler, 286, 171, 366–
367.
52
In the end of 1890s, George E. White, describing how Armenians had been
deported in Merzifon, noted that “One of the most rewarding efforts for relief in
Marsovan was a weaving industry in which 150,000 yards of cotton cloth were
manufactured, together with quantities of Turkish toweling, which were sold on the
common market ...”147 Marsovan (Merzifon) was one of the places in Anatolia
where cotton cloth was produced.
Frances C. Gage had worked as a teacher in a college in Marsovan in the
1890s, and years later she wanted to return to Turkey. During World War I, when
she returned to Marsovan as the YWCA Turkey’s first secretary, she found an
impoverished city, families selling their valuable materials and animals for clothing
to the army and financing soldiers while doctors, butchers, and men in the bazaar
were all joining the military. According to Elizabeth Wilson, Gage, confronted this
situation on returning to Turkey:
After all, pioneering in an old land is only a little harder than pioneering in a
new. That she was coming back to a Turkey greatly altered in the last fifteen
years she knew well. That was one reason for wanting to come. Turkey had
begun to move. The status of woman had advanced. She [Gage] could gain
a better education and use it more freely than before. Women and children
were being employed by native and foreign firms, in rug and tobacco and
other manufactories. The young married women were being carried away by
unworthy social ideals. ‘The world is too much with us,’ Frances Gage
quoted more than once.148
In 1914, while Turkey was dealing with the poverty and confusion of the largescale
war, in Marsovan, Gage was doing her best to provide funds for work. She
wrote in her notes: “We are still using our money to keep work in the hands of as
many as possible and it is wonderful how our little pile adds to itself in this way.”
147 George E. White, Charles Chapin Tracy: Missionary, philanthropist, educator: first president of
Anatolia college, Marsovan, Turkey (Boston, Chicago: The Pilgrim press, 1918), 36.
148 Elizabeth Wilson, The Road Ahead: Experiences in the Life of Frances C. Gage (New York: The
Women’s Press, 1918), 76–7.
53
Gingham-weaving was one of them. Due to its unprofitable and unstable condition,
Gage would complain about manufacturers who did not invest enough in this
branch of manufacturing. She insisted that they should have put money into this
industry. Another alternative kind of work that they promoted was preparing wool
for stockings. This was a risky business as well because it was an expensive
investment and there were not any guarantees that people would buy stockings
because, in Gage’s words, “people will go barefoot if they must, you know.” 149 In
the association, Gage was also coordinator of the Committee for Relief Work. In
Marsovan, she helped 47 families of weavers financially regarding their business:
The Committee for Relief Work which I had organized in the Association
before I left Marsovan has relieved 47 families of weavers. We gave them
25 dollars at the beginning and they used the money twice in two months in
selling the goods bought from the weavers, and now have bought with this
money some goods to clothe the poor.150
In 1916, under the leadership of Gage, the YWCA was involved in organizing
“industrial work” for Mr. Peet, who was a supporter of the business with his relief
money, which was “75 dollars a week.” Mostly girls worked for this project, and
although the cost of supplies such as thread and embroidery materials was more
than expected, they were happy with the success of the project since it enabled the
girls’ employment.151 Moreover, Gage worked as the director of a committee which
was responsible for arranging gingham-weaving, bobbin-winding and weaving
149 Frances C. Gage, “Marsovan notes,” December 23, 1914, p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
150 “Letter from Miss Frances C. Gage,” Marsovan, Turkey, December 3, 1914, p.1, microfilm reel
63, YWCA-SSC.
151 Frances C. Gage, Letter to the Foreign Department of the Young Women’s Christian
Associations of the United States of America, Constantinople, July 15, 1916, p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
54
tasks for more than hundred women. She would also travel to nearby towns to teach
and employ women in this field.152
In 1914, the YWCA in Merzifon set up a lace counter which employed 20
families. At first, exporting the lace to the USA was considered, though when this
was unsuccessful, Gage would decide to purchase some of the unsold lace herself.
She encouraged a number of young married women to sell lace to earn money for
the poor.153 Those women “collected 25 dollars which they put into this enterprise
for the poor.” Gage wrote: “I am glad that to be able to place that capital again in
their hands to circulate.”154 Gage organized women for sewing and bought the
capital when it was necessary so that not only families would not be unemployed
but also the poor would benefit from their work.
Gage encouraged women to work rather than stay at their home and occupy
their minds with their personal problems. It was considered a success just to make
girls go out in a society where the mothers-in-law made decisions about their
daughters-in-law’s lives most of the time. As Gage’s biographer Elizabeth Wilson
explained in detail:
The little Young Women’s Christian Association in the city of Marsovan,
with Miss Gage standing back of it, opened up a lace industry which gave
employment to three hundred poor girls and women, for which she stripped
the market of thread which was selling at fifteen cents a spool. And this
when the younger women were not allowed by their mothers-in-law—those
enforcers of etiquette— to be seen on the streets even bound for an
Association meeting. Good social form dictated that they should stay in the
house and mourn over their anxieties and troubles.155
152 Elizabeth Wilson, The Road Ahead: Experiences in the Life of Frances C. Gage, 92–3.
153 “Letter from Miss Frances C. Gage,” Marsovan, Turkey, December 3, 1914, p.1, microfilm reel
63, YWCA-SSC.
154 “Letter from Miss Frances C. Gage,” Marsovan, Turkey, December 3, 1914, p.1, microfilm reel
63, YWCA-SSC.
155 Elizabeth Wilson, The Road Ahead: Experiences in the Life of Frances C. Gage, 92.
55
In the same year, Gage was very eager to meet with the directors of tobacco
factories and discuss the needs of their women workers. The tobacco industry was
growing in the beginning of the twentieth century. In her reckoning, there were 50
tobacco companies in Turkey. More than 20 of them were either an English or
American companies, selling tobacco abroad. She had a meeting with the agent of
the British-American Company and inquired about the problems of women working
in factories. He gave her the permission to visit the factory. She stated that “the
manager is [was] anxious to do all that can be done for the girls physically, and in
quite ready to give us entrance for other influences, though the girls are so rude and
bold that he speaks hopelessly of results. He is, of course, wrong.” 156 She had faith
in female factory workers unlike the manager.
3.2. Sivas
On the road to Sivas, when passing from Harput, Gage expressed her sadness when
she saw how poor conditions were for the villagers who were barely able to food
and clothing for themselves. She revealed that she wished she had enough funding
to provide help to them and questioned if there was any chance that the Red Cross
would provide funding for Turkey.157
When Gage travelled to Sivas in 1914158, one of the main aims she had was
to observe and contact the young women who worked in the rug-making industry,
156 “Copy of letter from Miss Gage to Miss Spencer, April 1, 1914,” p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
157 “Extracts-Letter from Frances C. Gage, October 23, 1914,” microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
158 According to Frances C. Gage, Sivas was “one of the very strongest Armenian centers, about two
fifths of the population being from this nationality.” See Memo, Frances C. Gage, Sivas, Turkey,
September 13, 1914, p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. Aside from helping girls in labor issues
56
on which the city depended heavily. She was dismayed by the long hours of work
and low pay young women earned in rug-making in Sivas. According to Gage, in
1914, “There are [were] 3000 young women and little girls working from 10 to 14
hours a day at a wage from 5 to 25 cents a day.”159 Of Sivas’s population, which
was 1,169,443 in 1914,160 nearly one quarter of the population worked in the rugmaking
industry. “Every knot” depended on difficult finger work. She depicted
how delicate, fragile and tiring the labor was and was quite astonished how they did
not make any mistakes but rather created very complicated and beautiful patterns;
“a miracle of accuracy,” as she put it. However, the working conditions were not
pleasing to Gage. The women worked continuously, not taking any breaks, and
spending most of the day in the factory. Gage did not put the blame on the
managers of the Smyrna Company in Sivas, but rather blamed families for wanting
their children to work because longer hours meant more money for very lowincome
families. She stressed: “the pay is so small that they [parents] do not want
them to stop even to eat. They take their bit of dry breads in bites as they work.”
Gage resolved to improve the poor working conditions in this industry and decided
to get in touch with “the managers of the entire industry in Smyrna.” In Sivas,
“Most of this rug work is under the great Smyrna Company and they have factories
in the interior, the YWCA functioned as a war relief organization in Sivas in 1921 and 1922, by
helping dislocated Armenian girls after the war. In Adana and Sivas, the early 1920s marked the
deportation of Armenian families. They were separated from their family members and scattered to
different places, losing their homes. Edna L. McFarland worked with the “girls who were forcibly
married to Turks during the war and who after the armistice were given the chance to leave those
homes if they so desired.” Marriage of those girls meant that they worked as servants and mistresses
in houses of these men as stated by McFarland. See E. Mcfarland, “The Girls Shelter Home At
Sivas,” January 24, 1922, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC; Report of Edna L. McFarland, (stationed
at Sivas for the past six months), October 11, 1921, p. 1–2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. They
were also helping Greeks and Armenians refugees during the state of the war. See “Copy of letter
from Margaret White to Miss Lyon, March 18, 1919,” p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
159 Memo, Frances C. Gage, Sivas, Turkey, September 13, 1914, p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
160 Tevfik Güran, Resmi İstatistiklere Göre Osmanlı Toplum ve Ekonomisi (İstanbul: Türkiye İş
Bankası Kültür Yayınları), 2017, 55.
57
in many parts of the interior. I rather think that before much can be accomplished in
improving conditions, I shall have to get at the managers of the entire industry in
Smyrna. If only we could get a typical Association started there, it would soon
interpret us to all these ramifying interests.” In order to raise wages and improve
working conditions of young women in Sivas, Gage saw it necessary to go to Izmir
and form an association there. She also imagined what Jesus would have done in
the same situation, seeing the deplorable conditions of these workers. She
remembered Jesus, his teachings and Gospel in terms of his aid to people in need,
and thought his solution would have been to provide the “rest all these tired little
bodies” needed and offered them food and love. Gage even talked to doctors about
the health conditions of female workers. She wanted to use the association funds to
help young women working in the factory.161
3.3. Izmir
One of the reasons Gage considered opening a branch in Izmir was in order to talk
to the managers of the Smyrna Company. Advancing the rights of workers was on
the agenda.162 The YWCA was interested in improving unemployment in Izmir.163
White was also in favor of opening a branch there, which she believed would help
girls improve themselves. She also found it important to open a war Service Center
161 Memo, Frances C. Gage, Sivas, Turkey, September 13, 1914, p. 2–3, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
162 Memo, Frances C. Gage, Sivas, Turkey, September 13, 1914, p.3, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
163 Margaret White, Letter to Miss Lyon, April 13, 1919, Constantinople, p.3 microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
58
in 1919 in Izmir because of its high population and its “strategic location.” White
saw parallels between young women in Izmir and Istanbul, saying “the girls in
Smyrna, as in Constantinople, have come out of the exclusiveness of their former
life; they want to be like Europian [sic] or American girls.”164 However, the
supposed moral degradation165 of the young women living in there also caught her
attention. In Izmir, White depicted rich women as seeking pleasure and sating their
desires in the short-term and only thinking of themselves- in contrast to other types
of young women who had positive qualities such as those attending the American
School in Izmir. She did not provide sufficient detail, though clearly directing those
women was a concern of hers. White was also interested in the high number of
women working in textile and tobacco factories, and seasonal workers in Izmir; at
least 10,000 women were employed in industrial work in pre-war times, she
noted.166
3.4. Adana
Adana was one of the centers of cotton production with its textile mills and
factories, including the Greek-owned Mavrumatis’s textile mill which was later
sold to two Turkish families, the Tyrpani brothers mill which was also sold to
Turkish merchants after the occupation period, and Cosma Simyonoğlu’s factory
164 Margaret White, “Report to Executive Committees,” August 7, 1919, p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
165 Margaret White, “Report to Executive Committees,” August 7, 1919, p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
166 Margaret White, “Report to Executive Committees,” August 7, 1919, p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
59
which passed into the hands of the Turkish government and was renamed the
Adana Bez Fabrikası after the departure of Simyonoğlu to Greece in 1923, and
Rasim Dokur’s Turkish-owned factory which was established in 1911.167
The YWCA Adana made contact with the female workers in the
Simyonoğlu factory. Clara L. Bissell, while she was in Cilicia Adana in 1920, met
with factory workers in Simenoghlou’s (also known as Symeonogluou) factory
during their noon hours. Within a limited time, she taught them physical activities,
English lessons and songs in Turkish, even bringing an organ with her. Young
women in the factory lacked knowledge of songs and had no idea how to sing them
and so Bissell helped them to improve their music skills.168 Bissell shared in her
account that she was so happy to be in touch with these factory workers that she
wanted to continue working with them. She could see that the girls forgot their own
problems when she spent time with them and had the chance to be entertained for a
short time. She also boosted employee morale at work, but going to the factory
during the week was not easy for her because it was outside the city center and
according to her fellow Americans in Cilicia the road was dangerous and she risked
being abducted by the “Chettas.”169 For that reason, they did not want her to
continue her work there. In one case, Bissell arrived late and the young women at
the factory had been worried about her, thinking that that she was kidnapped.
Bissell wanted to continue her work there despite the risks of her travelling back
167 İnal referred to Edward Clark’s PhD thesis entitled “The Emergence of Textile Manufacturing
Entrepreneurs in Turkey: 1804–1968” (PhD thesis, Princeton University, 1969). Vedit İnal, “The
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Ottoman Attempts to Catch Up with Europe,” Middle Eastern
Studies 47, no.5 (2011): 725–56.
168 “Report of Clara L. Bissell, August 5, 1920, Adana Cilicia,” p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
169 Çete is a Turkish word, meaning gang. The secretary used the word chettas to refer to these
bandit gangs.
60
and forth because she had bonded with the girls and had seen how her visits made
them more cheerful and lively.170
Dorothea Chambers Blaisdell, the YWCA’s secretary in Adana, observing
young female workers non-stop work shifts, put effort into improving the
conditions in cotton factories. The YWCA Adana, under her directions, organized
activities including story-telling, watching movies, and a dress-making workshop.
Blaisdell was glad to see that female factory workers were quite interested and
absorbed the knowledge she tried to pass on to them, though she sometimes had
difficulties with them. In one case, a worker took quite a long time to be able to do
even basic math such as adding one to one, though the workers usually embraced
her assistance with great enthusiasm and interest.171
Similarly to the YWCA Istanbul Center, the YWCA Adana also cared for
orphans. Their French classes had a conversation club in which they could practice
French with one another to further improve their skills and while they practiced
French, these members were also preoccupied in sewing dresses for the orphanage
as well. The YWCA Adana also focused on recreational activities both in its
schools and the factories. They had playgrounds, folk-dancing and general gym
activities.172
170 Clara L. Bissel, Letter to Miss Wilde, June 15, 1920, Cilicia Adana, p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
171 Blaisdell, Missionary Daughter: Witness to the End of the Ottoman Empire, 158–59.
172 Blaisdell, Missionary Daughter: Witness to the End of the Ottoman Empire, 158.
61
3.5. Conclusion
The YWCA acted like a trade union by taking an intermediary position to negotiate
an increase in the wages of rug workers while shortening their hours as it could be
seen in Sivas’s case in 1914. The YWCA did not organize the workers to negotiate
with the managers but rather YWCA secretaries themselves took the initiative to
advocate the rights of female factory workers. The YWCA discussed opening a
center in Izmir after observing the poor conditions in Sivas rug factories and
learning the company responsible was based in Izmir. The YWCA, interested in
providing job opportunities for young women in Izmir, was also eager to reach
young women working in textile and tobacco factories, as well as seasonal workers.
In Merzifon, the YWCA, under the charge of Gage, not only helped girls find
employment in lace industry but also provided small employment opportunities for
families by hiring them for gingham work. In Adana, the YWCA provided
recreational and educational activities for female factory workers working in cotton
factories.
In these locations, women’s trade unions were not active during the stay of
the YWCA in the 1910s. The number of female factory workers increased since
textile grew in cities like Adana and carpet-making also saw an increase in Izmir.
However, the YWCA staff did not stay long enough to develop consciousness
among workers regarding their status, working conditions, and their low wages,
although the staff took the initiative and put an effort to better their rights in that
context. Frances C. Gage died in July in 1917 and by 1922, the YWCA centers in
Adana and İzmir were no longer active.
62
The case of Anatolia was used in order to better comprehend Istanbul. The primary
goal of the USA YWCA was to be a voice for the industrial workers in the early
twentieth century, acting like a shelter for the working women. In Anatolia, like in
the US, they were able to reach industrial workers. Interacting with a high number
of female factory workers in Anatolia compared to Istanbul, the YWCA prioritized
developing the rights of industrial workers, being in interaction with both factory
workers and the male directors of the companies, negotiating for the rights of
workers. In Istanbul, it was a different story.
63
CHAPTER IV
LACK OF CAREER GUIDANCE IN ISTANBUL
In the Second Constitutional period (1908–1918), young women in Istanbul had
difficulty in investing in their career dreams and could not plan their professional
lives. This chapter focuses on why young women did not plan their career goals by
emphasizing three different reasons; parents’ lack of encouragement for women at
home, the lack of educational opportunities for young women, and the lack of
societal encouragement of young women’s professional goals. Daughters were
encouraged from an early age to be unexpressive and silent. Their opinions did not
matter and were often not respected, and girls who sat at home not planning their
lives were of little concern to their parents. The majority of parents did not
encourage their daughters to dedicate themselves to an occupation or a job.
Educational opportunities for pursuing their dreams were also limited for young
women as compared to men. Societal pressures also played role in young women’s
lack of planning for their career goals. Along with pointing out the structural
obstacles preventing women from developing career thinking, this chapter also
offers a historiographical background for understanding Early Republican Era
women, Westernization in Turkey and Westernization.
64
4.1. Lack of career guidance at home
The channels through which women shared their ideas and reflected on daily issues
were quite limited. The dominance of male writers in newspapers made it difficult
for women to present issues from the female perspective.173 Taking into
consideration that most of the journals related to women were also published by
male writers in the early 1910s, Kadınlar Dünyası (Women’s World) stands out
among the male dominated journals because it was published by women and it
covered the issues of the day exclusively through women’s eyes. Kadınlar Dünyası
was published by a cadre of Istanbul women between 1913–1918, 1918–1921;
along with providing information on issues such as women’s rights in different
countries, how to raise babies and children, and human anatomy, it also reflected on
the problems of women of the time and their struggle for their voice to be heard and
taken into account. As Serpil Çakır mentioned in her book Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi,
the journal Kadınlar Dünyası had a feminist tone, dealing with inequalities between
men and women persisting in the Ottoman State. In the early 1910s, the writers of
the journal and people who sent letters to the journal were thus critical of a
woman’s position in her society.174
Women were oppressed even when they were children, according to
Muhterem Fahri, writing from Gedikpaşa Istanbul. Women’s emotions, dreams and
goals were mocked by men from an early age. She was critical of parents’ attitude
173 Atiye Şükran, “Türkiye’de Bir Kadın Gazetesi Çok mu Görülüyor,” no.46, May 19, 1329 [1913],
in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), trans. Fatma Büyükkarcı Yılmaz and Tülay
Gençtürk Demircioğlu, (Istanbul: Kadın Eserleri Kütüphanesi ve Bilgi Merkezi Vakfı, 2009), 465–
467. Demircioğlu and Yılmaz translated all the issues of Kadınlar Dünyası from Ottoman script to
latin-based Turkish alphabet.
174 Serpil Çakır, Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi (Istanbul: Metis, 1994).
65
towards their daughters, and their lack of respect for the decisions of their
daughters. She pitied women because they were treated like “slaves,” having no
control in their lives.175
In 1913, children,176 who kept quiet and kept their thoughts to themselves,
especially around adults, were considered to be well-mannered and well-trained by
their parents. However, these parental expectations needed to change according to
Sıdıka Ali Rıza, who suggested that behaving in a well-mannered way meant
having a healthy body, mind and good morals. She had a nationalistic approach in
terms of emphasizing that this would be the attitude one who considered the
country’s interest would take. 177
Women were not free to speak their own mind and express their thoughts in
1913; if they braved to do so, they were often mocked, according to Pakize Nihat
from Beşiktaş. The reason for this attitude was related with the country’s underdeveloped
situation. In such conditions it was hard to have access to education
because elders themselves did not believe in the value of education. She
175 Muhterem Fahri, “El Aman,” no.10, April 13, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası
1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 97–98. Perihan Arif from Sarıgüzel was also critical of the phrase
“women have long hair and short brains.” She suggested that some women believed in this saying.
See Perihan Arif, “Azim ve Sebat”, no.34, May 7, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), 348.
176 In US, in the nineteenth century, Victorian child rearing had repressive features, for example, the
expectation that children be unquestioningly obedient to their parents while in the late Ottoman
state, in the early twentieth century, total obedience was still expected by the parents. In USA, in the
nineteenth century, middle-class parents disapproved of impulsive behavior in their children,
believing that children needed to control their behavior. Parents had a responsibility to control their
emotions too. Victorian parents were against physical violence toward their children because
physical violence would suggest the loss of control of over themselves. In the prescriptive literature,
mothers were discouraged from invoking fear in their children. Raising fearful children meant
creating unhealthy individuals. Using fear in childrearing also indicated of “an emotional abuse of
parental authority.” In the early twentieth century, manuals advised parents to hide their own fears
when they interacted with their children. Avoidance of fear was thus encouraged. If the children
feared anything, parents should listen to their problems and offer them solutions. See Peter Stearns,
American Cool: Constructing a Twentieth-Century Emotional Style (New York: NYU Press, 1994),
17–22, 102–3.
177 Sıdıka Ali Rıza, “Usul-i Terbiye Nâkisalarımızdan,” no.34, May 7, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar
Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 345.
66
disapproved that parents would rather have their daughters sitting around and
gossiping at home instead of investing in themselves and their future. 178
In 1913 in Turkey, women were expected to behave in certain ways. Parents
did not question the way they raised daughters. “A wife has to obey every word of
her husband […]”, Nesrin Salih from Cihangir Istanbul noted in her article entitled
“Turkish Girls,”179 which was published in Kadınlar Dünyası. Mothers-in-law and
fathers-in-law interfered in the affairs of the married couples; and the wife’s role
was to accept what the elders told her. Women had to remain silent; because a
woman’s expressing her thoughts would be perceived as immoral and indecent
behavior.180
Parents did not encourage their daughters or their sons to dedicate
themselves to an occupation or a job right after their graduation. Their upbringing
and social codes thus had a profound effect on their lack of self-confidence, as
emphasized by Fatımatüzzehra in 1913. To dedicate oneself to work, arts, and
occupation were considered as “shame,” she noted. Parents not minding their
daughters being idle and staying with their families were problematic for her.
Envying American and English young women, she emphasized that daughters and
sons living in those countries were self-committed to a profession that was useful to
them and to their countries.181
178 Pakize Nihat, “Hukukumuz,” no.26, April 29, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), 267–268.
179 Nesrin Salih, “Türk Kızları,” no.52, May 25, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 51.–100. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), trans. Fatma Büyükkarcı Yılmaz and Tülay Gençtürk Demircioğlu (Istanbul: Kadın
Eserleri Kütüphanesi ve Bilgi Merkezi Vakfı, 2009), 16–8. Demircioğlu and Yılmaz translated all
the issues of Kadınlar Dünyası from Ottoman script to latin based Turkish alphabet.
180 Nesrin Salih, “Türk Kızları,” no.52, May 25, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası
51.–100. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 16–8.
181 Fatımatüzzehra, “Teşebbüs-i Şahsi Ne Demektir?” no.21, April 24, 1329 [1913],
in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 211–12.
67
How much did mothers care about their daughters’ interests and demands?
Their daughters’ demands to participate in school trips under the supervision of
their teachers were unimportant to a majority of them, according to Nebile
Kâmuran from Fındıklı. She claimed that mothers would find school trips indecent
and unnecessary, ignoring that these experiences could actually contribute to their
daughter’s development. This was reflected in the low number of daughters who
participated in school trips with their teachers.182
Bedia Nigar from Makrıköy disapproved of mothers-in-law and other
relatives who decided on their daughters-in-law’s home affairs. She insisted that the
home was the place where only one woman should be in charge, the wife.183
Parents deciding whom their daughters should marry was another product of
a system that did not care what young women thought, S. L. wrote. Parents
choosing their daughters’ husbands ignored what their daughters wanted,
preventing them from determining their own futures.184 Social status and profession
were important for parents when they chose a husband for their daughter. There
were a high number of parents who preferred their daughters to marry clerks rather
than craftsmen.185
Celal Nuri, a feminist, journalist, statesman, owner of the newspapers Âti
and İleri and the writer of Kadınlarımız (Our Women), wrote in 1913 that “There is
no ‘career’ for our daughters other than marriage.”186 Celal Nuri questioned how
182 Nebile Kâmuran, “Maarif,” no.24, April 27, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), 246–247. Kâmuran counted two girls schools in Istanbul. Such a big city like
Istanbul, the low number was a disgrace, she implied.
183 Bedia Nigar, “Hikmet-i İctimaiye,” no.23, April 26, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50.
Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 231–232.
184 S[in] L., “Teceddüt Devri Ne Zaman Hulûl edecek?” no.17, April 20 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar
Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 170.
185 Kadınlar Dünyası, “Marangoz Başvekil Damadı,” no.35, May 8 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar
Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 352–353.
186 Celal Nuri İleri, Kadınlarımız, 1913, trans. Halit Erdem Oksaçan and Abdullah Musab Şahin
68
parents raised their daughters and concluded that wealthy daughters had only one
main goal in their lives which was to become wives,187 which he found quite
disappointing. Dreaming of having a career was totally foreign to them. Nuri
suggested that society valued women’s bodies rather than their minds, and women’s
lack of educational opportunities resulted in women being idle and spending their
time at home mostly chatting with neighbors, activities which would not move
society forward.188 He challenged his readers to imagine if boys were given knitting
and sewing materials at a young age and girls were given a scientific education. For
him, women were equal to men in terms of intellect and reason. There was
“injustice” in how women were treated by their society, being denied equal
opportunities and status. “Many women in our time are unemployed and they are
bored because they don’t know what to do [with themselves]. This causes a lack of
meaning and purpose, but a woman will not experience this if she can read, write
and work to earn her living.” In addition, her purpose in life would broaden if she
saw that she has potential not only in marriage but also in other walks of life.189
Some parents discouraged their daughters by mocking them when they
earned a diploma, i.e., “Oh my daughter, by reading that much, will you become a
scrivener?”190 Another common statement was that a “young woman should not be
(Istanbul: Kaknüs, 2017), 157–158. The only wish of young women until the age of 20 was to get
married.
187 Emine Keskiner, “Celal Nuri İleri’nin Ahlâka Dair Görüşleri (İlel-i Ahlâkıyyemiz Eseri Üzerine
Bir İnceleme)” in Son Dönem Osmanlı Mütefekkirleri ve Ahlâk Anlayışları, eds. İsmail Kurt and
Seyit Ali Tüz (Ankara: Düzce Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2017), 223.
188 Celal Nuri İleri, Kadınlarımız, 1913, trans. Halit Erdem Oksaçan and Abdullah Musab Şahin
(Istanbul: Kaknüs, 2017), 157–8, 95–162.
189 Ibid., 184–186.
190 Fehmiye Çerkes Cemal, “Ezkiya-yı Nisvanı Yetiştirmek,” no.35, May 8, 1329 [1913], in
Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 360–361.
69
a scholar.” What was expected from her was taking care of the house and obeying
her husband.191
What families needed was reform, as suggested by the board of Kadınlar
Dünyası, because family members were not adapting to the era they were living in,
which was in the midst of constant transformation. The members of the family
needed to support rather than discourage one another, the latter being far more
common in families of the time.192
In 1919, Fatma Fuad, a writer in the journal Genç Kadın, in her article
entitled “Kadın ve Kadınlık 4” (Woman and Womanhood 4), attacked the societal
concept of morality which appreciated women’s shyness, lack of free expression
and absence of courage. She emphasized that a woman should be free to express
her thoughts and refrain from being “meek as a lamb.” Girls needed to be
encouraged in that direction rather than being accused of lacking manners. The
harmful overprotection of parents also needed to change, as seen in the popular
saying among parents “Don’t let her [daughter] know the world. Keep bad things
away from her.” Conversely, one needed to be prepared to overcome the challenges
of life.193 The same writer also suggested that young women needed to have a
knowledge of cooking and sewing even in families which employed maids. She
added that there would be benefits to developing practical life skills in these matters
191 M. S.[in], “Terbiye-i Benatın Ehemmiyeti,” no.47, May 20, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–
50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 482–483.
192 Kadınlar Dünyası, “Aile Hayatı, Teavün-i Umumi,” no.45, May 18, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar
Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 454–455.
193 Fatma Fuad, “Kadın ve Kadınlık 4,” no.4, February 13, 1335 [1919], in Genç Kadın
1919 Ocak-Mayıs (Yeni Harflerle), prepared by Çiçek İlengiz (Istanbul: Kadın Eserleri ve Bilgi
Merkezi Vakfı, 2011), 47.
70
rather than having a professional sense.194 Self-sufficiency was itself controversial
for daughters of families which had maids.
4.2. Lack of guidance in education
In the nineteenth century, both sexes at the age of five and six could attend the
Sıbyan mektebi (a traditional elementary school) where Islam’s precepts were
taught to children. In 1858, Inas rüşdiye (upper elementary schools) started to be
opened for girls.195 In 1876, it was made “a constitutional requirement” for both
sexes to attend the primary schools.196 Secondary (idadi) schools and high schools
(sultani) for girls were low in number until 1918. By contrast, vocational schools
where girls learned midwifery, weaving and nursing increased in number.197 Along
with these schools, home education was an alternative for well-to-do families. In
the nineteenth century, American missionary schools began to promote female
education. One of these was the Constantinople College for Women which was
opened in 1871 at Arnavutköy is Istanbul, offering education in a variety of fields
ranging from the arts to science.198
194 Fatma Fuad, “Kadın ve Kadınlık 6,” no. 6, March 13, 1335 [1919] in Genç Kadın 1919
Ocak-Mayıs (Yeni Harflerle), prepared by Çiçek İlengiz (Istanbul: Kadın Eserleri ve Bilgi Merkezi
Vakfı, 2011), 47.
195 Yücel Gelişli, “Education of Women from the Ottoman Empire to Modern Turkey,” SEER:
Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe 7, no.4 (2004):121–135.
196 “Preface,” Genç Kadın 1919 Ocak-Mayıs (Yeni Harflerle), xxiii.
197 Betül Açıkgöz, “The Advent of Scientific Housewifery in the Ottoman Empire,” Paedagogica
Historica 54, no.6 (2018):783–799.
198 Floyd Henson Black, “The Native Schools,” in Constantinople To-Day; or the Pathfinder Survey
of Constantinople; a Study in Oriental Social Life, ed. C. R. Johnson, (New York:
Macmillan, 1922), 416.
71
In the early 1910s, Hester Donaldson Jenkins, who worked at the American
College for Girls for nine years, recorded her observations regarding “middle-class
Istanbul Muslim women” in these words:
The amusements of a Turkish lady we should consider rather mild. She is
seldom intellectual [. . .] nor have lectures, clubs, concerts, and reading
circles been opened to her under the old regime. She is not athletic even in
her youth, so she plays no tennis or golf [. . .] She plays no games, such as
bridge, whist or dominoes, although Turkish men are fond of games of
chance. She does not become absorbed in fancy work, her hands do not
require her to be occupied. What then does she do?199
Upbringing and socio-economic status clearly played their roles in how women
made choices in their lives; the lack of encouragement towards working, education
and social life was omnipresent in well-to-do families. Above all, a woman needed
to know how to take good care of her home. “Won’t we initiate anything, won’t we
come up with an invention? Won’t we work, will we sit lazily like this?” were the
questions asked by a female writer in 1913. The wellness of the nation depended on
women’s participation in the workforce, she noted. She was also disappointed that
her parents had not provided her with a quality education. Complaining that the
number of schools were not satisfactory in the country, she was nevertheless
confident that women could even open schools at their own initiative.200
In 1913, what many peasant women really needed was to learn how to read
and write; this meant that there was a need to open more schools for women
according to Hatice, a teacher at the city Konya, who wrote an article entitled
“Peasant Women” in one of the issues of Kadın Dünyası. She pointed out that not
everyone welcomed women reading and writing in the society. However, she
199 Paul Ginsborg, Family Politics: Domestic Life, Devastation and Survival 1900-1950 (New Haven
and London: Yale University Press, 2014), 83.
200 Leman Aziz, “Vazifelerimiz,” no.46, May 19, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), 473-474.
72
claimed that a high literacy rate for women would mean that the nation would be in
a superior position compared to other ones.201 One contemporary idiom stated
“Women should read less. If she reads until her prayer time, it is satisfactory.”202
In 1913, women writers in the journal frequently drew attention to the
inadequacy of girls’ education. The number of schools for girls was low, and the
number of girls who had access to education was concomitantly low.203
Furthermore, the low quality of the education provided at home,204 and the fact that
parents terminated their daughters’ education at a young age or provided no
education at all were all among the problems women were faced with.205 It was also
common for parents not to provide their daughters education opportunity in the
name of religion. Şaziment from Valideçeşme complained that grandfathers did not
support the girls’ education at all; they justified themselves by arguing that the
education of girls was against the laws of religion.206
The scarcity of books in school libraries and the lack of variety among them
was another obstacle to the advancement of scientific knowledge among women.207
Emine Seher Ali emphasized that girls needed to be directed to read arts, history,
literature and science books rather than reading romance novels.208 Atiye Şükran
from Kadıköy, Istanbul stated the same need for women; what they needed to read
201 Hatice, “Köylü Kadınları,” no.51, May 24, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 51. –100. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), 10.
202 Memnune bint-i Hasan, “Muhterem Büyük Hemşirelerim,” no.22, April 25, 1329 [1913], in
Kadınlar Dünyası 1-50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 226–7.
203 Kadınlar Dünyası 1-50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 4–173.
204 Aziz Haydar, “Karşılıklı Şikayetler,” no.10, April 13, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50.
Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 99.
205 Azize Haydar, “Bizde Kız Evlatların Tahsili,” no.13, April 16, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası
1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 128.
206 Şaziment, “Kadınlığımızın Mevki-i İçtimaisi,” no.23, April 26, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası
1-50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 235-236.
207 Atiye Şükran, “Ne İçin Çırpınıyoruz?” no.24, April 27, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1-50.
Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 241–2.
208 Emine Seher Ali, “Teavün,” no.11, April 14, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), 104.
73
were not novels, tales or legends but topics related to art, trade, industry and crafts
which would be more useful for their futures.209 The same concern would be raised
by Pakize Sadri who lived in Beşiktaş, Istanbul. She criticized young women
getting caught up in romance novels instead of thinking about a profession or the
arts.210 In 1919, a writer in Genç Kadın (Young Woman), critical of women reading
novels, suggested young women be directed to other fields of life rather than
“fantasy.”211
Leman Aziz’s letter to Kadınlar Dünyası shows that women did not know
which jobs they could pursue, where they wanted to work or what they wanted to
do with their lives.212 Having no guides, their lack of professional goals or planning
in their lives was evident. In the next issue, Emine Seher Ali responded to her letter,
saying that “Let’s decide to work.” The rest would follow easily once they decided
to work, in her view. One of the suggestions she made was to support each other
financially. They could collect money to buy the start-up material needed for a
small business, for example a sewing machine. Moreover, she suggested that
women should be in touch with institutes which could provide access to a network
for them.213
In fact, the lack of a network or an association where women could
communicate with other professional-minded women was a major problem for
women who were willing to work. Not knowing where to start or whom to look to
209 Atiye Şükran, “Ne Güzel,” no.13, April 16, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), 126–7.
210 Pakize Sadri, “Şikayetlerim,” no.56, May 29, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 51. –100. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), 58–9.
211 Hüseyin Zâti, “Kitâblar ve Mecmualar,” no.6, March 13, 1335 [1919], in Genç Kadın 1919 Ocak-
Mayıs (Yeni Harflerle), 85–7.
212 Leman Aziz, “Muharrem Kadınlar Dünyası’na,” no.25, April 28, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar
Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 260.
213 Emine Seher Ali, “İş Görebiliriz!” no.26, April 29, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50.
Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 263–4.
74
for guidance, women did not know how to apply for jobs or start a business. Leman
Aziz voiced concerns about this. It was hard to get in touch with right people who
knew about business. She suggested that even with a small amount of capital they
could start a small business by investing in a stocking loom. They could then
provide daily wage for a small number of young women.214
4.3. Society’s lack of career guidance
Mehmed Faik Bey in his book Saâdet-i Aile (Happy Family), published in 1899,
emphasized that it was a woman’s duty and role to stay silent and remain calm
during any “discussion” with her husband. A woman should keep her thoughts to
herself, in accordance with the religious law. Another reason he pointed to was
women’s inferiority to men. Women were expected to be absolutely obedient to
their husbands. At the same time, they were also supposed to bring cheer to their
husbands, opening conversations that he would find interesting or else risk having
him lose interest in her. Women, who were in charge of household chores, were
also tasked with bringing peace and joy into the home, again as reflected by
Mehmed Faik Bey. Women were to be as a mirror to their husbands, smiling when
they smiled.215 There was no room for self-expression in the women Mehmed Faik
214 Leman Aziz, “Muhterem Hocacığım,” no.34, May 7, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50.
Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 346–8.
215 Mehmed Faik Bey, Mutlu Yuva: Saâdet-i Aile, 1899, prepared by Eser Sazak and M. Ali Özkan
(Istanbul: Semerkand, 2018), 22–3, 42–45. In US family life, Victorian parents were supposed to
control their anger. Expressing anger was associated with being a bad person as well as being a bad
role model to their children. Among the Victorians, men’s losing their temper in their working life
was an accepted behavior– because working life could be stressful for them. They could channel
their anger in working life. However, women, being more confined to home, were expected to be the
calming force of the family. Home was associated with peace and tranquility. Parents needed to
eliminate anger from their home as it was “a haven in a heartless world.” See Peter
75
Bey portrayed; they were but a shadow and reflection of their men. In their
arguments with their husbands, women should not speak their mind even if they felt
justified but should keep their thoughts to themselves, because men carried the
burden of the whole world on their shoulders.216 Women should socialize only with
people that their husbands approved of. Moreover, women should only go to the
places with the permission of their husbands, dressing plainly and simply so no one
would pay undue attention to her.217
One of the issues pointed out by another writer was that the woman was
confined to home, burdened with domestic tasks such as cleaning, preparing food,
washing the clothes, knitting and the like. Women’s lacking the roles that could
contribute the working society was one of the issues that was criticized in the
journal:
First of all women cannot see the world. Because she was created for sitting
within four walls, cooking, cleaning the house and pleasing the husband.
For her to go out is forbidden by religion. Secondly, women are mute. She
has no right to say anything against the cruelties of man and illogical actions
of him. Because, [men think that] she has long hair and short brain. Man can
think; woman cannot. As she cannot think, she has no right for making a
claim. All the families are built on these false principles [teachings]. Poor
women! Even whimpering of them is inappropriate. Yes, her having
feelings are unwelcome. She is expected to have no emotions like a stone.218
Anatolian women peasants found Istanbul women idle and lazy because they were
not engaged in work, as indicated by Atiye Şükran. In her reflection, peasant
women equipped in knowledge of life were superior to urban women from Istanbul,
for they were actively working. Cutting wood, making bacon, selling chicken, and
Stearns, American Cool: Constructing a Twentieth-Century Emotional Style (New York; London:
NYU Press, 1994), 17, 102–3.
216 Mehmed Faik Bey, Mutlu Yuva: Saâdet-i Aile, 46–7.
217 Mehmed Faik Bey, Mutlu Yuva: Saâdet-i Aile, 45.
218 Serpil Çakır, Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi, 169.
76
cultivating the fields were one of the areas where they worked and participated in
life side by side with men. Women from Istanbul could take them as an example
and an inspiration. Their participation in working life was what they had seen from
their parents as they were raised to work.219
Kadınlar Dünyası underlined that women had as much right to work as
men, and furthermore that Islam did not grant work as a privilege only to men. The
journal also declared that the next generation’s brightness would be related to the
spread of scientific knowledge among mothers.220 Men of course disapproved of
women working and gaining education, as claimed by Belkıs Ferit from Beşiktaş.
Their ignorant attitude did not help women progress in the political, social or
economic realms.221 Pakize Nihat from Beşiktaş defended that women could easily
be successful at male-dominated jobs if they were only given the opportunity.222
Muhterem Fahri, who wrote from Gedikpaşa Istanbul, was critical of the
popular saying; “women have long hair and short brains.” Men had no right to
judge women, she noted. 223 Men acted like they were the masters of women, wrote
Şaziment from Valideçeşme. They treated women as an object of desire,
disregarding women’s happiness and freedom.224 Feriha Iclal from Erenköy
complained about the same thing; men objectified women by treating them as a toy
219 Atiye Şükran, “Anadolu Kadınları Ne Diyorlar?” no.42, May 15, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar
Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 424–5.
220 “Çalışmak Hakkımızdır,” no.19, April 22, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni
Harflerle), 187.
221 Belkıs Ferit, “Mâni-i Terrakimiz Nedir?” no.24, April 27, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–
50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 247-248.
222 Pakize Nihat, “Hukukumuz” no.26, April 29, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), 268.
223 Muhterem Fahri, “El Aman,” no.10, April 13, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle),97–98. Perihan Arif from Sarıgüzel was also critical of the phrase “women have
long hair and short brain.” She suggested that some women believed in this saying. See Perihan
Arif, “Azim ve Sebat,” no.34, May 7, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni
Harflerle), 348.
224 Şaziment, “Kadınlığımızın Mevki-i İçtimaisi,” no.23, April 26, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar Dünyası
1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 235–6.
77
and also dismissing the fact that women could contribute to the world equally in
many ways.225 “For men, womanhood is like a fruit, only seen as entertainment by
them,” the board of Kadınlar Dünyası complained. They were disappointed that
“our [their] laws have no validity, nor our [their] lives are important.” Men needed
to value different qualities in women and recognize women in both social and
family life.226
According to Seniha Fuat from Göztepe, Ottoman women had no financial
power to stand on their own feet, being entirely dependent on their husbands.
Envying European women, she pointed out that European women’s participation in
the workforce contributed to the development and welfare of their nations.227 As
can be seen in articles from Kadınlar Dünyası, nationalism also played a role in
supporting the idea of women entering the workforce;228 working meant producing
domestic goods and advancing the nation on the world stage.229 Women had a role
to play and a mission not only to raise children but also in production that would
contribute to the nation. Seniha Fuat from Göztepe pitied women’s education in
Turkey when compared to that in European countries by saying “In our country
education of women is not given importance, once she read and write just a little
bit, which is considered as enough, none of industrial education is taught to them.”
In the Ottoman State, she added that mothers needed to learn national issues so that
225 Feriha İclal, “Kadınlıkta İrfan,” no.23, April 26, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar
(Yeni Harflerle), 237.
226 Kadınlar Dünyası, “Lüzum-ı İttihad Teşrik-i Mesai,” no.29, May 2, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar
Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 292.
227 Seniha Fuat, “Maarif,” no.28, May 1, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni
Harflerle), 290.
228 Nevbahar, “Terakide Şahsiyat ile Uğraşmak Olmaz,” no.33, May 6, 1329 1329 [1913], in
Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 336.
229 C. H. “Milli Moda,” and Nihat “Hukukumuz,” no.26, April 29, 1329 [1913], pp.270–1, 268,
Maizer Cavit, “İstihlâk-i Dahili Kadınlar Cemiyet-i Hayriyesine,” no.26, April 29, 1329 [1913],
pp.269–70, Emine Seher Ali, “Tedkik,” no.12, April 15, 1329 [1913], in Kadınlar Dünyası 1-50.
Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle), 115–6.
78
they could instill those teachings to their daughters. Moreover, cooking and sewing
were among the duties of mothers to teach their daughters.230 Motherhood was thus
associated with nationalism, childrearing, and housework.231
4.4. Women in the late Ottoman State and Early Republican Turkey
In the beginning of the twentieth century, women could work as teachers, but their
number was low when compared to men. Before 1914, women could not work as
civil servants.232 The right to have more educational opportunities, the right to join
the workforce and to take an active role in the associations were among the subjects
women advocated in the Second Constitutional period. Women’s efforts for
improving their status in the public and private sphere can clearly be seen in their
publications.233 Nationalism also played a role in supporting the idea of Muslim
women entering the workforce; working meant producing domestic goods and
advancing the country on the world stage.234 Since the Ottoman economy’s
lifeblood had been agriculture, with industry only a minor concern, choosing a job
230 Seniha Fuat, “Maarif,” no.28, May 1, 1329 [1913] in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50. Sayılar (Yeni
Harflerle), 290.
231 In the United States, in 1919, Crystal Eastman claimed that “many feminists are socialists.” She
was journalist and labor lawyer and defended granting women the right to vote. Without confronting
any legal and social obstacles, women should be able to follow a profession they like and ensure
their economic freedom, she defended. Also she recommended that at a young age, daughters and
boys should be taught not discriminate any jobs and house chores based on sex. She wrote: “It must
be womanly as well as manly to earn your living, to stand on your feet. And it must be manly as
well as womanly to know how to cook and sew and clean and take care of yourself in the ordinary
exigencies of life.” Crystal Eastman, “Now We Can Begin,” 1919, in Feminist Theory: A Reader,
eds.,Wendy K. Kolmar and Frances Bartkowski, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005), 130–13.
232 Yıldırım, Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler, 91–3.
233 Serpil Çakır, Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi (Istanbul: Metis, 1994).
234 Nevbahar, “Terakide Şahsiyat ile Uğraşmak Olmaz,” no.33, May 6 1329 [1913], C. H.,
“Milli Moda,” and Nihat, “Hukukumuz,” no.26, April 29, 1329 in Kadınlar Dünyası 1–50.
Sayılar (Yeni Harflerle) (Istanbul: Kadın Eserleri Kütüphanesi ve Bilgi Merkezi Vakfı, 2009), 262–
336.
79
in the industrial sector was difficult for men but especially so for women. In WWI,
although the non-Muslim male population decreased as a consequence of
deportations, the ones exempted from the conscription kept their industrial jobs, in
parallel narrowing down the scale of Muslim women’s entering into such jobs.235
Nevertheless, the number of women in the textile and munition sectors was
growing.236 While WWI enabled women to work as civil servants like post office
clerks for the first time, the post-war period saw a high number of women yielding
their positions to men.237 Because of Istanbul’s cosmopolitan nature, there are many
layers of interaction which should be taken into consideration. Although the high
inflation rate and poverty reduced the purchasing power of the people,238 Istanbul
still became a shelter for refugees such as Muslim migrants from the Balkans,
Armenians and Greeks because of deportations in some cities of Anatolia, and
Russians due to Bolshevism, thus experiencing an increase in its population. White
Russian women worked in cafes, restaurants, and bars, expanding the working
spaces available to women.239 A study in which the YWCA collaborated revealed
that “Jewish women entered stores as employees before women of other
nationalities. There was long a prejudice among Greek women against such work,
in which finally were forced to engage. Turkish women entered last, when men
were called away for army services […].”240 Short after the Armistice of Mundros,
235 Yavuz Selim Karakışla, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Savaş Yılları ve Çalışan Kadınlar:
Kadınları Çalıştırma Cemiyeti (1916–1923) (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2015), 59.
236 Elif Mahir Metinsoy, Ottoman Women during World War I: Everyday Experiences, Politics, and
Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 120–1.
237 Yıldırım, Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler, 90–3.
238 E. Dodge Huntington, “In Constantinople during the War” [reprinted from Women's
International Quarterly] (1919), The Muslim World, 10: 36–41.
239 Zafer Toprak, Türkiye’de Yeni Hayat: İnkılap ve Travma 1908-1928 (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap,
2017), 75–6.
240 L. S. Moore, “Some phases of Industrial Life,” in Constantinople To-Day; or the Pathfinder
Survey of Constantinople; a Study in Oriental Social Life, ed. C. R. Johnson (New York:
Macmillan, 1922), 188.
80
the occupation of Istanbul by Italian, French and British allied troops, along with
the presence of American naval personnel, increased the multicultural and
international character of the city. The women’s movement, in parallel, operated in
relation to protection of the motherland and preparation for the war against imperial
forces. By speaking against the occupying forces in rallies and protests in Istanbul,
women’s resistant political identity came to the fore. Additionally, groups of
patriotic and nationalistic women’s associations were founded in some cities of
Anatolia.241 Joining the national struggle organized by Mustafa Kemal, women
carried ammunition to men, provided food and clothing aid, and in some cases even
entered into armed conflicts directly.242
When the new Republic was established, women were granted rights such
as compulsory elementary education in 1924, equal rights to both sexes in divorce
and banning polygamy in 1926, voting in municipal elections in 1930, and voting in
national elections and the right to be elected in 1934. In the new Republic, the
employment of women and the participation of women in social life was
encouraged in patriarchal codes. Zehra Arat has stated that the articles of the new
code of 1926 which was adapted from the Swiss code presented that males were the
breadwinners of the family (Article 152/ II), and also decision-makers of the family
in terms of choosing in which place to live (Article 152/II), and the wife needed to
have the consent of her husband when she decided to work (Article 159/II) and the
house tasks were assigned to the wife (Article 153//II). Depending on the husband
financially and socially, Arat has said that “the society henceforth has not treated
241 Deniz Kandiyoti, “End of Empire: Islam, Nationalism and Women in Turkey,” in Women, Islam
and the State, ed. Deniz Kandiyoti (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1991), 37–43.
242 Şefika Kurnaz, Cumhuriyet Öncesinde Türk Kadını (1839–1923) (Ankara: T.C. Başbakanlık Aile
Araştırma Kurumu Başkanlığı Yayınları, 1991), 119–122.
81
“work” as a right of women, or as a means for fulfilling her individual needs.”243
Metinsoy referencing Deniz Kandiyoti, emphasized that although Turkish reforms
granted rights to women, the patriarchy was only partially challenged in the Early
Republican period, “not liberating them [women] truly.”244 Durakbaşa stated that in
the same period, “professional identity,” which was shaped by being “sexually
modest” and obeying (preserving) the moral codes, gained importance in the type
of women Ataturk projected; if these qualities were not present, women would lose
respect in the patriarchal society.245 Arat has emphasized that “the development of
female consciousness and female identity” were not on the agenda of Ataturk. He
was more interested in developing educated mothers and wives, who would be the
architects of the future by raising the next generation for the wellbeing of the
nation. Ataturk said in one of his speeches: “The most important duty of woman is
motherhood. The importance of this duty is better understood, if one considers that
the earliest education takes place on one’s mother’s lap. Our nation had decided to
be a strong nation.” In another speech, Atatürk required mothers to be educated
since this would affect the child they raise: “If they [women] really want to be the
mothers of this nation, this is the way.” Arat has argued that Ataturk’s politics were
far away from being feminist. “The new modern woman” was expected to lift the
veil for the sake of having a “civilized nation” but she should still not be extreme in
her choices of clothing and behavior. Maintaining chastity and codes of honor were
243 Zehra F. Arat, “Turkish Women and The Republican Reconstruction of Tradition,” in
Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity, and Power, eds. Fatma Müge Göçek
and Shiva Balaghi (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 63–4.
244 Elif Mahir Metinsoy, “Preface,” in Türk Kadını 1918/1919 (Yeni Harflerle), prep. by Birsen
Talay Keşoğlu and Mustafa Keşoğlu (Istanbul: Kadın Eserleri Kütüphanesi ve Bilgi Merkezi Vakfı,
2010), xxii.
245 Ayşe Durakbaşa, Halide Edip: Türk Modernleşmesi ve Feminizm (Istanbul: İletişim, 2000), 20–
30.
82
equally important.246 Women thus became the symbolic representatives of
Westernization and breaking with the “old” Ottoman state in the new Republic.
Kandiyoti observed that in the late Ottoman State, women’s movement operated in
relation to protection of the fatherland and preparation for the war. In the inner
dynamics, women represented a unity of Ottoman moral and cultural values for the
traditional political actors. Adding that “[…] the vagaries of successive legislative
exercises with respect to personal status and the family attest to the difficulties of
reformative action in this domain until Ataturk severed the gordian knot of
Shariah,” Kandiyoti remarked that women would be a part of nation-making project
of Kemalist revolution which separated of religion and the state in institutions,
which had emphasis on Westernization, Enlightenment values as well “republican
concept of citizenship.”247
4.5. Westernization
Westernization also brought contents and discontents in the new Republic between
young and old generation. Girls were exposed to western style of life through print
and visual culture. A “new woman” in modern life was emerging in the public
sphere, challenging old norms with their fashion, make-up, hairstyle and social
habits, influenced by print and visual culture, creating tension with the older
generation. In the public sphere, another concept which challenged the old norms
246 Zehra F. Arat, “Turkish Women and The Republican Reconstruction of Tradition,” in
Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity, and Power, eds. Fatma Müge Göçek
and Shiva Balaghi (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 58–63.
247 Deniz Kandiyoti, “End of Empire: Islam, Nationalism and Women in Turkey,” in
Women, Islam and the State, ed. Deniz Kandiyoti (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1991), 42–3.
83
was the transformation of the harem and selamlık, which separated men and
women in the private sphere and had been part of Ottoman culture. It was no longer
legally supported by the government; in 1923, Ataturk also removed the veil in
transportation which separated men and women. Women thus penetrated modern
life, no longer being separated from men in the public sphere.248
Westernization was identified with progress and modernization in Early
Republican Turkey.249 What marked western modernity was the significant changes
brought with industrialization and the opposing interest of different classes, pointed
out by Göle. However, Turkish modernization differed from western modernity
because Turkish modernization was shaped by both “the Westernism and
secularism of reformist elites.” Reformists had a broader aim when they secularized
and westernized the women because they were a tool they were using to secularize
the nation as a whole from its former Islamic practices.250
How did the YWCA understand Westernization in Turkey? The YWCA
secretary Lowry saw the West as a role model for Turkey—but she realized that to
some degree Turkey adopted western life in its own way, by taking only the
features it wanted to adapt from the West.251 Turkey’s Westernization was complex
and had many unique elements according to the YWCA staff. They pointed out that
the roots of Westernization went back to the end of the eighteenth century in the
Ottoman State. After losing the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–74 and signing the
Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji, the Ottoman State realized that significant reforms were
248 Zafer Toprak, Türkiye’de Yeni Hayat: İnkılap ve Travma 1908–1928 (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap,
2017), 115–6; Nermin Abadan-Unat, Women in Turkish Society (Leiden: Brill, 1981), 12–3.
249 Zehra F. Arat, “Turkish Women and The Republican Reconstruction of Tradition,” 58.
250 Nilüfer Göle, The Forbidden Modern: Civilization and Veiling (Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press, 1996), 11.
251 “Genevieve Lowry, Annual Report, Confidential, Part II, from September 1929-September
1930,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
84
needed to gain back its power. The beginning of the nineteenth century signified the
Westernization of the army in the Ottoman Empire. One aspect of it was new
techniques and teachers being imported into the Ottoman State from Europe to train
students. The spread of Western educational practices contributed to an increase in
the number of people reading Western plays, novels, poetry and philosophy. In the
1850s, students in the military also interacted with Western culture by going abroad
to countries such as France. Influenced by the ideals of equality and justice, they
demanded reforms to be made in the government with an aim of changing the
Constitution. They not only published their own journals abroad, but also attempted
to get other students to join their movements. Abdülhamid II (r. 1876–1909) tried to
subdue the voices of those new groups by implementing oppressive measures.
However, his actions were futile. His autocratic regime would not be successful in
preventing these ideas from spreading in the Ottoman State.252
Ruth Woodsmall noted that the factors contributing to the liberation of
women were “the increasing number of educated Turkish women, the growing
contact of Turkey with the West, the economic pressure of the World War and high
tide of success of the Nationalists with their aggressive policy of Westernization.”
She added that the Turkish Civil Code was not the beginning of the liberation of
women although it granted legal rights to women. However, she also noted that
geographical differences should be taken into consideration when evaluating these
factors as she added that “In Constantinople women are [were] taking advantage of
their new privileges; in the Interior very few women have any conception of a
change in their position.” Thus, the difference between the interior and
252 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey, November, 1929-June, 1930,” 1–3, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
85
Constantinople, different racial and religious backgrounds made the social
transformation of Turkey more complex.253
In the new Republic, the YWCA staff was concerned that the revolution
was imposed from above.254 The YWCA staff saw this issue as creating challenges
in the society because, in the transition from the old regime to the new regime,
everyone was quite confused regarding how to arrange their lives and their
relationships. The question that occupied the minds of people living in Turkey was
how modern Western culture would be adapted to Turkish culture.255 In the opinion
of the YWCA staff, Westernization was limited in Turkey because it did not reach
all segments of the society; and this aspect of it made the issue more complex. They
concluded that westernization had failed to reach the Anatolian peasants who had
fought the war for Independence.256 The YWCA staff stressed that peasants did not
grasp Westernization thoroughly because they were uneducated and were not
involved. Bureaucrats were in favor of the dissemination of Western ideas and
culture but still wanted to keep these influences under their control. The YWCA
report stated, though without indicating their names, that there were also
reactionary Islamist groups who associated Western ideas with Christianity.
253 Ruth Woodsmall, “Social Conditions in Turkey,” October, 1926, p.2–3, microfilm reel 64,
YWCA-SSC. Another title she added for this report was “Survey of Social Conditions in Turkey.”
While I am referencing the report, I will reference to the former title.
254 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul Turkey,” November 1929-June 1930,” p.23, Box 329,
International Work Folder 7. According to Lowry, two opposed groups existed among women
regarding the issue of voting. The first group’s claim which was characterized by traditional values
and characteristics, was that they did not need to “fight for their right to vote” because “it was
graciously given to them by the men of the country. The second group believed that the fact that
their right to vote was given to them by men was disappointing and offensive— because it placed
men in a superior position compared to women, by making men decision makers with regard to
women’s rights. See “Genevieve Lowry, Annual Report, Confidential, Part III, from September
1929 -September 1930,” p.3, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
255 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul Turkey, November 1929-June 1930,” p.23, Box 329,
International Work Folder 7.
256 Ibid., p.23.
86
Therefore, these Islamists were against a Western lifestyle.257 The veil was not
prohibited by the state. However, according to Lowry, wearing the veil made
someone a “relic” of a world which modern Turkey was no longer a part of.258
There were cases in the Interior where these old codes were challenged by the
YWCA staff. The YWCA Adana secretary Blaisdell was critical of some aspects of
the local culture, especially of the rigid marriage customs every bride in Adana had
to go through. Blaisdell claimed that people expected the bride to act in a
submissive and obedient way, such as speaking in a lower tone of voice, as such
characteristics were valued and appreciated by the people. A bride was expected to
“not to raise her eyes from her help when she was seated before the guests in her
mother’s home” as an act of obedience. Other customs included the bride having to
act unhappy while leaving her father’s house because this would demonstrate
loyalty, and her kissing of the important and elderly guests’ hands, specifically her
mother-in-law’s –who “would control her life.”259 Westernization had failed to
change these customs. Blaisdell reflected on the limited power and independence a
young woman had upon marriage as she mentioned a bride usually had to live in
the house of the groom’s parents where she was tasked with handling household
chores. A bride’s possessions were also under the control of her mother-in-law. In
another case, Givan Effendi (Sir), who had a Greek Parentage, had received a good
education and worked in the congregation, desired a wedding that did not put the
bride to go through all these difficult processes in the name of customs and
traditions. He then requested Dorothea’s mother to organize an American wedding
for him and the orphan girl from Izmir he was planning to marry. Dorothea
257 Ibid., pp.1–3.
258 Genevieve Lowry, “Minarets,” [undated], p.5, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
259 Blaisdell, Missionary Daughter: Witness to the End of the Ottoman Empire, 24–6.
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Blaisdell stressed that the man cared for the girl’s happiness and they eventually
married in Blaisdell’s home in “true American fashion” which afforded more
freedom and advantages for the bride. Not only did the bride and the groom have
the freedom to leave before their wedding guests but the relationship and control
over the bride by the mother-in-law was kept to a minimum.260
The YWCA’s westernization concerns could also be understood at the same
time by reading G. Howland Shaw, who was affiliated with the US Embassy and
studied Turkish families with regard to how they had been affected by the
Westernization process. According to Shaw, different family types and relations in
Turkey varied from one geographical region to another. A peasant family from
Eskişehir adopted different norms in comparison to a merchant’s family in Istanbul.
Contrast is also to the fore in any investigation of Turkish family life. The
present-day apartment home of the descendants of the ruling class of the
Ottoman Empire, chiefly to be found in Istanbul, is one thing; what for want
of a better term can be called the middle-class home of the small merchant
of Istanbul or Izmir is something else; and the peasant home of Anatolia is
the setting for a still third type of family life, differing in important respects
from the two.261
He divided 44 families into three groups for that reason. In Group A, you could see
families from the Pera District, fluent in multiple languages and educated abroad.
They belonged to “the former governing class of the Ottoman Empire.” They
decorated their houses in the modern style. Ancestors of this group had experienced
the Westernization of the Ottoman State in the nineteenth century and had thus
adopted these changes into their lives in an earlier phase. The number of people
260 Blaisdell, Missionary Daughter: Witness to the End of the Ottoman Empire, 24–6.
261 G. Howland Shaw, US Diplomatic Documents on Turkey III: Family life in the Turkish Republic
of the 1930’s, [1933], presented and annotated by Rıfat N. Bali, (Istanbul: The Isis Press, 2007), 18.
88
who were in Group A was decreasing. He guessed that the number of people in
Group A was around 8,000. They were mostly living in Istanbul though a few lived
in Ankara. He described the people in other group in these words: “Group B, if the
idea of class were applicable in Turkey, would be called the middle-class.” In his
categorization, in this group, there were “petty Government officials and army
officers of the lower ranks.” According to Shaw, “this group has felt the full impact
of the recently accelerated Westernization, and it is the group in which the greatest
number of conflicts and the more serious conflicts are to be found,” as parents in
this group were more traditional and conservative in their beliefs and life-styles.
Their circle was limited and they were not in much contact with group A. They had
not studied abroad, and they had not interacted with foreign cultures. They lacked
knowledge of speaking other languages. Their children interacted with modern life
by going to public places such as schools, cinemas, theatres and the like and thus
encountered modern life through these agencies by being exposed to “intensive
Westernization.” He guessed that the number of people in this group was nearly a
million and a half. In the last group, Group C, there were the peasants of Anatolia,
who belonged to the agriculture sector, at least ten million out of thirteen million
population. In this group “Westernization has only just begun to penetrate.” They
were “representing about 80% of the population, has as yet scarcely been touched
by Westernization.”262 Similar to Shaw’s observation, Ruth Woodsmall, the
YWCA’s secretary, observed that the social and economic freedom of women did
not penetrate into the towns of the interior. Besides, in Anatolian villages, not only
one could see still examples of polygamy although it was banned at the time but
262 G. Howland Shaw, US Diplomatic Documents on Turkey III: Family life in the Turkish Republic
of the 1930’s, [1933], 18.
89
also women, having less social freedom, were tied to their old traditions such as
their veils and head-coverings, she noted.263
The new capital of Turkey, Ankara, was an exception in the Interior,
representing “an extreme contrast between the old conservative Oriental town and
the new (for Turkey) ultramodern tendency.” She described a ball –organized by
the state to celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of the Republic—as an
example having all the modern and European characteristics which would be a role
model to the Interior. She wrote: “The influence of Angora in modernizing the
Interior will be greater than Constantinople since Angora is closely in contact with
all parts of the Interior and bears the stamp of being 100% Turkish.” Non-Muslim
women in the Interior, specifically in the villages, were influenced by this slow
progress. Excepting polygamy, she said that they followed a similar lifestyle to
Muslim women by wearing a veil and accepting their husbands as superior in
position. In addition to this, different sects experienced the Westernization at a
different speed because “Protestant communities were always said to be more free
than Orthodox since more in contact with Western influence. But Christians as a
whole were conservative and did not assume an advanced social position.” They
were not dominant in politics as they were a minority and thus went along with
what majority did, in her judgment. In this respect, the new Republic and the new
civil code which changed the lives of Muslim women also transformed the lives of
non-Muslim women.264
263 Ruth Woodsmall, “Social Conditions in Turkey,” October, 1926, p.3–5, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
264 Ruth Woodsmall, “Social Conditions in Turkey,” October, 1926, p.3–6, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
90
Genevieve Lowry, who was involved in the YWCA work, commented that
western trends brought secularism in education: “no religion, even Mohammedism
can be taught in the schools.” Lowry believed that modern Turkish youth were
generally “agnostic.” They were in conflict with the older generation, who thought
that youth lacked the comprehension of ethics and moral values.265
Western trends brought both contentment and discontent in the new
Republican State. The YWCA followed the “clash between the old and new” not
only from the Turkish magazines and newspapers but also through eyewitness
accounts of those conflicts. “A conservative and fearful mother,” who participated
in the discussion session, shared her concerns with the YWCA. She was against her
daughter’s reading any material or book related to “the new ideas” that could
change her daughter in a way that she did not approve of. An ordinary scene for the
YWCA secretaries was to witness some of the older women in charshafs (veils)
bringing their daughters to the parties the YWCA threw. One of those mothers
complained that she had trouble keeping her daughter at home. She preferred her
daughter to go to the YWCA rather than any other place, because the YWCA was a
safe space where she could have entertainment and physical activities at the same
time.266
The YWCA secretaries in many different primary sources used the word
“prepare” often while they were defining their mission in Turkey. They believed
that girls needed to adapt to the new life in Turkey, which was constantly being
transformed. According to secretaries, it could be challenging for the girls, without
the help of secretaries, to adjust to the new changing standards. The YWCA
265 Genevieve Lowry, “Minarets,” undated, p.6, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
266 “Genevieve Lowry, General Secretary Service Centers, Annual Report, Confidential, Part III,
From September 1929- Sept. 1930,” p.14, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
91
justified their help to girls as preparing them for the challenges this new life would
bring.267
4.6. Conclusion
In the early 1910s the discussion of women’s social and educational issues by
women gained momentum in Istanbul. Familial, social and educational structure did
not encourage women to think about their career planning to a great extent in the
early twentieth century. Nationalism became one of the dominant factors which led
a higher number of women willing to join the workforce, and desire access to
education. World War I created a break in the number of women entering the field
of work. Kemalist reforms encouraged women to join working life in patriarchal
and nationalist codes, assigning them the mission to carry the nation to an advanced
level among other countries. Turkish westernization, highlighting generational
conflicts, was experienced differently based on socio-economic status and
geographical factors. The dynamics surrounding women in the 1910s and 1920s
were more built on patriarchal and traditional structures in Istanbul. The state came
up with many legal accomplishments for women in the new Republic, however,
267 “Report of Miss Dorothy E. Brown, April-June 1926, Pera Service Center, Istanbul,” p.4
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. In the booklet, prepared by the YWCA Turkey, under the title of
“Membership Leaflets,” regarding the role of the association in Turkey, again “unpreparedness of
Turkish women” for the modern world was mentioned. The YWCA promoted the idea that they
played a key role in making young women ready for the New Regime. “In this movement of
progress for the women of Turkey, the Young Women’s Christian association is playing a vital role.
As a woman’s organization representing Christian ideals, it is peculiarly fitted to bridge the gap for
the Turkish women between the unpreparedness of the present and their opportunity for the future.”
Membership leaflets, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
92
how those reforms actually challenged the patriarchal social order and gender codes
were another question.
93
CHAPTER V
FROM STAY-AT-HOME WOMEN TO CAREER-MINDED
WOMEN: THE ISTANBUL YWCA
By examining the labor policies of the Young Women’s Christian Association in
Istanbul from 1919 to 1930, this chapter argues that the YWCA’s mainly American
staff were critical of women who did not have career goals and who wanted to stay
at home—because their idea of being “an individual” meant working, or at least
having a career goal. They contributed to encouraging young women to develop
individuality and exercise self-expression by guiding them to be independent
career-oriented women. By establishing an Employment Bureau, offering business
training, and organizing talks on working women, the YWCA encouraged young
women to gain their financial independence and pushed them towards making
active decisions about their careers, detaching them from parental and societal
authority. For the YWCA’s American staff, working for oneself and focusing on
one’s own career became the key to taking control of one’s life and pursuing one’s
own happiness and potential, all of which were part of attaining a sense of
individuality. This prioritizing having a career over marriage and motherhood
contributed to feminist activism in both the late Ottoman State and Early
94
Republican Turkey at the same time. The YWCA praised women who rose in their
profession despite all the difficulties and societal pressures they experienced. This
chapter also claims that the YWCA, by encouraging women to plan their lives and
to set career goals, indirectly promoted the liberation of women from their family
ties and marriage responsibilities and encouraged them to put their individual needs
first. The YWCA’s mainly American staff at the Istanbul centers promoted the
value of a professional identity for women beyond the bounds of nationalistic duty
or motherhood, which contrasted with the late Ottoman state’s and Early
Republican Turkey’s ideologies while simultaneously challenging gender roles and
patriarchal codes. The Committee of Union and Progress [CUP], in charge of the
government in 1913, supported women entering the paid workforce on a short-term
basis, whilst directing women towards an ultimate goal of marriage. In the Early
Republican period, women’s working rights legally were inferior compared to men
since women were not assigned legally as breadwinners of the family, needed
husband’s permission to work and still they had to maintain their primary roles as
wives and mothers. Atatürk encouraged women to have jobs, careers, and
participate in charitable work projects, but at the same time he expected them to be
educated mothers and wives because mothers had the responsibility to raise the next
generation. For Atatürk, motherhood and nationalism were concepts inextricably
linked with each other. In one of his speeches, he stated that women had a vital
mission due to their maternal roles because a nation’s power depended on mothers
passing educational skills on to their children.268 By contrast, the Istanbul YWCA
268 Zehra F. Arat, “Turkish Women and The Republican Reconstruction of Tradition,” in
Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity, and Power, eds. Fatma Müge Göçek
and Shiva Balaghi (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 60–1.
95
promoted having a profession without emphasizing motherhood and marriage, thus
contrasting with the late Ottoman state’s and Early Republican Turkey’s
ideologies—while simultaneously challenging traditional and patriarchal codes.
5.1. Stay-at-home Women
Outside Istanbul, in Merzifon, Adana, Sivas and Izmir, the YWCA interacted with
female factory workers in the late Ottoman state. Conditions in Istanbul were
markedly different and posed new challenges for the YWCA. There, interacting
with a high number of young women based largely in the home, the organization
had to develop strategies actively to encourage young women to pursue paid work
opportunities.
In a city which was hard hit by the financial and economic crisis of 1919,269
the YWCA defined “one of the first tasks” as conducting research on the
employment of young women in Istanbul. Margaret B. White, the General
Secretary of the Istanbul YWCA, “estimated” that in January 1919, the number of
women living in the city who worked at offices was 299, the number of factory
female workers was 700, the number of women who worked in the telephone sector
269 The war and the poor conditions it brought upon people not only destroyed the trade to the point
of barely existing but also decreased the purchasing power of the local people, further hampering
their financial sources. Elizabeth Dodge Huntington, a YWCA volunteer in Turkey, who was
involved in Robert College and American College for Girls, blamed the state as they were deaf to
the problems of ignored orphans and widows who suffered the most from the conditions mentioned
above, by not creating any special policies for them. Huntington revealed that “Djavid Bey, Minister
of Finance, said publicly in 1918 that the cost of living had increased over nineteen hundred per cent
during the War.” She continued that the poor could only buy low quality bread in small amounts.
She described people who had had adequate financial sources before the war who now begged for
bread. See E. Dodge Huntington, “In Constantinople during the War,” [reprinted from Women's
International Quarterly] (1919), The Muslim World, 10: 36–41.
96
was 200 and the number of young women worked at shops, stores, and the like
were 500, a total of only 1700.270 The population of the city was estimated to be
1,104,984.271 In another study, the YWCA concluded that the number of women
who worked in factories in Istanbul was very low. The proportion of women
staying at home as well as types of paid employment taken up young women drew
the attention of the YWCA staff:
The facts showed that there were practically no factories in the city, where
women were employed except a large tobacco company, with a very low
class of women employees, but many girls were at work in the tiny eastern
shops for sewing, weaving, rug mending, etc., also many young women
were to be found in in shops, stores, banks, business and government
offices. The conclusions also revealed that the Turkish young women had
for the first time gone into employment outside the home and it was now
considered proper for any young woman to leave the shelter of her home to
go into an office position. Here then was a real field of service for the
YWCA with these employed women; besides the whole large number of
girls accustomed to staying at home after a short schooling of about six
years with almost nothing to do but learn a bit of French, music,
embroidery, and painting; and all the younger school girl group.272
In November 1920, 870 YWCA members were asked to fill out a questionnaire
about their occupations. According to the survey, 589 of them did not relate
themselves with any jobs and categorized themselves “at home” whereas the
270 Margaret White, letter to Miss Lyon, April 13, 1919, Constantinople, p.1 microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC. White wrote, the “nationality of [the] girls- Greek, Jew and Armenian. It is of peculiar
interest that Mohammedan girls have begun to be employed in public places only since the war.”
She added that Muslim women had started to work in the tobacco factory, in a small number of
stores and candy stores, and in the Turkish Post office. In the stores, young women worked at least
10 hours a day while they worked only 9 hours a day in the tobacco factories. White further noted
that “wages are low. In stores 5 to 7 liras a month. Young apprentices (14 or 15) are taken in with no
wage” or sometimes were paid a pittance. Women who worked in factories were paid better when
compared to those in the stores. In 1921, even the ones who worked received low wages. See Vesper
Bell, “Near East: Report on Finance, Economic and Business Conditions,” July 1921, pp.1–2,
microfilm reel 64, YWCA-SSC.
271 Fred Field Goodsell, “Historical Setting,” in Constantinople To-Day; or the Pathfinder Survey of
Constantinople; a Study in Oriental Social Life, ed. C. R. Johnson, (New York: Macmillan, 1922),
17–20.
272 M. B. White, “Report of the Constantinople YWCA 1919 to 1924,” p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
97
number of clerks and saleswomen was 121, the number of doctors and nurses was
10, teachers 54, students 23, and the number of dressmakers were 17. Job
categories in which the numbers were fewer than 10 included hairdressers and
manicurists, cooks, dentists, governesses, house keepers, photographers, painters,
stenographers, social workers, and telephone operators.273
Between January and November 1921, the number of members who stayed
at home was 75 percent; only 20 percent of the members worked in offices, banks,
shops and schools.274 In January 1922, in Pera Center alone, out of 886 women, the
number of women who stayed at home was 685 out of 886. The number of
saleswomen was 62 whereas the number of students was 49, teachers 38 with the
rest pursuing other occupations.275 On March 7, 1922, out of 206 at the Stamboul
Center, stay at home women numbered 118 whereas the number of students was 41,
the number of teachers was 10, the number of secretaries was eight, the number of
273 “Membership Report, Report of November 1920,” microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
274 [White], “Report of Miss Margaret B. White, General Secretary, to Constantinople Y.W.C.A.
Service Center, From January thru’ November 1921,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. In 1921,
in the Stamboul Service Center (which excludes the Pera Center), out of 165 members, there were
72 Turks, 37 Armenians, 32 Greeks. The rest included nationalities from America, Russia, Tartar,
Hebrew, Albania. Out of 165 members, there were 80 Muslims, 32 Orthodox Christians, 22
Protestants, 27 Gregorians, 4 Catholics, 2 Jewish people. See Report of Miss Clara Bissell, Secretary
of the Stamboul Service Center, May 1 to December1, 1921, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
According to their nationalities, in November 1920, out of 870, there were 425 Armenians, 225
Greeks, 19 Turks, 94 Hebrews, and 29 Russians. In Istanbul, the lowest numbers of members were
from Bulgaria, Belgium, Switzerland, Syria, Spain, Poland, Egypt and France. The number of
Turkish women increased heavily once the Republic was set. The YWCA was popular among young
women 16–19; their number was 400 out of 870 whereas the number of women who were 20–24
years old was 266, and 25–30 years old was 130, and age 31 and above was 71. See “Membership
Report, Service Center Y.W.C.A., Constantinople, Report of November, November, 1920,”
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. In 1930, the number of Turkish girls in Pera Center decreased while
it was high in Stamboul Center. Out of 246, only 16 was Turkish. The YWCA Pera Center aimed to
raise the number of Turkish girls in Pera Center. See “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul,
Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.91–2, Box 329 Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
275 “Report of Y.W.C.A. Membership, January 3, 1922, Pera Babek [sic] Constantinople,” microfilm
reel 64, YWCA-SSC. The number of young women whose average was 12–16 years old was 11,
16–20 years old was 359, 20–30 years old was 319 and 30 and above was 97 out of 886 in Pera
Center. According to nationality; 22 of them were American, 272 of them were Armenian, 319 of
them were Greek, 22 of them were Turkish, 59 of them were Russian, 127 of them were Hebrew and
the rest included nationalities such as Australian, Austrian, Belgian, Bulgarian, English, French,
Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Czechoslovakian, Serbian, Swiss, Syrian and Spanish.
98
typists was four, and the rest included young women who were nurses, secretaries,
dentist apprentice’s, dressmakers, telephone operators bookkeepers, treasurers, and
the like.276 In January 1926, the YWCA’s Pera Center reported that the number of
its members who stayed at home was 565 while the number of teachers was 25, the
number of students was 23, the number of clerks was 13 and the number of
secretaries was seven. Only one doctor, one nurse, and one dressmaker attended the
YWCA courses.277 In 1928, out of 183 members in the YWCA’s Pera Center, the
number of women who recorded the home as their occupation was 127, while
students numbered 24, teachers 16, nurses 6, and business secretarial workers 7. In
1928, in the YWCA’s Stamboul Service Center, out of 615 members, 526 of them
categorized themselves at staying at home, and the rest included students, clerks,
teachers, secretarial workers, maids, telephone operators, nurses, maids,
governesses.278
In 1929, when filling in their course registration forms and answering the
question related to jobs, a high number of young women filled in their occupation
as “home” on the forms.279 The number of young women who stayed at home with
whom the YWCA interacted was excessive, and this was a big concern for the
secretaries. They strongly insisted that the progress of an individual was related
276 “Statistics for Stamboul Service Center Constantinople, March 7, 1922,” microfilm reel 64,
YWCA-SSC. Out of 206, in Stamboul Center, the majority of them were Turkish young women,
numbering 97 while the number of Greeks were 34, the number of Armenians were 45, the number
of Americans were 7 and the rest included nationalities such as Albanian, Arab, Belgian, Circassian,
Georgian, Hebrew, Irish, Levantine, Syrian and Tartar. The number of women who were 13–16
years old was 57, while the number of women who were 16–20 years old were 77 whereas 20–30
years old numbered 59, and over 30 years old numbered 30.
277 “Report of January 1926, Pera Service Center,” [Dorothy Brown’s section], microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
278 C. L. Bissell, “Constantinople Service Centers. January, 1928,” pp.17–8, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
279 “Constantinople Service Centers Rules and Regulations for Board of Directors Adopted (15
May 1929),” p.25, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
99
with being in touch with the outside world, being social and having access to
education.280
Key YWCA personnel were critical of the trend for young women not
taking up paid employment, and staying “at home.” Margaret B. White argued that
being unemployed was not only non-productive but also caused young women to
become internalized and dwell too much on themselves. For White, working meant
a distraction from one’s personal problems in offering relaxation and escape.281
She concluded that the number of women who attended the YWCA’s
Service Center for activities was relatively low from 1919 to 1924 because women
undertook responsibilities to their elders at home. She stressed that “Sunday is the
day in this land when daughters are expected to stay at home to help their mothers
receive, or to make calls or go to entertainments with their parents.”282 While
traditional family values and obedience were the basis of society and of
foundational importance, young women’s responsibility to their families and their
elders was constructed here as having a constraining effect on their social lives. A
Greek mother’s three daughters Marianthi, Katina and Cornelia attended the
YWCA’s Stamboul Service Center. When the mother lost her son, the secretary of
the YWCA spoke to the family. “We hope the mother was persuaded that the
Service Center needs the loyal support of the girls, and that the girls will be better
off in active lives than sitting at home and mourning according to the Greek
custom.” Contrary to their customs, girls continued to participate in the YWCA
280 M. B. White, “Service Center Y.W.C.A., Constantinople, Report of November 1920,” p.2,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
281 M. B. White, “Report of Constantinople Service Center. April 1920,” p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
282 M. B. White, “Report of the Constantinople Y.W.C.A. 1919 to 1924,” p.3, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
100
classes which they could certainly not have done without the help of the
association.283
Another factor which contributed to young women’s staying at home was
the gendered bias within the education system in Turkey, according to the key
YWCA personnel. The wealthy parents usually provided their daughters private
education; this meant that girls “are kept at home and tutored in a strange mixture
of languages, in piano lessons and painting.”284 The low number of schools for
girls, as well as their difficulty of access, represented another concern for the
YWCA staff. A high number of Muslim and Christian girls lacked school
education and even the ones who began schooling tended to quit once they reached
the ages of 12–14 years in the late Ottoman State. White added that while Christian
and Jewish families did not send their daughters to schools because they were not
able to pay private school expenses, the government schools were also not an
option, because “no Christian or Jew wishes his children to attend the government
schools in Turkey.”285 YWCA staff critiqued the quality of school education too:
“the home training and whole education system of the country are against any selfexpression
in children or any development through play.”286 In contrast, in their
membership leaflets, the Istanbul YWCA promoted self-expression as a quality that
girls and young women could gain by joining the organization, through first being
led into spheres of community service and civic consciousness:
283 “Report of Miss Margaret B. White, General Secretary, Summer months,” 1925, p.3, microfilm
reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
284 M. B. White, “Summary Report of Y.W.C.A. Constantinople; October 1st 1922 to July 1st 1923,”
p.7, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
285 “Summary Report of Y.W.C.A. Constantinople; Miss B. White October 1st. 1922 to July 1st,
1923,” p.7, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
286 [White], “Report of Miss Margaret B. White, General Secretary, to Constantinople Y.W.C.A.
Service Center, From January thru’ November 1921,” p.3, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. In
orphanages, these features could be seen as well. When children at orphanages were introduced to
people, they did not smile, having “a stiff formal manner.”
101
Young married women and girls of leisure who have never had in Turkey
the outlets for self-expression so widely enjoyed by American women are
being led into channels of community service through the Y.W.C.A., and a
new civic consciousness is thus being created.287
In everyday life, young women’s access to public space was under the supervision
of their mothers, and the YWCA’s work also had to negotiate these intergenerational
politics. Especially in relation to girls, one of the problems which
caught the attention of the Istanbul YWCA secretaries was the often overprotective
attitudes of mothers in terms of not “trust[ing] their children to be on the streets
alone,” which was thought to make it challenging for girls to come to YWCA
centers alone.288 The Girl Guide Group289 of the YWCA, which was organized for
girls under 16 years old, held a required meeting every Saturday afternoon for
activities; it was of concern for the parents because of the possibility that “the Girl
Guide movement would take their girls out of the home.” Miss Clarke, who worked
for this movement in schools such as Gedik Pasha, had a hard time persuading the
parents to allow their daughters to join.290 When young women married, they
needed to get permission from their husbands to continue attending. Claire L.
Bissell was surprised by a friend’s overprotecting attitude over his wife, as he did
not give her permission to pass from Beyazıt Square, believing that it was a
dangerous place to walk through. Bissell wrote, “… those of us without husbands
287 “The Y.W.C.A. in Turkey,” Membership Leaflets No. 39–40, undated, [History section],
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
288 [White], “Report of Miss Margaret B. White, General Secretary, to Constantinople Y.W.C.A.
Service Center, From January thru’ November 1921,” p.4, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
289 They wanted them to train them in being leaders of troops.
290 Margaret B. White, “Report of Constantinople Service Center, April 1920, p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC. In the eyes of the parents, according to White, the war already changed their
daughters’ behaviors and morals in a negative way. When the girls joined this group, some parents
became anxious regarding what they saw as the “military side of the movement.” Because of the
“perverted conception of the whole movement,” the YWCA personnel decided to work on this
program.
102
negotiate it safely several times a day.” Bissell wondered sarcastically whether her
friend’s wife had used the tram all the time to reach the YWCA center when she
was taking language courses there.291
In Istanbul in this period, parents had authority over their daughters, making
it difficult for girls to make personal decisions. The YWCA secretaries regularly
stressed that they were bothered by this concept of family authority which they
found quite different, and certainly much stricter, than their American experiences.
White pointed out that parents and teachers were the control mechanisms that
limited young women’s ability to use judgement and the process of making choices:
Our clubs have been specifically useful to the general membership in
developing individual girl, for the young women here are so accustomed to
being brought up under the thumb of a mother, the strict authority of a
father, and a stern teacher at school, that they lack in push and initiative
very greatly.292
The mothers of young women were involved in most areas of decision-making
regarding the lives of their daughters. Even most educated young women needed to
obtain their mother’s consent and permission to work in the public space, as
reported by the Istanbul YWCA:
Miss Clary has made inquiries and finds that while the mothers of most of
the girls who have taken the course were willing that their daughters take
typing, they still hesitate about allowing the girls to go into offices where
men are employed. There is still enough of the old conservatism that carries
over into this field.293
291 Clara L. Bissell, “Annual Report, January 1, 1931, not for publication,” microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
292 M. B. White, “Report of the Constantinople Y.W.C.A. 1919 to 1924,” p.3, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
293 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.71, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
103
YWCA staff were concerned too with the potential drive and ambition that young
women had in relation to work. According to a collaborative research project
conducted in 1920 by several American agencies including the YWCA, female
store workers lacked ambition and had no career goals, as working in stores was
simply seen as a temporary occupation for them. The organization interpreted this
as the female employees lacking a notion of professionalism; their only goal in life
was to get married and have families (as suggested by the evidence of their quitting
work when on marriage). It was believed this attitude also affected the women’s
work performance in a negative way, as female store workers sold less than male
store workers and often seemed more passive when engaging with customers.294
Marriage was perceived as a career in and of itself. The YWCA staff
stressed that women in the new Republic actually had many options other than
marriage. They could choose to obtain a bachelor’s degree or to go to work. Within
this context, Nebahat Karaorman, who taught at the Chapa Normal School and also
worked for the YWCA, suggested that any woman could pursue a career regardless
of whether they were married or single. It was possible for a married woman to
pursue her studies at a university while also having a husband and children. There
were other examples, such as a wife who worked with her famous doctor husband
in the same clinic. Yet another example was a woman who was in charge of the
direction of a magazine with her husband in the same publication house. Marriage
would not thus be an excuse or a valid reason for not working, in the eyes of the
YWCA staff.295 Karaorman was also not in favor of arranged marriages.
294 L. S. Moore, “Some phases of Industrial Life” in Constantinople To-Day; or the Pathfinder
Survey of Constantinople; a Study in Oriental Social Life, ed. C. R. Johnson (New York:
Macmillan, 1922), 183–8.
295 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.22, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC
104
Karaorman was additionally critical of the system in Turkey under which young
women and men had to marry without even seeing each other before their wedding.
The critique here was that parents were too focused on financial issues in deciding
whom their sons and daughters were to marry, which prevented their daughters
from making their own choices in respect of their personal lives. Even in the new
Republic, old traditions and conservative expectations were relevant in some of the
families of Istanbul which she observed. She said, “In spite of the doing away with
our veils and “charshafs” and appearing in modern costumes, I can say that we do
not have yet a real social life in Turkey. Many of the daughters of our middle class
families still suffer under the chains of the old system marriage.”296
Directing women to work and finding jobs for them was one of the main
goals of the Istanbul YWCA. One of the main centers of the YWCA was at the
heart of Pera, a strategic location due to its close proximity to the Pera Palas Hotel,
the American Embassy, business offices, banks, and lycées such as St. Benoit and
Galatasaray, and the Tunnel which connected Galata with Pera. The YWCA staff
stated that in Pera, “not only can the working girls be reached easily, but the type of
the girl ‘who stays at home.’ ”297 The other YWCA center in Istanbul was located at
Beyazıt, close to the universities, schools, cafeterias and the Bazaar. From that
center, making contact with young working women was difficult, especially when
compared to the Pera Center. However, the number of young Turkish women who
296 “Nebahat Hanem’s Answer: Certainly the New System!” Milliyet, March 26, 1930, microfilm
reel 63, YWCA-SSC. Nebahat Hanım was very happy that child marriages had been abolished in the
new Republic; one had to be at least 17 to get married by law. Arranged marriages did not
encourage young women and men to mingle in social life. However, according to Nebahat Hanım,
“the freedom to choose a husband or a wife gives home life a new meaning.”
297 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.32, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
105
attended the Stamboul Center of the YWCA was higher than the Pera Center which
was more diverse in ethnicity.298
It is not as accessible to business girls as the Pera Center, for in Stamboul
the business offices are mostly in the immediate neighborhood of the
Bridge. But on the other hand, it can reach the type of quiet, timid Turkish
girl who has never been ‘drawn out of her shell’ and has never had in the
past such opportunities as a Service Center can give.299
5.2. The Employment Bureau
Multiple associations were interested in directing women towards positions as
tailors and seamstresses in the late Ottoman State during the First World War.
These included the Charitable Women's Organization for the Consumption of Local
Products, the Ottoman Society for the Defense of Women’s Rights, the Ottoman
Turkish Club for the Protection of Women, and the Turkish Women Tailor’s
Cutting Home.300 The Red Crescent Embroidery Work-Room, which had operated
since the Balkan War, was originally meant for Turkish war widows and Muslim
refugees from Thrace. It gave jobs to “150 girls and women at the work-room and
gave employment to 100 home-workers.”301 The Trinity Church Workroom offered
employment based around Armenian handwork, while a Greek Employment
scheme, the Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society was active in offering
298 Ibid., p.33.
299 Ibid., p.32.
300 Kadir Yıldırım, Osmanlı’da İşçiler (1870–1922): Çalışma Hayatı, Örgütler, Grevler (Istanbul:
İletişim, 2013), 94–5.
301 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Survey of the Social Agencies in the Near East,” August 1925, p.26. The
title was strikethrough text “Survey of the Social Agencies in Turkey,” Box 63, Folder 7–11, Series
V. Professional Activities: YWCA, Post-WWI, Field Surveys, Near East, Reports, Interim,1921–
1928, Ruth Woodsmall Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
106
employment in embroidery and laundry. Foreign employment schemes included the
Near East Relief which sought employment for Turkish, Armenian, Greek and
Russian refugees in stitching and needlework while the American Welfare
Workshop and salesroom supported women in dressmaking, although the majority
of applicants compromised of Russians. Among the Employment Bureaus in
Istanbul, however, the Armenian Central Committee’s employment office at the
Trinity Church provided jobs only for Armenians. The Jewish War Sufferers
established an employment Bureau; yet the employment they offered for women
was quite limited and not a success. Using a League of Nations office, the
International Labour Bureau supported an Employment Bureau for Russian
refugees in the early 1920s, which the Russians managed. Operating only in a
limited scale, originally this was the first Zemstvos Employment Bureau.302 Enver
Pasha founded the Society for the Employment of Ottoman Muslim Women to
provide temporary work for war widows during WWI and operated until 1923; the
aim was to preserve the honor and chastity of women by offering them short-term
employment, while at the same time directing women towards marriage and
quitting their jobs, allowing their husbands to be the breadwinners. While the range
of jobs to which they directed women was quite various compared to other
Employment Bureaus, creating a profession opportunity for women was not the
main goal of the Society for the Employment of Ottoman Muslim Women. Board
members, composed of male officials from the Committee of Union and Progress,
were more concerned by the disintegration of family ties due to women’s joining
302 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Survey of the Social Agencies in the Near East,” August 1925, pp.25–32.
The title was strikethrough text “Survey of the Social Agencies in Turkey,” Box 63, Folder 7–11,
Series V. Professional Activities: YWCA, Post-WWI, Field Surveys, Near East, Reports, Interim,
1921–1928, Ruth Woodsmall Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
107
the workforce. Therefore, they came up with a law (an article), obliging women
members to marry at a certain age.303
White stressed that the YWCA staff needed to conduct research regarding
employment conditions of the city, because unskilled and unsheltered women
would greatly benefit from the services of the YWCA. The young women seemed
pessimistic about their futures, according to White. She had spent enough time with
them to come to the conclusion that young women were quite “discouraged with
life.” There were many reasons why young women were disheartened in general. In
the war they had often witnessed the deaths of their family members, and many
were dispossessed with nowhere to live - all of which contributed to feelings that
“life does not seem worth living.” White also wanted to create job opportunities for
young women discouraged by the war: “The employment situation, if our survey at
all favorable – would help girls who have training but no homes, nor start to get on
their feet again.” 304 In 1919, the cost of living was very expensive in Istanbul; due
to the war, the Turkish lira had lost its value and inflation was out of control. The
highest wage one could earn working at housework was around 3 dollars while the
price of a shoe was $25 while a suit $75. The war even increased the price of a loaf
of bread, though after America started to supply flour to Turkey, the price of bread
did drop for a while. In a country which was hit hard by the financial and economic
crisis it was also important for the YWCA to find employment opportunities for
young women.305 White, in her research related to employment, included this
information in a letter she received from a committee member:
303 Karakışla, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Savaş Yılları ve Çalışan Kadınlar, (1916–1923), 75–200.
304 “Copy of letter from Margaret White to Miss Lyon, March 18, 1919,” p.2, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
305 “Copy of letter from Margaret White to Miss Lyon, March 18, 1919,” Constantinople,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
108
I expect some plan for industrial work among women and girls will be
worked out. Thousands are out of employment and nothing is being done
for them. It occurs to me, that an industrial secretary to take up the girl
problem might work in most wonderfully in connection with the more
general work of our relief committee.306
Ruth F. Woodsmall, who was in charge of the Near East divisions of the YWCA
and Turkey was also critical of the approach of employment bureaus in the region:
Constantinople presents a very great lack of employment bureau on
anything like a scientific plan with any idea of public service. The paid
employment bureaus without exception are very hit-or-miss affairs, with no
system of investigation or follow-up and no study of economic conditions
and needs. They are purely commercial and for the most part have a very
ordinary second-rate clientele, both of employer and employee.307
The YWCA staff, observing that “the thousands [were] out of employment” and the
state also lacked policies for the employment of women,308 wanted to create job
opportunities for women free of charge regardless of their nationality, ethnicity or
religion.309 By 1919, the Istanbul YWCA was already engaged in employment
work. White was personally interested in placing young women into jobs. In one
month, she received 30 applications for positions. Ten of them were placed in jobs
by the Istanbul YWCA whereas the rest were unemployed. Value judgments were
made about the different commitment and capacities of the young women. In
White’s words, women “who are not ready for hard work have not been helped.”310
306 Margaret White, letter to Miss Lyon [Sarah S.Lyon], April 13, 1919, Constantinople, p.2
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
307 R. F. Woodsmall, “Survey of the Social Agencies in the Near East,” [The title was strikethrough
text], August 1925, p. 29.
308 Elizabeth Dodge Huntington, “In Constantinople during the War,” The Muslim World, 10:36–41.
309 C. L. Bissell, “Constantinople Service Centers, January, 1928,” p.12, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
310 M. B. White, “Report for July 1919,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
109
The Istanbul YWCA officially set up an Employment Bureau in 1920. The
service was provided for free; all nationalities could apply to different job
positions.311 The secretaries painted a unified picture of the center, stressing that
everyone was equal in the association, and that “race, money, [or] class” did not
matter.312 Both the economic conditions affecting the employment rate and the
applicants lack of training313 were major concerns to the YWCA when they opened
the Employment Bureau. Many women came to the YWCA with very high
expectations. In White’s opinion, the employment registry which was set up by the
YWCA offered young women an opportunity to find what they were looking for; it
broadened their ideas about work and aimed to find suitable jobs for them.
However, the YWCA secretaries were also critical of some applicants, whom they
assumed would prefer “‘an easy place,’ with good wages and no work.”314 Because
of this, not all applications were included in the registry system as it would be
“impossible” to have a job category that would fit these latter requirements.315
Notably, there were a high number of Russian refugees316 who applied to the
311 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Survey of the Social Agencies in the Near East, August 1925,” p.29.
312 C. L. Bissell, “Constantinople Service Centers. January, 1928,” p.13, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC. There were cases in which the YWCA not only found jobs but also provided shelter.
After working as a servant in a Turkish family, an Armenian girl who had nowhere to stay and work
after the war, was sheltered at the YWCA for a while. The YWCA arranged to find her a job and
stay with an Armenian family later on. See Margaret B. White, “Report of Constantinople Service
Center, April 1920,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
313 Woodsmall, “Survey of the Social Agencies in the Near East,” p.29.
314 Margaret B. White, “Report of Constantinople Service Center, April 1920,” p.1, microfilm reel
63, YWCA-SSC.
315 M. B. White, “Report of Constantinople Service Center, April 1920,” p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
316 “The types of employment available for [Russian] women have been domestic service, few
clerical positions, casual sewing and teaching, et cetera, and work in restaurants and [sic] cafes.
Although there have been more openings in domestic service than [sic] in other lines, this form of
employment has been reluctantly entered by Russian women for two reasons: First, they have had no
training and have little knowledge of household work, and Secondly [sic], taking up domestic
servicemeans [sic] separation from the rest of their families. The large majority of the Russian
women refugees are married and are supporting dependents, many of them “carrying their husbands
on their back” as the phrase goes. Domestic service pays very badly, offering a bare living which is
not sufficient for family support. Incidentally the conditions of work in the homes of the people of
the country, Greek and Turkish, are most unsatisfactory and unpleasant. Clerical works, stenography
110
employment registry of the YWCA to be interpreters, but in the opinion of the
YWCA staff they were unrealistic dreamers, because no city could possibly need
such high numbers of interpreters. The “impossible” demands and dreams of young
women were at times problematic for the YWCA, despite the organization’s wider
aim of encouraging women’s individual aspirations.317
There were practical challenges too, including difficulties in communication
within Istanbul. Without telephones, reaching an applicant quickly was sometimes
difficult, and there were cases in which letters were not received by the applicants
or arrived earlier or later than expected, which created confusion:318
From the very beginning of our work came the need of finding employment
for young women. In a city where the telephone is non-existent in the great
majority of homes, where addresses are almost impossible to locate, where
thousands of refugees are seeking work, the problem has been enormous. It
has only been possible to register young women coming to us with
references, and on the other hand to register the few positions available:
chiefly domestic service or governess work. We have tried to fit the woman
to the need as best we could. A young woman of the country who speaks
several languages has assisted in the employment department and for a year
and a half has handled it herself. We also try to find suitable positions for
the girls who take our commercial training, although such positions are very
scarce at present with the great depression in business.319
and typing positions have been much in demand. Trained, experienced stenographers and typists
with a knowledge of French or English, several of them have succeeded in securing positions and
have steadily improved their condition, but there have been on the whole many more applicants than
positions.” See “Russian Women Restaurant Workers’ Need for Hosted Constantinople,” March 10,
1922, microfilm reel 64 YWCA-SSC.
316 M. B. White, “Report of Constantinople Service Center, April 1920,” p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
317 White, “Report of Constantinople Service Center, April 1920,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
318 White, “Report of Constantinople Service Center, April 1920,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
319 White, “Report of the Constantinople Y.W.C.A 1919 to 1924,” p.3, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
111
The YWCA acted as a mediator between the employers and potential employees.
Each month 15 positions were filled.320 White noted: “In figures I can report 106
for employment applications to May ist [sic] 1920; with 45 placed. Out of the 61
not placed, many never returned the second time, others did not fit the positions we
could find.”321 Yet, from October to December 1920, the number of women seeking
positions increased steadily; the women who registered as looking for jobs was 26
in October, 34 in November, and 66 in December. Concurrently, the number of
women who were placed in jobs was 8 in October, 19 in November and 36 in
December.322 The number of women who applied to the Bureau grew in number in
the following year as well:
Employment for women of all nationalities–Armenians, Greeks, Russians–
is carried on thru’ our Service center. This work has not been easy because
there is almost no employment to be found except domestic service,
governesses, nurses and office work to a small degree. Our totals from June
to October 1921 are as follows: Registrations 799, Placements 237, Orders
427, Not Reported 63, No. Refused, 155.323
The number of young women the Employment Bureau served per month was listed
as 255 on March 29, 1922.324 Considering that the number of recorded members in
this year was 1092,325 at least one fifth of the recorded members interacted with the
Employment Bureau and looked for jobs. Job orders the YWCA received included
320 Ibid., p.29.
321 Margaret B. White, “Report of Constantinople Service Center, April 1920,” p.1, microfilm reel
63, YWCA-SSC.
322 [White], “Constantinople Service Center Y.W.C.A. Report of General Secretary Margaret B.
White for the month of December, 1920,” p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
323 “Report of Miss Margaret B. White, General Secretary, to Constantinople Y.W.C.A. Service
Center, From January thru’ November 1921,” p.4, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
324 “Facts About the Y.W.C.A. In Constantinople,” March 29, 1922, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
325 Brochure, “Young Womens [sic] Christian Association: ‘Facts About the Y.W.C.A. In
Constantinople,’ ” March 29, 1922, Box 1, Folder 10, YWCA in the Near East, General, 1920–1964,
n.d., Elizabeth Dodge Huntington Clarke Papers, YWCA-SSC.
112
cooks, office workers, teachers, nurses, maids and governesses.326 The YWCA
secretaries, operating like state employed social workers, acted as a mediator
between the employer and the employee by trying to place women into different
jobs in a bureaucratic manner:
We feel much encouraged by the employment work because you will see by
the following report that we have been able to increasingly help the women
coming to us for positions. Our employment secretary has been spending
more time than we first planned in being here to answer the requests and the
applicants as they come, hence I feel that we should ask her to give her
whole time for employment and the commercial course.327
The YWCA would often direct young women to employers with whom the
organization had established networks. Whether they would get the job or not was
not certain, and “much depends upon the individual case,” as Helen Kalaydjoglou,
the YWCA secretary in the Commercial Department in Pera Center, noted. The
ones who were incompetent or unskilled would naturally get rejected by employers.
Job opportunities for the “well-qualified” woman included working in banks,
offices, and big companies as typists and stenographers. Kalaydjoglou stated that
“others are [were] mere filing clerks, and others hold the positions of cashiers in big
shops.” The YWCA’s courses on business were thus beneficial for women who
were willing to be employed, but there were also young women who attended
courses without a particular opportunity in mind; Kalaydjoglou identified the latter
as “the leisure type who will never go out to work.” Placing such young women
into jobs was much more difficult, taking more time, because they lacked interest
and enthusiasm. Many women who were placed by the YWCA to a job position
326 “Employment Bureau Report, Nov. 1–30, 1922,” microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
327 “Constantinople Service Center Y.W.C.A. Report of General Secretary Margaret B. White for the
month of December, 1920,” p.2.
113
would show their appreciation and thankfulness to the YWCA secretaries, stressing
that “the special training” of the YWCA had helped them to find a job. A young
woman who was placed in such jobs would usually earn, “60 Turkish pounds [sic]
to 120.” A top stenographer could earn “120 Turkish pounds [sic].”328 According to
the 1929–1930 report of the YWCA staff, a woman worker earned a good salary if
she worked in the office jobs of the foreign embassies and foreign business
companies. The salaries women got in foreign schools however were low compared
to what they could earn working in the embassies or firms.329 Still, women who
learned foreign languages were one step ahead of the others when they applied for
the jobs.330 In 1924, it was hard for the secretaries to calculate the salaries women
earned in each job since the government did not set a fixed amount of wage. The
salary range and working hours were determined by many factors, depending on the
market, profession, education, institutions, and geography. Most of the firms
offered lower wages. The highest paying jobs for women were in working at a
foreign company and embassy as an office worker. However, top female paid jobs
did not include sectors like foreign educational institutions.331 Still, women who
worked under foreign employers were paid better, had more recognition and less
burdensome work compared to young women under the direction of local
employers, as the business secretary, Maro Depanian noted that local employers,
having financial funding problems, caused them to distribute the work among
employees in an unequal way. Typists, clerks and stenographers were at the top of
328 Helen Kalaydjoglou, “Report January 1930,” p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
329 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.45, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
330 Ibid., p.70.
331 Ibid., p.45. High waged job positions in Istanbul required translating skills, according to the
YWCA staff. See Ibid., 70.
114
salary pyramids. But even these jobs, especially banks, consisted of working long
hours, including occasional Sundays as part-time. The second tier of well-paid jobs
included teachers, saleswomen, cashiers, fancy workers, all of whom were paid less
despite working long hours; these comprised the majority of jobs in Istanbul.332 At
this time, the YWCA staff were concerned about how competitive the job market
was. There was a significant competition among young women college graduates in
finding positions with firms. Getting a job at one of these firms was difficult even
for those candidates whose education had focused on business since so many young
women were applying for these positions. Furthermore, there were not enough
employment bureaus in the city to help direct all of the young women looking for
work. In all of Istanbul, there were only three or four bureaus. Being chosen for a
good position was based more on luck than any other reason and it was often hard
to maintain a job for a long period of time. One always needed to show that she had
enough “personal ability” in order to have a chance to keep the job.333
According to Jane Brewern, the Education Secretary of the Istanbul YWCA,
one could see the consequences of the YWCA’s education policies in the fact that
young women were being “placed in” a variety of job opportunities. She got very
good feedback from the bosses about the young women they employed, which was
understood to demonstrate the success of the scheme.334 One of the fields in the
organization looked to place young women was in office work:
Through the Commercial Department, Miss Mayston is able to place
practically all the girls who finish our courses in typing and stenography.
332 Maro M. Depanian to Jean Grigsby Paxton, “Conditions of Business Girls in Constantinople,”
December 31,1924, pp.1–3, Box 63, Folder 11, Series V. Professional Activities: YWCA, Post-
WWI, Field Surveys, Near East, Reports, Interim,1921–1928, Ruth Woodsmall Papers, YWCASSC.
333 Ibid., p.45.
334 “Report of Miss Jane Brewern, Education Secretary to Constantinople Y.W.C.A., from October-
December 1923,” [received February 1924], p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
115
The large demand for domestic work and the absence of any noncommercial
employment service in the city had thrown upon us the
responsibility of doing what we can toward connecting the demand and
supply in this field.335
In 1927, for three months, the number of people who applied to domestic work was
125. However only 38 of them were employed although 70 of them got job
referrals.336 In 1930, Kalaydjoglou reported that four of their girls started to work at
the Ford Motor Company, “which is [was] a new opening in Turkey with $60
salary.” The YWCA was glad that they were employed at a famous company with a
high salary; they added that they would do whatever they could to help these girls
to secure their job positions.337
The YWCA did not extensively publicize the employment service that they
provided to young women, because this would have put them in a difficult position
in the eyes of the government as they only had an educational permit in Turkey.338
Still, they continued their work and were in favor of making this program
permanent. The staff working in the Employment Bureau was not numerous,
making it hard to function in a “business-like way,” as the YWCA secretary Clara
L. Bissell put it. The Employment Bureau of the YWCA not only searched for jobs
for women, but also wanted to understand what employed women needed in the
workplace and how to improve their conditions. The YWCA decided to appoint a
full-time secretary to the Employment Bureau despite the licensing issues.339
335 “International Radiogram YWCA, from Irma E. Finley, Constantinople, 1927,” p.3, microfilm
reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
336 “International Radiogram YWCA, from Irma E. Finley, Constantinople, 1927,” p.3, microfilm
reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
337 Helen Kalaydjoglou, Report January 1930, [handwritten information and date on the top of the
report is The Commercial Department 1929, Turkey] p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
338 Ibid., p.3.
339 C. L. Bissell, “Constantinople Service Centers. January, 1928,” p.12, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
116
The Employment Bureau kept researching the number of women who were
employed in Istanbul. According to Mayston’s research, careers in medicine
showed signs of growing in the city. She counted only two female physicians in
Turkey, who had received their higher education abroad, in Germany and England
respectively. Medicine faculties only began to admit women in 1922 in Turkey, she
reported.340 While women had been allowed to receive medical training in the
United States since the nineteenth century and Mayston pointed out that in the late
nineteenth century, midwives in the Ottoman State were numerous, women were
not allowed to have medical training at that time. In the nineteenth century,
Mayston stressed that being a midwife in Turkey had been considered a respectable
profession, unlike in the United States. In Istanbul, courses were available to
women who wanted to become midwives.341 Nursing then became more popular
among women due to the wars in the 1910s. Mayston pointed out that the American
Hospital was one of the first to offer professional training in the nursing field. Their
nurse training program was initiated in 1920, having 55 graduates in the first year.
The program required 30 months to complete and students of the program received
stipends. As reported by Mayston, the Turkish Government’s nursing training
program lasted for 28 months. Some of the war orphans were included in the
program when it first opened, and graduates were assigned to different regions in
Turkey for a fixed period. By the end of the 1920s, the Business secretary stressed
that nursing had become a popular profession among young women. Another
340 Elizabeth B. Mayston, Business Secretary, Report on Vocational Training and Guidance,
Constantinople, February, 1928, pp.1–2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. In 1927, the number of
Turkish women medical graduates was just seven and women were not admitted to law training until
1928. Didem Konya, “Türkiye’nin İlk Kadın Doktoru Safiye Ali ve Çalışmaları,” Journal of Social
Sciences and Humanities Researches 19, no.42 (2018): 35–54.
341 Elizabeth B. Mayston, Business Secretary, Report on Vocational Training and Guidance,
Constantinople, February, 1928, pp.1–5, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
117
emerging career path for young women in 1928 was becoming a lawyer. “Within
the last six months the first Turkish woman lawyer has been admitted to the bar,”
Mayston wrote. She stressed in her report that women had started working as clerks
and secretaries in banks in 1920. Another profession, in her view, which was
common for young women was working as telephone operators at the Telephone
Company, which was a joint investment of the Americans, English and French.342
Ruth Woodsmall said that loss of so many men in World War I and the economic
depression afterwards were the main factors that transformed women’s role into “a
forced economic independence.” Mentioning that both Muslim and non-Muslim
women were affected by this transformation, she emphasized in 1926 that “the
changes have been much more marked among Moslems than Christians since
Christians for a number of years entering public positions. With Moslem women it
has been a question of only a few years.” She added that the number of Muslim
women who worked in the public positions were few. The new Republic saw a
significant number of Muslim women holding public positions and all types of
working positions.343 Turkish women’s great interest in business and the new
positions emerging in the country, as well as the progress in equality between men
and women, gave hope to the YWCA secretaries that the future of young women in
the Near East was bright and open to progress.344 In the new Republic, women
could now get taxi driver licenses as well as licenses to open publishing houses.
The number of women who enrolled in universities also increased in the Early
342 Elizabeth B. Mayston, Business Secretary, Report on Vocational Training and Guidance,
Constantinople, February, 1928, pp.1–5, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
343 Ruth Woodsmall, “Social Conditions in Turkey,” October, 1926, p.2–4, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
344 Microfilms in “History,” Section, “The Y.W.C.A. in Turkey,” Membership Leaflets, Nos. 39–40,
unauthored, undated, no page number, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
118
Republican period and this further widened the range of job opportunities for
women. Women now worked in many fields, as “street-sweepers, household
workers by the day, domestic and street-venders, governesses, teachers, dressmakers,
milliners, cashiers, book-keepers, waitresses, ushers in cinemas, mail
clerks in post offices, telegrapher (said to be better than men), telephone operators,
chiropodists and manicurists, trained nurses, midwives, dentists, doctors and
lawyers.”345 Muslim women’s joining the workforce also meant also more social
freedom, meaning women’s presence in cinemas and theaters, participation in
social activities with men such as eating at restaurants, attending the balls in the
new Republic in Istanbul and were “preparing themselves for economic
independence,” in her words. Except in Ankara, though, “women in the interior
(Anatolia), on the contrary are [were] as yet scarcely conscious of any change in
their position either economically or socially.”346
The YWCA staff stressed that the Turkish government did not enforce
enough laws regarding improving working conditions of the city.347 Maro M.
Depanian, business secretary of the YWCA, in 1924, observed that “working girls”
had one to two hours break and they were allowed to go anywhere they preferred
during their break. Cashiers, saleswomen and occasionally office girls did not have
the permission to go anywhere they like when they were on break, but had to stay at
the workplace and eat very quickly, which Depanian was concerned about. Another
345 This information is in two reports: Ruth Woodsmall, “Social Conditions in Turkey,” October,
1926, p.2–4, microfilm reel 64, YWCA-SSC and “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul Turkey,”
Confidential, November 1929-June 1930, p. 22, Box 329 Folder 7 (International Work), RG5,
YWCA-SSC.
346 Ruth Woodsmall, “Social Conditions in Turkey,” October, 1926, p.2–5, microfilm reel 64,
YWCA-SSC.
347 “Report of the Service Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” p.45, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
119
issue she mentioned was that these girls had to work for long hours in the same
unventilated space. Moreover, the bosses were demanding and not at all considerate
regarding their conditions. Milliners worked in an unventilated space lacking
sufficient air and light beneath “very low roofed attic.” Moreover, although “They
[kept] plying their needles all day long in those holes [they] hardly earn[t] enough
for a decent living.” Saleswomen’s workplace and wages were no different than
milliners. They had “a nerve racking job with very little pecuniary, return.”348
Compared to the saleswomen’s workplace, young women doing piece work had
more fresh air because they worked at home without any supervision by the
employer. However, their wages were uncertain and changed in relation to the
market and demand. “A local teacher’s life too is not very enviable. She is
overworked in the full and true meaning of the word,” Depanian emphasized. The
quality of education teachers received changed based on where they taught.
However, Depanian wrote, “But the little pay she gets with the lot of work who
does surpass all deficiencies in her educational background. It may seem
unbelievable to you but it is true that there are teachers here that receive the
insignificant amount of 15 liras or 8 Dollars a month, and do the work of several
women.” The general demands of the workers were fewer working hours with
better salaries, which Depanian noted and added: “It is strange to observer that this
demand comes stronger from the class that is better paid …”349
The ideal working conditions, in the YWCA secretaries’ opinion, included
working in an office position with balanced working hours, breaks, rest facilities
348 Maro M. Depanian to Jean Grigsby Paxton, “Conditions of Business Girls in Constantinople,”
December 31, 1924, pp.1–3, Box 63, Folder 11, Series V.
349 Maro M. Depanian to Jean Grigsby Paxton, “Conditions of Business Girls in Constantinople,”
December 31,1924, pp.1–3, Box 63, Folder 11, Series V.
120
and paid vacations. The YWCA’s Business secretary Elizabeth B. Mayston defined
the Telephone Company as having some of the best working conditions for young
women in the city. The company offered reasonable working hours and facilities
for its employees, such as a restaurant and a rest space. Women worked 8 hours a
day and they had a one-hour lunch break. Women who completed one year of
service were eligible for 10 days of vacation leave, which would increase
depending on the number of years they had worked for the company.350 Mayston,
while discussing the role of different ethnicities involved in the Telephone
Company, gave the impression that all nationalities had been welcome to apply
even from the early years of the company. She particularly stressed that Muslim
women dominated the company after 1926, as Christian employees were forced to
quit their jobs and their positions were given to new Turkish employees.351
According to Mayston’s account, all nationalities had been accepted to the
company; but in the last two years’ only Turks were employed.352 Yet Yavuz Selim
Karakışla, in his book entitled Osmanlı Kadın Telefon Memureleri (1913–1923)
[the title could be translated as Ottoman Women Telephone Operators] showed that
Muslim women had had a hard time finding employment in the first years of the
company. When Bedra Osman Hanım and her friends wanted to apply, Sürenyan
Efendi, an Armenian translator working there did not even process their
applications, and during that time, there were not any Turkish women working for
the company. Bedra Osman Hanım and her friends also alleged that Sürenyan
Efendi humiliated them in addition to discouraging from applying. When they
350 E. B. Mayston, Report on Vocational Training and Guidance, Constantinople, February 1928,
pp.1–4, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
351 Elizabeth B. Mayston, Business Secretary, Report on Vocational Training and Guidance,
Constantinople, February, 1928, p.4, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
352 Ibid.
121
insisted on applying to the position, they were rejected due to their lack of
knowledge of other languages. Bedra and her friends brought this issue to the
attention of magazine Kadınlar Dünyası, a popular journal known for addressing
women’s issues and it sparked a strong reaction among writers of the journal. The
ministry of Communication was also informed about the issue. The Telephone
Company, concerned about future reactions, then began employing Muslim women.
Despite this, out of 200 Muslim women who applied, only seven were hired. This
caused further anger from figures such as Ulviye Mevlan Hanım who saw it as
further confirmation that Muslim women were being discriminated against by the
company.353 As it could be seen from the business secretary Depanian’s letter
though, after 1923, there was reduction in the number of Christian workers working
in the Telephone Company and the Tramway Company, giving privilege to Muslim
workers:
In certain public institutions such as the Telephone Company, the Tramway
Company and other big concerns, the Turkish government does not allow
Christian women to work, and besides requires so many documents and
other information in Turkish that business men have to employ Turkish
women. Of course this opens new opportunities toward the newly acquired
freedom of Turkish women who are now beginning to be initiated into
business. On the other hand, Christian girls are on this account thrown out
of work. In other private firms, business men have to employ at least three
Turkish men or women; this naturally causes a reduction of staff and again a
discharge of more Christian employees. Most of these women try to earn a
living by giving private lessons in French, English or German, which brings
a very meager return.354
353 Yavuz Selim Karakışla, Osmanlı Kadın Telefon Memureleri (1913–1923) (Akıl Fikir Yayınları:
Istanbul, 2014), 1–85.
354 Maro M. Depanian to Jean Grigsby Paxton, “Conditions of Business Girls in Constantinople,”
December 31, 1924, p. 1, Box 63, Folder 11, Series V. Professional Activities: YWCA, Post-WWI,
Field Surveys, Near East, Reports, Interim,1921–1928, Ruth Woodsmall Papers, Sophia Smith
Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
122
From the perspective of the YWCA staff, there was not any discrimination against
non-Turks in 1929 in Istanbul, but finding a position in an office job was
nevertheless becoming more difficult as more employers looked for Turkish
translations in their business and thus gave Turkish candidates an advantage over
non-Turkish ones. Non-Turkish women workers had to accept low wages due to the
language issue. Yet, the YWCA maintained that explicit discrimination based on
ethnicity was not present in companies, in fact, “… certain firms (Turkish firms
among the number) even prefer to employ them, as they have done office work
longer than Turkish girls and have more experience.”355 In 1928, Mayston
classified jobs such as tailors, embroidery makers, workers in restaurants and
domestic service as ones which “uneducated class” had a chance for employment.
For Mayston, dressmaking was not difficult for women living in Turkey since many
women already knew how to use the sewing needle. But women who made their
living in dressmaking had low salaries and poor working conditions. Mayston
emphasized that “this employment has been sought and is [was] still largely
representative of non-Moslem women.” Another field dominated by non-Muslim
female workers, according to her analysis, was servants in restaurants. Both men
and women worked in restaurants. The workers would be dependent on the boss of
the restaurant for their income and working conditions. She emphasized that
domestic servants and restaurant workers earned low incomes. In her opinion, the
position of domestic servants was categorized as the least popular job opportunity
among women.356
355 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.45, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
356 Elizabeth B. Mayston, Business Secretary, Report on Vocational Training and Guidance,
Constantinople, February, 1928, pp.1–5, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
123
Discrimination between men and women was also mentioned by the YWCA
staff as they took an interest in an article by Sabiha Zekeriya Sertel. Sertel and her
two female friends wanted to start a publishing company. They had enough
financial resources but needed to get government permit before opening for
business. Their application was approved by the Department of Commerce but the
Department of Justice required the husband’s consent to start the business. Sertel
was thus disappointed by the attitude of the State towards women. Husbands
determined married women’s careers and even decided whether married women
could work or not. “If our husbands possess the right of stopping our business
activities, it means that our entrance into life is an illusion,” Sertel wrote in her
article. Women would not be able to benefit from the rights the state granted them
if women were expected to be “mere consumers” rather than to “become
producers.” As she remarked, “the history of Swedish feminism, that of English and
American feminism and all the sociologists agree that women will never be able to
employ the freedom which society gives to them until the chains of economic
slavery are broken.” In her view, women’s social circle, that is the close people
around them, had failed to protect the rights of women. Men in particular ignored
what working meant for women, especially that working meant gaining selfrespect.
The new Turkish Civil Code did grant women rights and freedom, and
Sertel stressed that it was because of the civil code that women were not seen as
property or “parasites” anymore. Nevertheless, a man being the ultimate decisionmaker
in a woman’s business affairs meant their freedom was illusory and was
against the spirit of the civil code that aimed to uplift and empower women. The
state, by not supporting women’s rights in business, thus encouraged women to
only be consumers. Sertel advocated for married woman’s “economic
124
independence” because having economic independence would open the door to
total freedom.357
Ruth Woodsmall observed that although “modern education and western
ideas” had spread in Turkey and women’s participation in social and working life
had increased in the new Republic, girls in Muslim homes, which were not affected
by Westernization and modern education, were still not seen as individuals from an
early age: “The boy is treated as free individual even from boyhood. The mother
often does not even pretend to control him. The girl however is restricted in her
activities and from an early age is expected to share in the work of the house.” She
noted that this attitude was dominant in Anatolia among the uneducated classes and
despite its decline compared to previous years it still persisted.358 Concerned with
the attitude of men towards the economic independence of women, Woodsmall
observed that “The idea of women fitting themselves to be economically
independent is [was] steadily becoming more generally accepted,” in 1926. She
drew attention to economic necessity as a main cause behind a transformation
“from the old idea of girls being kept entirely in the home.” Yet women
nevertheless had to gradually acclimatize their conservative parents to the
possibility they might achieve “economic independence” and become “selfsupportive”
step by step. One of the young women Woodsmall depicted as
experiencing this gradualism started only for “a few hours teaching per day” so that
357In capital letters, she made her message stronger, “THE UNITY OF THE FAMILY REQUIRES
THAT BOTH THE HUSBAND AND THE WIFE HAVE EQUAL DUTIES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES WITH EQUAL PRIVILEGES.” “Translation Extracts from the Current
Turkish Press No:8, ‘Does a woman possess the right to work?’ A Second Study on the WOMAN
QUESTION by Sabiha Zekariya Hanum, Resimli Ay, September, 1927,” pp.1–2, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
358 Ruth Woodsmall, “Social Conditions in Turkey,” October, 1926, p.26, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC. Another title she added for this report was “Survey of Social Conditions in Turkey.”
While I am referencing the report, I will reference to the former title.
125
her father would not disrespect. Gradually, she switched to working full time and
her father, who had once sent her to Germany for to gain journalistic experience,
resisted her teaching. Woodsmall added, “Turkish girls of the better class are now
free to enter practically any position. One popular field in America however is still
not regarded as a women’s field in Turkey.” She was referring to a group of college
students who all experienced “a decided prejudice against women taking up tearoom
or hotel management.”359 It could thus be a struggle for a young woman to
pursue a job that she wanted and make her own decisions about her professional
career due to the pressure exerted by her parents and the roles imposed on her by
society.
5.3. Training
The YWCA personnel gave special importance to the Commercial Department of
the Association because the training program it offered helped young women to
learn the skills needed for obtaining job positions.360 The YWCA offered Business
English in a commercial course.361 Business girls also attended literature classes at
night.362 As well as English and French, one could learn Turkish at the YWCA as it
was increasingly required for business positions.363 Trying to reach more members
359 Ruth Woodsmall, “Social Conditions in Turkey,” October, 1926, pp.8–9, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
360 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.69, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
361 “Report of Margaret B. White to the Foreign and Overseas Department,” (March 1921), p.2,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
362 “Report of Miss Jane Brewern, Education Secretary to Constantinople Y.W.C.A., from October-
December 1923,” microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
363 “Report of Margaret B. White to the Foreign and Overseas Department, March 1921,” p.2,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
126
through the leaflets they prepared, the YWCA claimed that the course they taught
on business was “the only thing of its kind in Constantinople.” According to the
leaflets, they provided “training for typing and stenographic positions, and taught
not only technical efficiency but professional standards,” as well as “new idea of
health standard and the need for physical exercise.”364
The number of typists and secretaries employed by the Turkish government
(in the departments of the State, bureaus and offices) increased linked to the recent
change of the Turkish language from the Ottoman script to the Latin alphabet;
typewriters quickly became fundamental office technology.365
According to Mayston, one could be considered for the position of typists or
stenographers once registered for and took a commercial course. For people who
did not or could not register as students, there were limited available options for
alternative forms of training.366 Emergent business positions revealed the need for
such training, however only some schools offered typewriting, or Turkish and
French stenography courses. For women who wanted to learn typewriting in the
short term, there were some limited options, as indicated by the YWCA staff. There
were at least five commercial typewriting agencies in Istanbul which had courses
for beginners, but the YWCA staff were not satisfied with the education offered by
these agencies because it did not go beyond teaching “practice[ing] periods.”
Among them, only one even taught stenography. The French Catholic School
provided typewriting classes for free in summertime, but in their program,
stenography training was not offered. The YMCA had “typewriting, stenography,
364 “The Y.W.C.A. in Turkey,” Membership Leaflets, Nos. 39–40, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
365 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.22, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
366 Mayston, Report on Vocational Training and Guidance, Constantinople, February 1928, pp.1–4,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
127
book-keeping, commercial arithmetic, commercial correspondence …” courses. All
of these were mandatory for finishing the YMCA business school. Among these
institutions, “the YWCA for six years has given special short term courses of 3
months periods in typewriting and business English, and 9 months courses in
Stenography.”367 Mayston presented the YWCA as a chance for a city girl who was
looking to develop herself in this field, as well as learning basics skills of business
and correspondence.368
The secretaries helped young women prepare for business life. They also
trained young women to handle some tests. “The typing girls” were to put on an
exhibit at least once a year, showing what type of tests they could possibly face in
business life. It was like a show for the audience, watching young women type very
fast in a foreign language while blindfolded. One could also see the differences
between women who had newly started the program and those who had advanced
their level.369
In the late 1920s, young women who were students of commercial courses
were usually fluent in English. They had often graduated from English and
American schools and then attended the YWCA to learn to improve their
typewriting and shorthand as well as other business skills. They took their works
and training at the YWCA seriously.370
367 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Survey of the Social Agencies in the Near East,” August 1925, p.82–3. The
title was strikethrough text “Survey of the Social Agencies in Turkey,” Box 63, Folder 7–11, Series
V.
368 Mayston, Report on Vocational Training and Guidance, Constantinople, February 1928, pp.1–4,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
369“Report of Miss Clara L. Bissell, April 1st of June 30th, 1927,” [received September 1, 1927], p.6,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
370 H. Kalaydjoglou, “Report January 1930,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. In the late 1920s,
the majority of attendees of commercial course were students and graduates of Gedik Pasha
American School, the English High School, and the Scottish British Mission. The rest of students
were from Constantinople’s Woman’s College, Greek and Armenian schools. “Report of the Service
Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” 70, Box 329 Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
128
To be an office woman, one needed to improve one’s office skills, have
discipline and put in hard work, as highlighted by the YWCA staff. The YWCA
offered typewriting classes every day.371 Stenography classes were held “three
times a week at noon fee 2 liras per month, or 5 liras for term of three months” in
1919.372 In 1930, the biweekly courses on stenography were more limited compared
to typewriting courses.373 The YWCA usually held typewriting classes in the
morning, and practice hours were then held in the afternoon. Young women
received grades for the courses in which they had participated. Most attended the
classes regularly and were generally eager to complete the tasks given by their
teachers. The YWCA secretaries tolerated only two mistakes per typewritten paper
and thus their work had to be close to perfection. The YWCA staff also did not
allow young women to use erasers, recommending that using erasers would not
help them advance their skills in typewriting. Any erased sentence would be
noticed by the secretaries and underlined in red ink.374 On some occasions the
secretaries would find an eraser which the girls had hidden from them. Despite the
strict rules, at one time, one of the secretaries heard the name Mary quite often in
the class. Later she realized that young women in the class had given the eraser the
name Mary, which they then shared with each other. She was surprised that they
named it by giving a person’s name rather than simply saying eraser in their own
language. After the secretary confiscated the eraser, some young women in her
class approached her, desiring to take their “Mary” back. They told her that Mary
371 H. Kalaydjoglou, “Report January 1930,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
372 “Report of General Secretary for December, 1919. Service Center, Y.W.C.A.,” January 8, 1928,
p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
373 H. Kalaydjoglou, “Report January 1930,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
374 Ibid., pp.1–2.
129
had saved them from making mistakes. Although they insisted on getting Mary
back as a Christmas present, her fate was to be kept in a drawer.375
Typewriting training usually lasted six months whereas shorthand training
was nine months long.376 The YWCA’s typewriting training377 was longer than
three months because the YWCA staff claimed that if one wanted to be a
professional typist, a three-month-education would not be sufficient.378 The
YWCA, from the start of their typewriting and stenography training, expected girls
to devote their time and energy to the education they offered. “Our plan is to keep
the standards high; to admit only those girls who will register for the entire three
months and are serious in their desire to study,” said White.379 One would be ready
to search for job positions after completing the YWCA program. The YWCA staff
provided letters of recommendation if requests came from their registrants. For
those who completed the commercial training program, the YWCA staff actively
sought job positions. Having typing training did not guarantee getting a job in
Istanbul, but Kalaydjoglou noted in 1930 that “although business is not very
flourishing in our country, quite a few of our graduates have been able to find good
posts.”380 In the late 1920s, the graduates of the YWCA commercial program
usually were employed in typist positions rather than stenography positions. Many
office workplaces, excepting foreign ones, did not require them to have a
375 Helen Kalaydjoglou, “Report January 1930,” [handwritten information and date on the top of the
report is The Commercial Department 1929, Turkey] pp.1–2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
376 Ibid., p.2.
377 In January 1930, each three months students had to pay 12 liras to learn typewriting at the
YWCA Istanbul. In addition to typewriting courses, there were practice hours for typewriting. See
“Report of the Service Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” p.71, Box 329 Folder
7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
378 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.71, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
379 “Report of General Secretary for December, 1919. Service Center, Y.W.C.A.,” January
8, 1928, p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
380 H. Kalaydjoglou, “Report January 1930,” p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
130
stenography background. Nevertheless, knowing stenography was an asset for them
when they applied for job positions.381
The YWCA was also facilitated women who wanted to pursue careers in
teaching physical education, since the staff initiated recreational education on a
large scale in Turkey. In this field, the YWCA claimed that they helped “a new
profession” emerge in Turkey:
Three years ago, there was not a single local woman physical director.
Today, fifteen trained recreation leaders, under the direction of the one
American Y.W.C.A. director of health education, are reaching 4,000 girls in
refugee camps, schools and orphanages.382
Training for recreation supervisors included teaching women a variety of subjects
including dancing, singing, gym practices, first aid, and information on health.
Lasting more than seven months, the focus of the training was giving the basics of
supervising to young women rather than a comprehensive gymnastics.383
For women who wanted to become tailors, the YWCA provided training in
cutting, sewing and using needles. It was not a certificate program due to the
concerns of legal restrictions and standardization.384 Still, the YWCA provided an
381 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.70, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
382 “The Y.W.C.A. in Turkey,” Membership Leaflets, Nos. 39–40, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
383 Woodsmall, “Survey of the Social Agencies in the Near East,” August 1925, 82, Box 63, Folder
7–11, Series V. Professional Activities: YWCA, Post-WWI, Field Surveys, Near East, Reports,
Interim, 1921–1928, Ruth Woodsmall Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College,
Northampton, MA.
384 The importance of giving certificates to the graduates of the commercial and dressing
departments were discussed by the YWCA. However, there were legal barriers as well as the
concerns of “standardization:” “A certificate of some sort is very vital to the girl who needs to work,
for girls in possession of certificates are always likely to be given preference. It would be possible,
while remaining a private school, to obtain a permit for the issuing certificates. But in order that
these certificates be recognized by the proper authorities the quality of the work would have to be
standardized. This is considered a useful measure when the commercial and dressmaking
departments are taken into view, there are approved standards. But certain members of the
Committee feel that the language courses if subjected to a method of standardization would lose
their purpose, which is to serve those individuals who been unable to cope with the regular school
program. Naki[y]e Hanum pointed out that the Turk Ojak [sic] and the Kadin Birligi [sic] offered
such courses without a certificate and that these courses are nevertheless popular.” See “Report of
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official letter to those who completed the program. After completing the course,
young women could apply for job positions as dressmakers.385 In 1929, the YWCA
secretaries noticed that young women were not conscious of the seriousness of their
labor at home because of the way they responded to the occupation section of the
survey form. For women “sewing, dress making and the like” were not defined as
jobs.386 However, the YWCA regarded sewing as valuable work in the training
programs they offered.387
Mayston claimed that in Turkey saleswomen lacked proper training in their
respective fields of employment and consequently earned low wages. As a result,
she wanted to create a course to help provide them with training. Claiming that the
YWCA could start courses in sales, she hoped she hoped that not only quality of
sales education would improve but also the efficiency of trades in Istanbul.388
The YWCA staff indicated that there was a need for research on new jobs
available to women, as well as on vocational training and professions for women.
Besides greater need of research for professions, another concern the YWCA
secretary raised was the lack of guidance in vocational training in the city; and
since there were not any agencies offering guidance to urban women in this field,
the YWCA could use the opportunity to “to be a pioneer” in the city. Women did
not know what to do with their degree because they lacked guidance. The YWCA
secretary thought that they could fill a gap in the city in this field as well. Mayston
the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.156, Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1,
RG5, YWCA-SSC.
385 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.69, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
386 “Constantinople Service Centers Rules and Regulations for Board of Directors Adopted,” 15
May 1929, p. 25, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
387 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.69, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
388 Mayston, Report on Vocational Training and Guidance, Constantinople, February 1928, pp.1–5,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
132
did not provide a detailed description of how this service should be provided by the
YWCA. In her report, she simply stated that this service should meet business
employee needs such as providing young women who wanted to pursue a career in
the business world with training on techniques and skills in recording, accounting,
filing, language and other necessary qualifications, as well offering opportunities to
visit different business agencies in Istanbul.389 In same year, 1928, Ruth
Woodsmall’s recommendation to the YWCA was to “extend business courses to
include Turkish typewriting, book-keeping and business methods and give special
attention to vocational guidance and employment problems.” Another
recommendation which was included in the future policy of the YWCA was the
creation of “social consciousness” in “Special Social and Industrial Problems,”
“Women in Employment and General Industrial Conditions” as well as in their
civic duties and their position globally.390
The YWCA provided training aimed at the attainment of a lifelong
profession rather than merely acquiring temporary work. At a time when most
Employment Bureaus directed women to handicrafts and embroidery, the YWCA
not only provided office training and business language courses, but also raised
gymnastics teachers from the core and contributed to the employment of women in
the sports sector, which made it unique in terms of the range of training it offered.
Equally as importantly, in all of this work, the YWCA provided training aimed at
women’s attainment of a lifelong professional and social purpose rather than
389 Ibid., pp.1–5.
390 Appendix G Future Policy, “Recommendation for the YWCA (Part of report by R. F.
Woodsmall) January, 1928,” p. 53–4 in “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November,
1929-June, 1930,” Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
133
merely the capacity for temporary work, focusing on both shifting attitudes as well
as skills training.
5.4. Career-oriented Women
The YWCA encouraged young women to appreciate the domestic jobs they
obtained. The YWCA helped an orphan girl, “all alone in the world,” to learn to
swim so that she “passed the life-saving test” in one of the camps that they
organized. Her name was inscribed on a swimming cup due to her success in
sports.391 White stated that “this youngster has had to face going into service as a
maid, and this is not an easy thing to do in this country, where the whole attitude of
the country is to consider such employment as degrading.”392
The YWCA’s encouragement of female financial and personal
independence disturbed the conservative male press in Istanbul. Anxieties about the
organization’s challenge to gender roles, women’s commitment to nationalism, as
well the perceived Christian propaganda of the organization were commonly
expressed in this journalism. While the Greek Ottoman newspaper Proodos in
September 1921 provided information that the YWCA offered typing and
stenography courses as well as language training,393 a writer in Islamist journal
Sebilürreşad, referencing the newspaper the Orient, informed its readers that the
YWCA offered various clubs and training such as gymnastics, typing as well as
391 “Report of Miss Margaret B. White, General Secretary to Constantinople Y.W.C.A., Summer
months, 1925,” p.5, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
392 Ibid., p.5.
393 “American Ladies at the Greek Patriarchate in Constantinople,”[translated], Proodos, September
n.d., 1921.
134
language courses. Yet, this writer likened the YWCA to the “plague” and was
shocked how Turkish women attended a Christian organization, arguing that
Christians had waged wars against Muslims and killed the innocents during the war
time and this organization was not any different from any other Christian
organizations in spreading its ideology.394 Conservative Islamist newspapers
reflected their disapproval of the work of the YWCA, largely because they
perceived the YWCA’s work as a threat to traditional ideas of motherhood. In
1923, an Islamist newspaper Tevhid-i Efkar, disturbed by the activities of the
YWCA, accused the YWCA of “Poisoning [the] Future Motherhood of Islam.”
Tevhid-i Efkar called on the state and parents to take action to stop the activities of
the YWCA centers because they claimed that it was corrupting the women of
Turkey, and harming moral norms and values.395 Although the YWCA taught
women about their civic duties and what they should be,396 one of the Turkish
magazines accused the YWCA of corrupting young women’s minds by destroying
their national values and characteristics. In order to make this argument, the
magazine showed evidence from the YWCA’s activities in China.397 “[Christian]
Propaganda” was a common phrase newspapers used to describe the YWCA’s
activities. The daily newspaper Akşam warned its readers in these words, “Lately
the Y.W.C.A. has opened its branches in the most Muslim quarters of
Constantinople and started enrolling Muslim ladies, attracting them with language
courses, lectures and excursions all free of charge. Thus it is extending its
394 “Young Christian Associations and their activities,” [translated], Sebilürreşad, March 27, 1922,
Vol. 20, no.495.
395 “TURKS ASSAIL Y.M.C.A.: ALSO ACCUSE Y.W.C.A. OF "POISONING FUTURE
MOTHERHOOD OF ISLAM,” New York Times, January 26, 1923, 8.
396“Annual Report, Confidential, Part II, Genevieve Lowry, General Secretary of Service Centers,
Istanbul, Turkey, From September 1929–1930,” p.12, reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
397 “Lowry, Annual Report […] From September 1929 -September 1930,” p.1.
135
propaganda area.” The writer was concerned that the YWCA would lead to the
degradation of moral and national values. The alternative was the opening of a
Muslim association which would be a rival to the YWCA.398 Tevhid-i Efkar, using
the word “propaganda” frequently to describe the YWCA’s programs in 1922, in
one piece called on editors of other newspapers not to publish the advertisements of
the YWCA anywhere, claiming that the YWCA deceived young women. “It is a
great pity and even more it is a calamity for our young girls who are candidates for
the holy duty of future motherhood to be in contact with Christianity and allow
their national and religious habits to be killed and to perish,” stated the writer, and
warned the members of the YWCA that they should be not proud; they were not
like the “Anatolian women [who had fought] in the same rank with their fighting
sons” while they were busy learning dancing. While the newspaper honored
motherhood, the piece ended with a note, “Finally, we invite the future mothers to
feel their holy duty in this matter.”399 Tevhid-i Efkar’s conclusion was the main
reason the YWCA attracted young women was its language courses; however “In
return of the few words of English which they [the YWCA] [taught] them, they
[were] going to cool our girls’ feelings toward their parents and will poison their
ideas of religion.” While the piece also called on parents and the nation to take
action in this matter, an Armenian Ottoman newspaper Joğovurti [Joghovourti]
Tsayn published the article of Tevhid-i Efkar on the YWCA and called attention to
its claim that the police would persecute all Muslim women who attended there
often. Joğovurti Tsayn was suspicious of alleged claims of Tevhid-i Efkar. If there
was anything like this, this should be investigated,” he concluded.400 The Greek
398 “A society,” [translated], Akşam, January 1, 1922.
399 “Who is responsible,” Tevhid-i Efkar, April 11, 1922.
400 “To the Young [wo]Men’s Christian Association,” Joghovourti Tsayn, January 25 and February
136
Otttoman newspaper Tachydromos also reflected on the allegations of Tevhid-i
Efkar in its January 1923 issue.401 A nationalist newspaper İleri also wrote that
Istanbul was affected by epidemic diseases but that there was one disease affecting
the youth for which there seemed to be no cure; in his opinion Americans in Turkey
exploited youth with their programs in 1922. Their programs put the concept of
motherhood under attack and destroyed familial values.402 Naturally, all the writers
who speculated about the YWCA were males. Only Cumhuriyet, closer to the
Kemalist state in the 1920s, reflected the activities of the YWCA such as camping
as a positive development for young women’s health and happiness.403 Both
Tevhid-i Efkar and Sebilürreşad would be closed by the government in 1925, by the
Takrîr-i Sükûn, the Law for Maintenance of Order, as a state security measure.
While the work of the YWCA was not praised by Islamist magazines, the
Istanbul YWCA, in a discussion group of the YWCA, made young women read
about the story of two women’s lives and discussed what goals they had
accomplished in their lives. Notable female role models, such as Helen Keller and
Florence Nightingale, could influence the YWCA members by encouraging them to
have careers.404
Marriages were also an accepted option for securing future economic wellbeing
of women and to a partial extent for their parents as well. However, young
women also had other options, such as working, which was itself a new concept and
created tension in the traditional family setting. The YWCA staff found themselves
9, 1923.
401 “The American Associations in Turkey,” Tachydromos, January 24, 1923.
402 [the American Associations] İleri, April 26, 1922, no. 152.
403 “An Organization Giving Life, Health and Happiness,” Cumhuriyet, September 15, 1924.
404 “Report of Miss Clara Bissell, Secretary of the Stamboul Service Center, May 1 to December 1,
1921,” microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
137
responding to the experiences of members at the branches. In a report in 1923
written by Jane Brewern, the Education Secretary of the Istanbul YWCA, “the most
striking” case was a “sunny, bright girl” who suddenly acted very unhappy due to a
psychological conflict she had with her mother. Her mother’s solution to the
financial problems of the family was to insist that her daughter marry a wealthy
man that she introduced to the daughter; the man could then look after all the
family members. “For the welfare of the whole family,” the mother “begged her”
daughter to accept the man’s offer. However, the girl was not in love with this man
who her mother strongly wished her to marry. Approaching Brewern, she consulted
her about her problem and asked her what she should do. She asked the secretary
whether it would be “selfish if she refused” the offer because although she could
work instead of getting married, this would not provide her mother the same fortune
that the man could provide. Brewern, after thinking about the situation for a while,
responded her that “she had no right to sacrifice her happiness to [and] deceive the
man, having in view a problematic comfort her mother.”405 The YWCA secretary
thus encouraged the young woman to pursue her own career and happiness rather
than follow her mother’s desires.
Examples such as this were part of a wider argument marshalled at the
YWCA about the necessity of women’s independence –spiritual as well as
financial –regardless of marital status. Arranged marriages were common in the
1920s, as mentioned by the scholars Duben and Behar, though marriages for love
had increased compared with previous years.406 Unlike Istanbul, in the United
405“Report of Miss Jane Brewern, Education Secretary to Constantinople YWCA, from October-
December 1923,” p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
406 Alan Duben and Cem Behar, Istanbul Households; Marriage. Family and Fertility, 1880–1940,
96.
138
States, from the 1830s to the beginning of the 20th century, middle-class couples
believed in developing romantic relationships and “intense, spiritual love” was
necessary before getting married.407 In Istanbul, by contrast, conservative parents
still had authority over their daughters’ decisions such as marriage, and romantic or
spiritual considerations were of no significance. The YWCA’s mainly American
staff position in this issue was to support love-based marriages instead of arranged
marriages.408 In Istanbul, “A marriage however without reference to the parents or
contrary to the parents’ wishes would be most exceptional,” as the YWCA’s
General Secretary Ruth Woodsmall underlined despite the progress away from
arranged marriage; “There is as yet not the same degree of independence as in the
West as the marriage is still usually planned by the families.” As well as urging
socializing with men, she urged women to stand on their own feet financially,
because together these would give them full liberty and the opportunity to make
their own decisions about marriage regardless of their parents and social pressure.
“The complete independence of choice in marriage will be realized for young
women only when economic independence is more assured,” Woodsmall
underlined in her report in 1926.409
To encourage reflection upon women’s gendered position in relation to
work and the family, the YWCA staff asked members to write essays on the
407Peter Stearns, American Cool: Constructing a Twentieth-Century Emotional Style (New York:
NYU Press, 1994), 80–1.
408 “Clara L. Bissell, “Constantinople Service Centers. January, 1928,” pp.14–5, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC. “A male relative taking the place of her deceased father took her down from her
throne and put a silver girdle about her waist in conformance with a very old custom. It is supposed
to signify the lifting of her long robe so that she will be able to do the work required of a good
housewife.” In the opinion of Clara L. Bissell, the YWCA secretary, love relations would be
stronger and longer lasting when compared to arranged ones.
409 Woodsmall, “Survey of Social Conditions in Turkey,” October, 1926, pp.2–30, reel 64, YWCA
SSC. 21–3.
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changing status of Muslim women which considered the themes of women’s rights
and equal opportunity. A favoured essay subject was women’s financial
independence. The limitations of arranged marriage, motherhood, and staying-at
home were revealed by a 17 year old girl in Istanbul, in her essay entitled “My
mother at my age.” Her mother, who was from Anatolia, wanted to go to school but
everyone around her strongly disapproved of this. Lacking any support, and despite
the social and familial pressure, her mother was able to pursue her studies until the
age of 14, when her family married her off to a Turkish military officer without her
consent. Her mother had been only 14 years old when she was forced to marry a 35
year old military officer. It was not until the wedding night that they even met each
other. Without having fallen in love, or ever even liking him, she had to spend the
rest of her life with him without following her ambitions, and thus she fell into
depression. While her husband was out, she stayed at home doing nothing but
occupying her time playing with dolls. At the age of fifteen, she gave birth to a
baby; however, for her, the baby was nothing more than a doll she played with.
Losing her husband in a battle in the same year, she never thought to remarry
despite the proposals she received, as she did not like the idea of marriage at all.
When she was 17, she had a desire to work, yet it was impossible for her to follow
her ambition as her baby was only two years old and required her care. She suffered
mentally for that reason. The author of this essay was Nebile Hüseyin, a college
girl, attending the YWCA programs in Istanbul. In the beginning of her essay, “The
social life of women in Turkey is changing every year. Women are becoming more
powerful as the years pass by,” she noted. Nebile concluded her essay by saying
that she was now at the same age, 17, that her mother had been while now her
mother was 35, and “she was a widow with a child on her breast. But I, myself, am
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a child yet.”410 Another essay written by the YWCA’s Armenian registrant Y.
Haidostian, entitled “Freedom of Women,” highlighted the meaning attached to
work: “A very great need, if not the greatest, is the need of attaching value to labor,
so that it will be considered honorable for any women to support herself if she
desires to do so.” She continued arguing that for both Christian and Muslim
communities, financial independence for women would help to sort out one main
issue which was “[…] the subtle and complex problems which result from
inconvenient marriages. Because very often women marry men whom they do not
love, but simply to avoid the disgrace of being ‘left at home’ or ‘self-supporting.’ ”
411 It was no coincidence that the YWCA’s American staff encouraged young
women to write about the expansion of freedom they would obtain once women
started to support themselves financially and independently. Simultaneously,
women’s decision making power on marital status would increase, which could be
seen in essays written by Muslim women not only in Istanbul but as far away as
India. In answer to an essay question about whether women should be prepared for
economic independence regardless of marriage, the YWCA’s participant wrote
“Indian girls and women should be prepared for economic independence regardless
of marriage. Because, marriage is not so necessary as is the means of living.” She
also critiqued the idea that women were assigned with the heavy task of
motherhood rather than being able to pursue a job which usually was associated
with a man’s expertise. Directing young women to write on the topic and grading
them based on its context, these essays all received “excellent” or “very good” as
410 Nebile Hussein [Hüseyin], “My Mother at my age,” Box 24 Folder:1–2, Series IV, “Student
Essays on Moslem Women,” 1929, n.d., Ruth F. Woodsmall papers, YWCA-SSC.
411 Y. Haidostian, “Freedom of Women,” Box 24 Folder:1–2, Series IV, YWCA-SSC.
141
grades.412 All of these essays prioritized one thing; women’s financial
independence over marriage. Economic independence was a step towards
individuality, allowing the opportunity to use one’s skills, taking control of one’s
life and enhance one’s role in decision-making process. The YWCA’s American
staff was successful in terms of instilling the idea that pursuing a profession not
only emancipated women but also empowered them to have more control of their
lives in terms of more decision-making in their lives.
A factor with regard to the increase in the number of women in the labor
force was the related with the idea of patriotic duty and nationalism, as helping the
nation during wartime was the main concern in the Turkish State. Women too felt
that they had a responsibility to their country.413 Belkıs Halim Vassaf, who
graduated from Philosophy Department of Istanbul University, interacted with the
Istanbul YWCA by attending its camp at Hüseyin Avni Paşa mansion in
Caddebostan in 1924 in order to learn a foreign language before she started
working at the YWCA. She shared her anecdote with a YWCA secretary on a topic
related to working. The secretary encouraged her to be an individual by following
her own desire for work rather than to do things in the name of the motherland:
One day when I was talking to the American director of the camp, I said that
‘It is my mission and patriotic duty to go to Anatolia, the remotest part of
Turkey for work, or go anywhere where my motherland assigns me to’. She
was astonished by what I said. She said ‘No’ to me. ‘There is not anything
called duty. If a person likes the job, s/he does it, if s/he does not, s/he does
not’. However, because we are always raised for the purpose of duty, it is
very strange for me and hard to understand that people should work based
on their preference rather than duty at that moment.414
412 “Chief Hindrances regarding Social Changes,” Box 24 Folder:1–2, Series IV, YWCA-SSC.
413 Yavuz S. Karakışla, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Savaş Yılları ve Çalışan Kadınlar: Kadınları
Çalıştırma Cemiyeti (1916–1923) (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2015), 60.
414 Gündüz Vassaf, Annem Belkıs (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2000), pp.116–120. “my translation.”
142
Later, through her YWCA connection, Belkıs would be granted a scholarship to
study at the Smith College. Regarding her career goals, the decision to go to the
USA shocked her social circle. “Erdem’s staying at Turkey worried everyone and
some of them reproached me. We were newly married and I was going to the USA
for education and to advance my career. I was leaving my husband of two years [in
Istanbul]. Everyone found it weird.” After arranging a prestigious job in the USA at
a drug company later, Belkıs and her husband Ethem would go there together to
pursue their professional dreams.415
Educating young women on labor and career issues included organizing
conferences and talks. In one of the conferences, the YWCA had a speaker
discussing “Social and Industrial Problems and how to awaken interest among
women of Constantinople in these problems.” Women were attracted to this
subject, Bissell noted.416 In 1925, the Business Girls’ Group Program offered an
opportunity to discuss business in Istanbul. Mr. Bernard Tumini, a wealthy
businessman from an Italian background whose family had done business since the
nineteenth century in the Ottoman state, gave a talk on business conditions in the
“efficient city” and “the efficient business girl.” The program for the meeting
mentioned the types of help the YWCA could offer to aspiring businesswomen and
how to finance their careers. For this, they agreed to fundraise by holding social
gatherings and taking photographs.417 The YWCA’s Program for Girl Reserves418
415 Vassaf, Annem Belkıs, 116–120, “my translation.”
416 “Report of Miss Clara L. Bissell, General Secretary to Constantinople Service Centers, April
May-June 1928,” [Received 1929], p.3, microfilm no 63, YWCA-SSC. During these conferences,
the YWCA secretaries also touched upon the difficulties women encountered in the workplace.
417 “Business Girls Group Program. October-December 1925,” p.1, reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
418 According to the YWCA secretary Irma E. Finley, the Girl reserve programs helped girls develop
their character and individuality. What Finley liked about the program was in her words, it
“skillfully administered that the degree of discipline and self-development which it achieves is one
of the most remarkable and encouraging results.” She witnessed the success of the education they
offered to the young women; their “unmistakable growth and transformation taking place in
143
included a talk entitled “Occupations open to women in Turkey” in 1926.419 It was
not surprising that even the mothers of participants were sometimes involved in the
YWCA, and sought advice from the secretaries as to which profession their sons
also should pursue.420
The Istanbul YWCA advanced explicitly the model of the career-oriented
women. The YWCA staff showing young women leading female figures who did
not give up in their careers despite the challenging conditions they faced was a part
of this. Nakiye Elgün was one such. She worked in the Center Committee of the
YWCA. She was one of the women who was elected to the Council from the
Republican People’s Party. For YWCA purposes, she prepared training materials
on subjects related to citizenship such as casting the ballot and “the responsibility
of the individual girl.”421 The article published in Resimli Ay, a pictorial monthly,
regarding Nakiye, who was a proponent of education reform in Turkey, was
important for the YWCA. Despite the challenges she faced in her career, she
relentlessly focused on her goals and did not give up, unafraid to speak her mind in
defense of what she believed in.
Nakiye had work experience in different schools and in one of in her classes
wanted to have tablecloths and modern amenities such as electricity, but the
directors of the school rejected her suggestion. She was in favor of using the best
teaching methods with students, in addition to supplying them with the best
technology. Being against corporal punishment in schools, she advocated the idea
that teachers should favor non-physical and non-violent corrective measures to
individual girls” was evident. See “International Radiogram YWCA, from Irma E. Finley,
Constantinople, 1927,” pp.2–3, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
419 “Program of Girl Reserves. October-December 1926,” pp.1–3, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
420 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.79, p.84, p.153
421 C. L. Bissell, “Annual Report, Jan. 1, 1931,” pp.1–6, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
144
instill discipline. For her, authority in one’s classroom was not best established by
fear, which was harmful as it prevented students from being self-expressive and
developing a healthy mind. From time to time, she came up against the directorates
of schools though in the end they acknowledged that her ideas were correct.422 The
YWCA presented her as a role model for young women as she had focused on her
career goals. For her, a profession was not a short-term goal but a life-long
achievement. She did not quit her job when she met with difficulties. Rather, she
fought for what she thought was right.
Another story, published in Resimli Ay, on which the YWCA focused was
that of Safiye Ali.423 Her career story the difficulties she overcame were an example
for the association. Safiye Ali was a key figure for the YWCA. She not only gave a
series of talks on health and hygiene for young women at the Istanbul YWCA,424
but also examined the girls for free at the same service center.425
Safiye Ali, who had received private lessons at home, also went to the
American College in Istanbul. She pointed out that the American education that she
received at the school had inspired her to earn her independent living. Even when
she was a child, she was motivated to do things for herself. Sometimes this caused
conflicts at home with her family.426 She was from one of the most prominent and
wealthy families. Her father, Ali Kırat Paşa was the aide-de-camp to sultans
422 [Margaret White’s notes] Resimli Ay, February 1928, pp.1–4, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
423 “Successful Turkish Women: The First Woman Doctor, Doctor Safie Ali Hanum,” Resimli Ay
January 1928, pp. 1–3, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
424 C. L. Bissell, “Report of Stamboul Service Center, Constantinople, September 1921,” pp.1–2,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
425 “Report of Health Education Department, Mary Em. Fisler, October-December 1924,” p.5,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
426 “Successful Turkish Women: The First Woman Doctor, Doctor Safie Ali Hanum,” pp.1–3.
145
Abdülaziz and Abdülhamid II. Her grandfather from her mother’s side had been the
Sheikh-al-Islam in Mecca.427
For studying medicine, she went to Germany at a time when women did not
have the chance to study and practice in that field in Turkey. World War I broke out
while she was studying abroad. Still she continued her education, “when almost
everybody thought of higher education as a luxury ...” She enjoyed living in
Germany because she was impressed by the participation of women in social life. In
addition to this, her perception of gender roles changed when she lived in Germany.
As she put it, “I saw men and women treat each other as equals and friends with
perfect freedom toward each other.” She was influenced by the concern of
physicians for public health as they protected and improved the health of
families.428
When she came back to Turkey, her diploma was approved officially, and
she became the country’s first female doctor. Safiye Ali addressed the gender
prejudices that she faced at work. Working with a large number of women, she
experienced sex discrimination as some of her female patients treated her as if she
was not competent enough because she was not a male doctor. They did not trust
her judgement or follow her recommendations, thinking that she did not have
enough knowledge as a female doctor. Although those patients were educated, they
still claimed that women differed from men in mental capacity. They also rejected
the possibility that other women could surpass their own educational level, or
men’s educational level. Uneducated female patients with low-income were in fact
more receptive to her treatment and her recommendations because, in her words, “it
427 Ibid., pp.1–3.
428 Ibid., pp.1–3.
146
did not matter in the least to them whether it was a man or woman who knew more
than they …” These patients told her that they easily opened up to her more easily
because she was a woman doctor. There were medical issues women could not
bring themselves to discuss with male doctors. They shared things with her that
even close members of their families would not know. There was of course one
problem she sometimes faced with those patients, the problem of equal payment. In
her words: “Some people thought, ‘Well, she is a woman, it does not matter if we
give her less.’ I had to fight with this idea.” Although she was in favor of providing
low-income patients “free care,” if the money was not an issue for them, she
preferred her patients to pay her the same amount as they would have paid a male
doctor. The payment gap endemic to all fields was larger among doctors.429
Another challenge she faced in her profession was the attitude of most male
doctors towards her. However, she was thankful to Bessim Ömer Pasha for his help
as he manifested a better attitude towards her. She had difficulty in fitting into the
traditionally male workplace. Most male doctors did not trust her skills and women
in medicine were not given the respect they deserved by their male colleagues.
Figuring out that their attitude towards her was owed partly to “professional
jealousy,” she did not care what they thought of her. Despite the difficulties she
encountered due to gender attitudes, through her own personal efforts and
determination, she did not give up her career. She was involved in medical
volunteer projects regarding children’s health and nutrition at associations such as
Himaye-i Etfal Cemiyeti (Society for Protection of Children), and Süt Damlası
(Drop of Milk). She was also a member of the Turkish Women’s Union and in
429 Ibid., pp.1–3.
147
charge of the union’s health branch.430 Woodsmall was concerned with the
gendered bias in professional work. Women doctors in Turkey were not great in
number in 1926. She emphasized that with the increase in the number of female
doctors in the coming decade, the YWCA would get a better picture of the
discrimination between male and female doctors, because in 1926 there were only 4
female doctors by her own account. The low number of female doctors meant that
there would be little to no direct competition between men and women. She
reported that there were few examples of men at the same time mentioning that
women should not work because they would steal their spots, mentioning one man
overheard in a ferry, saying that “Why should Turkish girls study law. There are not
enough places for men. Why should women take any of them?”431
Another career-oriented woman whom the YWCA translated from Resimli
Ay and the YWCA was interested in was Behire Hakkı Hanım. She was the founder
of a tailoring school named Biçki Yurdu. She started working for two reasons. The
first one was the dominance of foreign tailors in Istanbul. Their products in the
market were so expensive that most people could not afford them. The second
reason she had begun was her reaction against the lifestyle Turkish women
generally followed, which she described as lazy and inactive. She stated that
women could support themselves without the help of others. In her interview, she
revealed that she was motivated by these reasons; thus, she wanted to start her own
sewing business. From her childhood, she was fond of sewing, but to learn about
professional sewing methods and turn her hobby into a career, she had courses from
Osman Zeki Bey who had earned his tailoring degree from Académie Nationale in
430 Ibid., pp.1-3.
431 Ruth Woodsmall, “Social Conditions in Turkey,” October, 1926, pp. 8–9, microfilm reel 64,
YWCA-SSC.
148
France. She sent her portfolio to the Academy in Paris, and was accepted, later
opening her own school.432
She had to overcome many challenges and obstacles before achieving the
success she enjoyed. She overcame difficulties through her own “personal effort.”
It was hard for her to keep her school running as tuition was free for all students at
a time when Istanbul was involved in World War I. She had financial difficulties
such as paying the increasing rent and cost of school supplies. The number of
students dropping out increased as the school started to charge a small fee to meet
its rising expenses.433
Yet one of major obstacles she had to overcome was a psychological one.
Her friends, who came from wealthy families, were critical of her decision to be a
tailor, because they claimed that a woman from high society would not sew her
own clothes; rather they would have someone else do that trivial job. They blamed
her for not having any self-respect. Behire Hakkı turned a deaf ear to the comments
they made, because they were to her just “empty mannequins” which one dresses
and undresses and should not take them seriously. She decided that it was not even
worth explaining herself to them or demonstrating to them how their thinking was
wrong. She only focused on accomplishing her own goals and dreams. She trained
the future tailors of the country and became famous by doing great work in her
field.434
Another story which interested the YWCA was “Makboule Hanoum’s
[sic.].” Her father was Ahmet Vefik Pasha, a former governor of Salonika.
432 “Turkish Women that have succeeded in life,” Resimli Ay, November 1927, pp.1-4, microfilm
reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
433 Ibid., pp.1–4.
434 Ibid., pp.1–4.
149
Although she came from a wealthy family, she too wanted to start her own
business. Some of her friends from her wealthy circle were critical of her career
goals, insisting that she was “doing something that was almost a disgrace for a
Pasha’s daughter…” She believed that for people in her circle “working outside
means a loss of self-respect.” She did not use her family’s financial resources or
help. With her own effort, she maintained her business despite the challenges she
faced.435
Makboule [Makbule] had also received a home education as was common
among wealthy families. She became involved in social work in Himaye-i Etfal
Cemiyeti (Society for Protection of Children) and also worked at the Women’s
Labor Society. She always had a strong desire to earn her own money and achieve
financial freedom. Thinking about starting a tailor shop, she shared her idea of the
project with her friend Nazire Hanım, the daughter of Kazım Pasha. With a limited
budget and struggling financially, they started the business. The clothes they sold
were not enough to cover the shop’s expenses. Makboule had difficulties making
money for a long time. Her business partner wanted to quit, and so she had to return
her capital. She went on a business trip to Europe to find new models for clothing.
During her trip, she was in a bad state of health, suffering from kidney disease and
it was impossible to continue her trip without the morphine injections that she had
with her. When she returned to Istanbul, she changed a piece of equipment which
did not work properly. After struggling to maintain her business, Makboule made a
major strategic decision to change the location of her shop. She moved her business
to Pera, which was busier and livelier in trade. The fame of her shop soon spread
435 “Turkish Women that have succeeded in life,” Resimli Ay, [the month is unclear] 1928, pp.1–4,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC. In the primary source, it was written as “Refik [sic].”
150
throughout the city. Foreigners were also interested in the clothes that she sold.
Increasing the profit margin of her shop for the first time, she was able to cover the
expenses of her shop and begin to turn a profit from her business.436
The YWCA needed these female role models to inspire career in young
women. The YWCA’s interest in Nakiye Elgün, Safiye Ali, Behire Hakkı Hanım,
Makbule Hanım by means of pictorial Resimli Ay depicted these role models as
career-oriented and self-sufficient individuals. Being prominent figures in their
fields, they worked hard to get ideas accepted in their areas. They overcame
obstacles and achieved their career goals. The YWCA, by focusing on figures like
the aforementioned, was interested in inspiring young women to pursue their career
goals and gain their financial independence.
5.5. Conclusion
In Istanbul, the YWCA’s American staff interacted with young women who stayed
at home, and thus developed an alternative strategy by first establishing the value of
work as a practice for the development of selfhood. YWCA personnel disseminated
the idea of pursuing a profession by guiding members through their Employment
Bureau, offering professional training, organizing talks, and presenting careeroriented
role models. The aim was to instill the value in young women of
prioritizing career over marriage even if this meant individuals would end up in
436 “Turkish Women that have succeeded in life,” Resimli Ay, [the month is unclear] 1928, pp.1–4,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
151
familial and social conflicts. Financial independence was foregrounded as the
means for young women to direct their personal choices, take control of their lives,
and achieve liberation from oppressive structures.
The Istanbul YWCA was active in promoting employment for women in the
city. In 1930, the Employment Bureau of the Istanbul YWCA formally ceased
operations, but the YWCA continued to help young women with “securing [job]
positions.”437 From time to time, young women, after securing their jobs,
sometimes had to discontinue their participation in the activities of the YWCA for
two reasons: “… as so many of them work long hours and it is still the custom of
the country that girls do not go out alone in the evening, so most of our activities in
the Centers close at 7:00 P.M.”438 The YWCA’s American secretaries were
successful in bringing professional skills to the young women whom they were able
to influence, enabling them to start a career-oriented life, and reminding them that
marriage should not be the ultimate goal or personal aspiration. The Istanbul
YWCA stressed the idea of working for one’s own self and focusing on one’s own
career despite social and familial pressure since having a profession was a vital tool
for attaining individual selfhood.
437 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.97, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
438 Dorothy Southorn, “Education in the Y.W.C.A. Centers in Constantinople,” pp.5–6, Box 330,
Series V. Professional Activities: YWCA, Post-WWI, Field Surveys, Near East, Constantinople,
1920, YWCA-SSC.
152
CHAPTER VI
SELF-CARE
In 1914, the number of doctors in Muslim hospitals was 87 in Istanbul.439 While
women practiced midwifery and nursing in the 1910s, medical faculties only began
to admit women in 1922.440 (In 1927, the total number of female doctor graduates
would be only seven.441) During World War I, tuberculosis was the disease that
killed highest number of people and at the beginning of the 1920s, tuberculosis was
still a major issue. Municipal health services treated 50,439 people for free in 1915
while in 1922, the number dropped to 34,361.442 In the 1910s, the constant state of
war led to high numbers of sick and wounded, dying soldiers, and diseases such as
cholera, typhus, small-pox, along with unsanitary conditions, lack of supplies and
malnutrition. In the 1920s, raising people’s awareness of epidemic diseases such as
syphilis, malaria would be a concern of the officials and statesmen. The
government took action in various cities providing free medical treatment for
syphilis. Regulations on epidemic diseases, cholera, venereal diseases, malaria and
439 Tevfik Güran, Resmi Istatistiklere Göre Osmanlı Toplum ve Ekonomisi (Istanbul: Türkiye İş
Bankası Yayınları, 2017), 82–6.
440 Elizabeth B. Mayston, Business Secretary, Report on Vocational Training and Guidance,
Constantinople, February, 1928, pp.1–2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
441 Didem Konya, “Türkiye’nin İlk Kadın Doktoru Safiye Ali ve Çalışmaları,” Journal of Social
Sciences and Humanities Researches 19, no.42 (2018): 35-54.
442 Tevfik Güran, Resmi Istatistiklere Göre Osmanlı Toplum ve Ekonomisi (Istanbul: Türkiye İş
Bankası Yayınları, 2017), 84–94.
153
laws on health administration, pharmacies, labs, professionals would be revised as
well.443
The modern state’s legitimatization of its authority could be revealed not
only by gaining territory but through controlling populations through institutions
such as hospitals, schools and prisons which are all part of control mechanisms of
the state through their disciplinary and daily practices. Disciplining and controlling
bodies becomes a form of power of the nation states.444 The CUP in 1913, as a part
of its nationalistic policies, would form the Turkish Strength Association (Türk
Gücü Cemiyeti) to encourage physical education and sports for males, and
organized like a military education. Training strong bodies would lead to a strong
Turkish nation and would win the battles against foreign intruders, according to the
unionists. The ancient Turkish sports would also be revived to strengthen the idea
of nationalism such as wrestling, archery, and horseback riding.445 In 1911–1912,
the Teacher Training School for Girls included a course on calisthenics.446 Selim
Sırrı Tarcan, an expert on physical education and sports who had received his
training in Switzerland, was in favor of gymnastics being added to the curriculum
for females. Printed culture promoted gymnastics in relation to beauty concerns and
443 Health Report, undated, Series IV. Writings: Changing Status of Moslem Women (Rockefeller
Grant) Statistics, Articles, reports, notes and printed material, Turkey, 1923–1930, n.d., Ruth
Woodsmall papers, YWCA-SSC.
444 Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (New York: Pantheon Books,
1977).
445 Cüneyd Okay, “Sport and Nation Building: Gymnastics and Sport in the Ottoman State and the
Committee of Union and Progress, 1908–18,” The International Journal of the History of Sport 20,
no.1 (2003):152–6.
446 Mustafa Şanal, “Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Kız Öğretmen Okulunda Görev Yapan Kadınİdareci
ve Öğretmenler ile Okuttukları Dersler,” BELLETEN 68 (2004 ): 649–70. In 1909, Inas Ittihad-ı
Osmanlı Mektebi in Bakırköy offered various courses ranging from sewing to gymnastics. Şefika
Kurnaz, Cumhuriyet Öncesinde Türk Kadını (1839–1923) (Ankara: T.C. Başbakanlık Aile
Araştırma Kurumu Başkanlığı Yayınları, 1991), 22.
154
aesthetic purposes.447 In 1914 physical education courses for two hours a week
became part of the curriculum of the girl lycée in Istanbul.448 In the Second
Constitutional period, one topic that prominent intellectuals pointed out was that
women were not physically strong because they lacked an active life. They needed
to be strong because they had an important role as mothers. In this correlation, they
defended that their resilience mattered because the raising of the next generations
was in the hands of the mothers. While they put priority on women’s lives due to
the maternal roles assigned to her, they recommended that the only sports women
should practice was the Swedish style of gymnastics.449 During this period,
compared to men, women were quite passive in joining and organizing sports
activities and clubs.450 It would only be in the early republican era that women
would be encouraged to join sports.
In the nation-building process, Kemalist reformers, attaining themselves a
superior position, saw the public as insufficient in knowledge and underdeveloped.
The Kemalist state, aspiring to earn its place among western, civilized counterparts
and compete with them, saw reforms as a necessity in the nation-building process.
The person would be molded into a citizen through exposure of modern techniques
in a nationalist rhetoric. The new Turk represented a rupture from the past and the
old, in that respect. The Turk’s image as presented in the civilized world was a
447 Osman Tolga Şinoforoğlu, “Selim Sırrı Tarcan ve İsveç Jimnastiği: Beden Eğitimde İsveç
Modelinin II. Meşrutiyet Dönemi Türk Eğitim Sistemine Entegrasyonu” (PhD diss., Gazi
Üniversitesi, 2015), 106.
448 Veli Onur Çelik and Nefise Bulgu, “Geç Osmanlı Döneminde Batılılaşma Ekseninde Beden
Eğitimi ve Spor,” Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 24, (2010): 137–147.
449 Osman Tolga Şinoforoğlu, “Selim Sırrı Tarcan ve İsveç Jimnastiği: Beden Eğitimde İsveç
Modelinin II. Meşrutiyet Dönemi Türk Eğitim Sistemine Entegrasyonu” (PhD diss., Gazi
Üniversitesi, 2015), 106–7.
450 Veli Onur Çelik and Nefise Bulgu, “Geç Osmanlı Döneminde Batılılaşma Ekseninde Beden
Eğitimi ve Spor,” Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 24, (2010): 137–147.
155
concern of the elites.451 To be a Turk meant to be strong. The nation needed strong
mothers physically, because they would build the future by giving birth to strong
citizens.
Selim Sırrı Tarcan, one of the influential figures in spreading sports and
physical education in the late Ottoman State and in the new Republic used
reproduction as one of his reasons encouraging women to do sports. Strong bodies
meant a higher rate of reproduction.452 While “… the Kemalist state continued to
employ a traditional definition of female roles and emphasized reproduction and
child care as the primary functions of women,”453 Sertaç has stated that “Sport was
a crucial tool in Atatürk’s nation-building project, and women’s involvement was
essential. As future mothers of the next generation, women were expected to have
healthy and strong bodies.”454 The founder, Ataturk, seeing health policies as a part
of its reforms, stressed that it was the state’s duty to protect the health of its
citizens.455 Education and nationalism were interwoven in 1923. Samih Rıfat, who
worked at the Education Ministry, stressing that nationalism shaped the policies of
education, revealed the policies under two headlines; “nationalized culture and
modernized teaching.” “Our educational aims will be humanitarian, but at the same
time very nationalistic,” he noted. Similarly, Ismail Safa, the Minister of Education
of 1923, who said that “In education, the New Turkey has accepted the aims and
451 Ayça Alemdaroğlu, “Politics of the Body and Eugenic Discourse in Early Republican
Turkey,” Body & Society 11, no.3 (2005): 61–76.
452 Gertrud Pfister and Ilknur Hacısoftaoğlu. “Women’s Sport as a Symbol of Modernity: A Case
Study in Turkey,” The International Journal of the History of Sport 33, no.13 (2016), 1470–82;
Demet Lüküslü and Şakir Dinçşahin, “Shaping Bodies Shaping Minds: Selim Sırrı Tarcan and the
Origins of Modern Physical Education in Turkey,” The International Journal of the History of Sport
30, no.3 (2013): 195–209.
453 Zehra F. Arat, “Turkish Women and The Republican Reconstruction of Tradition,” 72.
454 Sertaç Sehlikoglu, “Sports: Turkey” in Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, vol.14,
eds. Suad Joseph and Elora Shehabuddin (Leiden: Brill, 2017).
455 Erdem Aydın, “Türkiye’de Genel Sağlık Sigortası Girişimleri Tarihi,” Kebikeç, no.12 (2001):
161–8.
156
principles of nationalism through and through.” Safa drew attention to strength as
the fundamental element of their policy, associating it with responsibility, having
confidence in one’s powers, and protecting one’s rights, whereas “Weakness is the
mother of all calamities … We have enemies in the outside. We need to be unified
with a national feeling in our country.”456 Rahmi Bey, who wrote an article on how
education should be in the schools in the 1920s in Turkey, was in favor of schools
“preparing them to life.” He supported the idea that health and hygiene education
was a necessity in school education. In the 1920s, “protecting health was a national
duty.”457
In the late Ottoman State, and the new Republic, health practices and
recreation for females were encouraged by both nationalist and maternalist politics.
This chapter specifically will focus on health dynamics and practices the YWCA
Istanbul established. The YWCA’s American staff educated young women to be
more conscious of their physical bodies and health practices, contributing to the
spread of the idea of individuality by promoting recreational activities for one’s
own self and empowerment; it was thus more a responsibility to one’s self rather
than a maternal, patriotic and national duty. The emphasis was on fulfilling an
individual necessity.
456 “The Modern Movements in Turkey and Their Bearing on Islam,” pp.5-6, Box 63, Folder 9,
Series V, Professional Activities: YWCA, Post-WWI, Field Surveys, Near East, Reports, Interim,
1921–1928, n.d., Ruth F. Woodsmall papers, YWCA-SSC.
457 Fatih Tuğluoğlu ve T. Tunç, “1926 İlkmektep Müfredatı ve Cumhuriyet Dönemi Eğitiminin
Ekonomik Hedefleri,” Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi 26, no.76 (2010): 55–98.
157
6.1. The Istanbul YWCA
Taking care of your body and mind was becoming popular at the beginning of the
twentieth century in the USA. The progressive movement also aimed to improve
the standards in social and work life. Women activists were engaged in solving
social problems emerging with industrialization such as public health, safety, the
working conditions, and the like, in a society in which mass production and mass
consumption would reshape norms and traditions. There were also new anxieties
concerning being overweight because of the fact that people were less tolerant to it.
One extension of this was the rise in the number of people who did exercise.458
Warren Susman noted that it was common for people to use the word “character” in
the nineteenth century. Character was related with morality during that era, which
would eventually encourage people to how to develop “the self” and search for new
ways to shape the character and society they interacted with. The definition of
character thus had a strong relation with morality. Character was defined by words
such as “honor, reputation, integrity, manners.” However, there was a shift to
stressing personality in the first decade of twentieth century. The importance of
personality was mentioned in literature including self-help books and novels,
defined by words including “fascinating, stunning, or magnetic.” Personality was
not only something one could work on but was also a tool of attraction in the
458 Foucault in his book, Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison, wrote that “Exercise is the
technique by which one imposes on the body tasks that are both repetitive and different, but always
graduated. By bending towards a terminal state, exercise makes possible a perpetual characterization
of the individual…It thus assures, in the form of continuity and constraint, a growth, an observation,
a qualification.” Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison (New York:
Pantheon Books, 1977).
158
twentieth century. It served the consumer society which was flourishing at the same
time. Developing one’s self could be learned from guidebooks which were about
success and from books which taught exercise, healthy living, how to have good
skin and dress well, and the like. Morality was now less significant than making
yourself charming and pleasing to other people. How one presented oneself to
others was thus more important.459 This emphasis on personality was reflected in
the messages of the YWCA’s on the global perspective as well. “Attain[ing a]
healthy and ideal personality” was one of the goals of the YWCA.460
In the United States, the end of Victorian age marked new meanings
attached to sport: “Self-restraint and self-sacrifice yielded to self-expression,
personal taste, and the implicit sense that that the pursuit of happiness was the
essence of liberty and the purpose of life.” Sport became a means of self-expression
and a way to develop good relationships by the late 1910s. Physical health started
to be associated with positive emotions and joy, gaining more importance in the
1920s.461 Sport was yet another tool to be pleased with oneself and the choices one
had made. “Abundant life,” “Camp of happiness” were among the mottos of the
YWCA in Turkey while promoting their recreational activities for young women.
The YWCA staff in Turkey promoted sports and physical health promising joy,
pleasure, reflecting the spirit of the American experience; “Life in the Near East is
cast too much in a minor strain. It needs the major note of pure joy in physical
459 Warren I. Susman, Culture as History: The Transformation of American Society in the Twentieth
Century (New York: Pantheon Books, 1984), 273–85.
460 Tsai Kuei and Lilly K. Haass “A Study of the Young Women's Christian Association of China:
1890–1930,” Chinese Studies in History 11, no.1 (1977): 18–63.
461 Donald J. Mrozek, “From National Health to Personal Fulfillment, 1890–1940” in Fitness in
American Culture: Images of Health, Sport and the Body, 1830–1940, ed. Kathryn Grover
(Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1989), 18–30.
159
relaxation,” was the assessment of Ruth F. Woodsmall regarding Turkey.462 In the
1920s, Weaver Pangburn highlighted that spending time for leisure, sports and
being physically active was a fundamental way of cultivating individuality which
lead to self-development and self-empowerment.463
The YWCA’s recreational program at the Pera and Stamboul Centers
offered young women gymnastics, outdoor and indoor recreation, games,
dramatics, dancing, hiking, sight-seeing, city extension programs of recreation,
training of recreational supervisors and playground supervisors, and summer camps
that taught swimming and life-saving.464 With the equipment available, volleyball,
basketball, tennis, baseball, gymnastics, calisthenics, Swedish drill, and swimming
were among the recreation promoted by the YWCA.465 In 1921, in Istanbul, more
than 95 girls were eager to learn tennis at the association. Social dancing was also
on the program of the YWCA in the early 1920s.466 The YWCA organized
basketball and volleyball tournament, as well as health carnivals and talks, and
posture contests.467
Ismet Rauf Hanım, who was Istanbul Health Secretary, claimed that the
YWCA was the only facility which provided gym classes when girls left the school.
Girls “can find no health institution, no gymnasium, no field suitable for sports and
other activities through which she can express herself. This is where the YWCA
462 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Survey of Social Conditions in Turkey,” October 1926, p.70
463 Weaver Pangburn, “The Worker's Leisure and His Individuality,” American Journal of Sociology
27, no. 4 (1922): 433–41.
464 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Survey of Social Conditions in Turkey,” October 1926, p.68
465 Anna Welles Brown, “Orphanages In Constantinople,” in Constantinople To-Day; or the
Pathfinder Survey of Constantinople; a Study in Oriental Social Life, ed. C. R. Johnson, (New York:
Macmillan, 1922), 283–4.
466 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.73, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
467 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.76, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
160
service centers step in…” Mary Em Fisler, who served as the Director of Health
Education in Istanbul between 1922 and 1925, summarized in three articles what
“the outstanding needs of the girls of this country which health education
department can meet.” Young women’s posture, hygiene, creating recreational
activities, and cleanliness were among the concerns of the Health department of the
YWCA.468
6.2. Dancing:
The YWCA’s mainly American staff were active participant of dancing in deed in
the years the new Republic was not founded. In Istanbul a number of the YWCA
staff attended dance parties of the YMCA in 1919 and 1920. Staff from the
American armed services and the Near East Relief also participated in these social
gatherings. The YWCA staff not only participated in dance events but also in lunch
and swimming gatherings as well. The international staff, both men and women,
socialized together, played ball and swam together in the late 1910s. This was at a
time when Muslim women’s social interaction with men was more reserved and
limited compared to the interaction among international staff in Istanbul.469 Only in
the new Republic were the curtains in trams which separated the sexes lifted,470 and
harem (private sphere) and selamlik (reception room where male had his guests)
areas of the house would transform into guest rooms where both sexes could be
468 “Report of Mary Em Fisler, Department of Health Education,” [date is unreadable], p.2,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
469 “Appendix B: Selected notes of James Daniel ‘Jimmie’ Miller 1919–1920,” Box 1, Folder 4,
Turkey, 1919–1920, Hazel Vernon Miller papers, YWCA-SCC.
470 Nermin Abadan-Unat, Women in Turkish Society (Leiden : Brill, 1981), 12–3.
161
hosted.471 These patriarchal codes were challenged at the same time by associations
like the YWCA in the 1910s, since they encouraged recreation and socialization
with both sexes at leisure, which was a more western concept.
National and international dances were taught in the association. In the mid-
1920s, the YWCA also offered clogging in their program.472 The YWCA staff not
only encouraged young women to dance but also trained them in various types of
dance and sent young women to orphanages, local schools, workrooms, and refugee
camps to disseminate demonstrations of dance. Young women wearing European
clothes and big white wigs, some of them impersonating men, dancing in French
style, not only contributed to the spread of Western modernity but also promoted
dance as both a sport and also a part of leisure. In annual Health demonstrations, it
became normal to see young women dancing as English country dancers, dressed in
historical clothes. 473
While the YWCA staff interpreted dancing as an activity of self-expression
one could be proud of and encouraged young women to practice and spread
dancing , the Islamist press attacked the YWCA. Both Sebilürreşad and Tevhid-i
Efkar claimed that the YWCA deceived young women with their programs;
dancing being one of them. Tevhid-i Efkar warned the members of the YWCA that
they should be not proud; they were not like the “Anatolian women [who had
fought] in the same rank with their fighting sons” while they were busy learning
471 Ayşe Durakbaşa, “Cumhuriyet Döneminde Modern Kadın ve Erkek Kimliklerinin Oluşumu:
Kemalist Kadın Kimliği ve ‘Münevver Erkekler’,” in 75 yılda kadınlar ve erkekler, ed. Ayşe
Berktay Hacımirzaoğlu (Istanbul : Tarih Vakfı Yayınları, 1998), 29–50.
472 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.73, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
473 Photographs with captions, Box 81, Folder 9, Series VII. Photographs: Subjects, Countries,
Turkey, Smyrna, n.d., Ruth F. Woodsmall papers, YWCA-SCC.
162
dancing.474 By the male writers of the conservative press, dancing was a threat to
motherhood.
Ataturk favored in promoting the idea that women attended balls and dances
in the new western State475, which symbolically represented Turkey’s new national
image to the world. The image of women in ballroom dancing was one of the
representations the Kemalist state wanted to sell to the world as a civilized nation,
because it empowered the image of the state among the western ones. Arat says that
“the [the Kemalist state] treat[ed] women as symbols and as tools of modernization
and Westernization, rather than as the equal and full partners of men.”476 Dance
was an extension of this. However, it was not easy to make people dance in a
country when both sexes did not get close in the public sphere. In one case, Ataturk
had to hire actresses to dance in one of the earliest balls he organized because the
number of female participants was so low. In one of the early balls, Atatürk insisted
and commanded a soldier to dance when he rejected the request to dance with a
woman: “I do not believe that a single woman would exist on earth that would turn
down the dance offer of a Turkish soldier in uniform. Now I command! Disband to
the saloon! Forward march! Dance!”477
Sight-seeing outings, parties, games, and picnics were among the
entertainment activities the YWCA organized. Hallowen and the Valentine’s Day
parties were thrown at the association along with groups demonstrating dances and
474 “Who is responsible,” Tevhid-i Efkar, April 11, 1922.
475 Cihan Aktaş, Tanzimat'tan 12 Mart'a Kılık Kıyafet ve İktidar (Istanbul: Kapı Yayınları, 2006),
154–5.
476 Zehra F. Arat, “Turkish Women and The Republican Reconstruction of Tradition,” in
Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity, and Power, eds. Fatma Müge Göçek
and Shiva Balaghi (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 72.
477 Aktaş, Tanzimat'tan 12 Mart'a Kılık Kıyafet ve İktidar, 155.
163
concerts. The YWCA staff found parties useful for the girl who interacted with
Stamboul Center because;
Parties form an important part of the program, for (this is especially true at
Stamboul) they are the only form of amusement open to many of the girls
who come from conservative families. Planning for and entertaining at these
parties helps the girls to acquire the social manners of the western world,
which are being introduced into their own home lives, and makes the period
of transition a little less difficult to deal with.478
Elizabeth Clarahan, the administrator of the Preparatory School at the American
College for Girls, Istanbul, was dismissed from her job in the 1930, for having
problems with the faculty. She wrote a letter to Genevieve Lowry, the secretary of
the YWCA in the 1930, on what she would recommend women members of the
YWCA read. According to Clarahan: “May I remind you of Jane Addams’
discussion of the character values of such work in The Spirit of Youth?”479 Jane
Addams, depicted consumer culture in her book as affecting the leisure time of
young men and women in a negative way. In modern life, young men and women
who worked in shops and factories found the freedom and had time to socialize at
night by going to dance halls. They thus drifted into futile relationships as a result
of consuming alcohol and spending too much time at dance halls. In her book, she
offered alternative, more beneficial, models for youth to spend their leisure time.
However, the YWCA promoted dancing and socializing even at night and
continued to put on shows related to dance. The Sports Club of the YWCA Pera
Center had set up a show which included Swedish gymnastics and different types of
dances such as “the Minuet, Scotch dance, Sailor’s dance, Oriental dance, Polish,
478 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.79–83, Box
329 Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
479 Elizabeth Clarahan’s letter to Miss Genevieve Lowry, October 18, 1930, p.1, microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC; “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,”
p.155, Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
164
flirtation, Esmeralda, etc.” A Greek journalist was very surprised by their good
performance and by the participation. Before the show, he had expected to be
disappointed because gym demonstrations were something new and largely
unknown in the society of the time. Also, he heard that some mothers were
unwilling to send their daughters to the training sessions for these dances. In his
view, the dance would not have been included in the normal program. The
association included it for public concerns, fearing that the audience might get
bored at watching a one-hour long gymnastic demonstration.480 One of the girls
defined the YWCA as “the only honorable place” for dancing.481 Even supervised
recreation took time to be accepted by the parents. There was also the idea of
perceiving recreation “as a luxury.”482 In the late 1920s, conservative intellectuals
questioned in the newspapers whether the new way of life would corrupt young
women and weaken the family relations. A writer from Sevimli Ay worried whether
a small number of women would be a bad influence for the majority by going to
public places such as dance halls, not taking care of their children, and neglecting
their responsibilities. As indicated by Duben and Behar, “ ‘the woman issue’ struck
deep chords in sexually restrictive Ottoman society.”483
480 T. K. K., “From a Gym Demonstration,” Apogevmatini (Greek Newspaper), June 14, 1926,
Constantinople, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
481 “Report of Miss Dorothy E. Brown, Pera Secretary, October-December 1925, Istanbul,” p.3,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
482 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.74, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
483 Alan Duben and Cem Behar, Istanbul Households: Marriage, Family, and Fertility, 1880–1940,
196–8.
165
6.3. Camps and Sports
Camps were another form of social activity. The YWCA’s camp of 1921 in Istanbul
was claimed by the YWCA to be “the only camp opened to all girls.” In the late
1920s, few schools would arrange camps, and only for their own students.484
Organizations that promoted camping activities were scarce compared to those in
the West although the YWCA staff observed that young women were quite
interested into these: “Camps and excursions [were] both new to the country but the
response of the youth of all nationalities shown in the YMCA and YWCA Summer
Camps for the past five years, prove that the camp appeal and outing instinct is
quite as strong in the youth of the East as the West.” Although they were not
widespread in Turkey, the YWCA staff was also active in bringing women together
through their camping activities as well as their recreational programs.485
One of the main purpose of the YWCA was to promote individual growth in
addition to progress made as a group.486 Through these camps the secretaries aimed
to enable young women to be self-sufficient, self-governing and take on their own
responsibilities. Belkıs Halim Vassaf, after her graduation from teacher’s training
college, attended one of the camps the YWCA organized as a participant as her
brother had arranged it for her. Years later she would work at the YWCA, but first
she attended the camp so that she could learn English. In her account, the camp’s
“cosmopolitan nature” was dominant; Greeks, Armenians, Americans, Russians as
well as Turks participated in the camp and each individual was responsible for her
484 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.84, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
485 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Survey of Social Conditions in Turkey,” October 1926, pp. 65–75.
486 “E. Akdjeoglou, Report of the Group Conference, May 31- June 2, 1926, Istanbul,” p.1,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
166
daily chores such as washing the dishes and the clothes, cooking, and the like. In
addition to learning to do their own daily chores, they were busy with sports
activities such as swimming and baseball, and leisure activities such as evening
theatrical presentations or bonfire nights. “We saw [learned] baseball at the camp
for the first time, we learned swimming. I played baskeball a lot.” The camp, in her
words, was “so planned that we [they] jumped from one activity and task from
another.” The YWCA secretaries kept them so busy that they did not have a minute
to do other things such as “gossiping” or being idle.487 As well as swimming and
basketball, volleyball, folk-dancing, hand-work, pottery class, water sports and
lifeguard training were regular components of the camps of the YWCA, with
masquerades at night.488 In the camps, they embraced responsibility and selfempowerment
and not being dependent on anyone but on one’s own.
In the new Republic, the National Federation of Sports Clubs was
established, having two main federated sections namely football and athletics.
Turkey also participated in the Olympic Games in 1924 for the first time. While
Turkish sports clubs proliferated compared to the previous decade, mixed Turkish
sports clubs allowed men and women to do recreational activities together for the
first times such as swimming, running, rowing, basketball and the like. The number
of Armenian sports club was 11; Greek sports club numbered 21 whereas there was
one Central Jewish sports club. Generally, the sports clubs which had women
participants were more informal disunited organizations, located in various parts of
487Gündüz Vassaf, Annem Belkıs (İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları), 2000), 116–26.
488 Scrap book, “Camp Happiness: Sea of Marmara,” Box 81, Folder 9–10, Ruth Woodsmall papers,
YWCA-SCC.
167
Istanbul. Other than these sports clubs, general organizations included recreational
programs such as the Turkish Hearths and the YMCA.489
The YWCA staff claimed that “athletics for girls over school-age are
practically unknown except in the YWCA and American College.”490 The YWCA
was not satisfied with the number of public parks, playgrounds, private clubs and
tennis courts in Istanbul. 491 According to the YWCA staff, physical culture had
been quite neglected by the state previously, it started to show progress in the mid
1920s as training for teachers of physical culture increased as well as the state’s
engagement of instructors from the Royal Swedish Gymnastic Institute. “Courses
of advanced training, lasting one year, and intended for teachers of physical culture,
were organized in the early part of 1927, and were attended by 60 teachers, of
whom 24 were women.”
Selim Sırrı Tarcan, writing an article on musical gymnastics in the Young
American Christian Associations, was impressed by how music guided the
movements in gymnastics; the usage of music in gymnastics could also help
children who had learning problems since with the rhythm of music, they could
easily follow the movements. While the usage of music in the American style of
calisthenics had psychological benefits in his view, he also highlighted that
Swedish gymnastics put more muscles to work since the music created the risk of
skipping some movements. Since Americans were teaching this in Turkey and
bringing their own style with them, Tarcan was in favor of evaluating this
489 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Survey of Social Conditions in Turkey,” October 1926, pp. 65–75, Box 63,
Folder 9, Series V. Professional Activities, Ruth Woodsmall Papers, YWCA-SSC.
490 “Report of Miss Dorothy E. Brown, April-June 1926, Pera Service Center,” p.2, microfilm reel
63, YWCA-SSC.
491 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.72, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
168
American type of gymnastics from physiological, psychological, and educational
perspectives.492 Tarcan was invited to provide background information to the works
he had done regarding the history of physical education in Turkey because he had
extensive experience in the field at that time because he was “the inspector of
[physical] education for all Turkey.”493 Hoping to reach young working people
from that channel as well, the YWCA hoped that the number of members in Health
Workers’ Club would also increase and develop into an extensive structure.
6.4. Health and fitness
The YWCA did not create a “fitness elite”494 in the 1910s and 1920s in Turkey.
The YWCA Turkey was rather able to reach a variety of women coming from
different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Some of them had reasonable
income from their families while some of them suffered financially and lacked
health resources which consequently affected their wellbeing. While the people the
Istanbul YWCA reached were mostly women who stayed at home, the rest included
teachers, students, cooks, clerks, business secretarial work, telephone operators,
saleswomen, nurses, house keepers, painters, stenographers, social workers, tailors,
maids, domestic workers, governesses and the like. There were also significant
492 Selim Sırrı, “Musical gymnastics in the Young People’s Christian Associations,” Cumhuriyet,
February 6, 1926 in Series V, Box 63, Folder 9–11, Series V. Professional Activities: YWCA, Post-
WWI, Field Surveys, Near East, Reports, Interim,1921–1928, Ruth Woodsmall Papers, Sophia
Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
493 “International YWCA Radiogram, Dorothy Rutherford, Health Education Director,
Constantinople Service Centers, Health Education in Constantinople, January 1- March 31, 1926,”
p.4, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
494 I borrowed the term from Salcedo who wrote on the Portland YWCA. Marissa Salcedo, “The
Best of Intentions: Upbuilding Through Health at the Portland YWCA, 1908–1959,” Journal of
Women's History 15, no.3 (2003):183–189.
169
number of girls who attended Turkish and foreign colleges, as well as the lycées.495
The YWCA staff was eager to enter the homes of young women so that they could
see what they needed concerning health education. Another reason was to reach
more people during their visits and attract more people to the association. The
YWCA staff, by reaching mothers of registrants, gained approval from their
mothers to visit their homes.496 “To link the homes more closely with the Centers
through visitations” was one of the goals of the YWCA Istanbul.497 From the-mid
1920s onward, the YWCA committee advised that “the home should be brought to
the Center rather than the Center to the home.” Also, sometimes visiting homes
might be uncomfortable to people due to their living conditions,498 though a number
of YWCA secretaries not only visited the homes of young women but also kept a
cross-sectional study, revealing these conditions:
Of the fifty Stamboul [Istanbul] girls whose homes were visited, many were
found to live in ramshackle dilapidated houses, where the whole family
occupies two rooms, or even only one. Toilets are unsanitary and difficult to
keep clean. The water supply is often cut off at night. This type of house is
hardly ever provided with a bathroom, and there is not a single warm place
where serious ablutions might be performed with comfort.499
The YWCA staff were aware of the fact that this fact did not reflect the whole city
in terms of home circumstances in Istanbul. Young women of the middle class had
better conditions, at least three or four rooms in their homes although they lacked
private bedrooms, while girls of richer families had a number of bedrooms. The
495 “Report of the Service Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929-June 1930,” p.61, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
496“Annual Report, Confidential, Part II, Genevieve Lowry, General Secretary of Service Centers,
Istanbul, Turkey, From September 1929–1930,” pp.4–13, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
497 Annual Report, January 1, 1931, Clara L. Bissell, not for publication, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
498 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey, November, 1929-June 1930,” p.152, Part 2 Box
330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
499 “Report of the Service Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” p.62.
170
number of well-to-do women at the YWCA was only 8 out of 75 at the Pera Center
while in the Stamboul center it was six out of 50. The concept of public bath houses
or hamams was new to the YWCA secretaries. Young women who did not have
bathrooms usually used public bath houses.500 A well-equipped gymnasium was on
the top floor of Pera Center which included shower baths that were also open to use
for young women. The only disadvantage of the gymnasium was it did not have a
dressing room. The gymnasium at Stamboul center had no shower baths or dressing
rooms.501
The YWCA initiated health campaigns, health weeks, a series of talks on
health, physical examinations for all their registrants, and directions on posture and
cleanliness. Nakiye Elgün’s observation as stated in the report was: “Young girls do
not want to be dirty,” said Elgün, “they are dirty if dire necessity compels them to
it. We know from an examination of the home backgrounds of the girls that many
of them are deprived of bathing facilities.” The YWCA staff perceived that selfresponsibility
was also related with how you took care of yourself; it was a
necessity for improving one self.502 The cleanliness of girls who came to the
YWCA centers was not satisfactory, according to the report of the Service Centers
in Istanbul (1929–1930). Girls wearing the same clothes, including underwear, and
their “not taking pride in their personal appearance” were noticeable and the “need
for a strongly emphasized health program” was a must. To encourage girls’ to be
500 Report of the Service Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” p.62 Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
501 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June 1930,” p.72, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
502 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June 1930,” p.150, Part 2 Box
330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
171
interested in their personal hygiene, one of the activities they included was visiting
the Constantinople Woman’s College for “a health week.”503
Professional athletes’ routines were also applied, including health
examinations and muscular assessments.504 For thorough body examination, Fisler
was in cooperation with a Greek doctor and a nurse from the American hospital.
The recommendations of doctors were thoroughly followed by the YWCA, such as
“remov[ing] tonsils, eyes needing treatment and examination, etc.”505 Treating them
like certified players who needed to pass some check-up routines, not to endanger
their members physical health, as a safety measure, a doctor doing health check
based on women’s medical records and a complete physical examination. The
YWCA Istanbul specifically bought scales for height and weight which could
enable them to measure not only these characteristics but also “muscular strength,
posture, feet.”506
The YWCA’s mainly American staff and a child specialist in Turkey they
interviewed with were both critical of the fatalistic attitude towards medical care
among the uneducated people. The child specialist stated: “The greatest obstacle to
better health conditions is the spirit of fatalism which controls that everyday life of
nine-tenths of the people in Turkey.” To the doctors’s words, the YWCA staff
added; “The belief that all things come from God even disease and that preventing
503 “Report of the Service Centers Istanbul, Turkey, November 1929- June 1930,” p.63, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
504“Report of Health Education Department, Mary Em. Fisler, October-December 1924,” pp.1–5,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
505 “Report of Health Education Department, Mary Em. Fisler, October-December 1924,” pp.1–5,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
506 “Report of Health Education Department, Mary Em. Fisler, October-December 1924,” pp.1–5,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
172
disease means thwarting God’s will, is very common … The value of having a
doctor is questioned. ‘What can one doctor do if fate has already decided?’ ”507
Forging agreements with good doctors to work for free was another goal of
the YWCA. Safiye Ali, who was influenced by Mary Mills Patrick to become a
physician while studying at the American College, was one of the Turkish women
doctors who examined girls for free.508 Another concern was working with male
doctors. In 1925, when Dr. Hadjisavas was to examine the girls, the YWCA
secretary Dorothy Rutherford stated that although they were quite glad to have Dr
Hadjisavas (affiliated with the American Hospital), “the ideal is to have a women
doctor for girls, but he was the next possible.”509 In one instance, the YWCA was
especially happy to find Dr. Ataoullah in 1926. She was a Turkish female
physician, who had had medical experience working in England510 and was quite
curious about the work the YWCA was doing in Istanbul. The idea of being
examined was something new for the girls who attended the YWCA. Some of them
were uncomfortable with these processes,511 while some had a more positive
reaction. Some of girls were in fact curious to learn about their health status.512 The
507 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Survey of Social Conditions in Turkey,” October 1926, pp.24–5.
508 “Report of Health Education Department, Mary Em. Fisler, October-December 1924,” p. 5,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
509 “Report of Miss Dorothy Rutherfood, Health Education Director, September-December 1925,”
p.4, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
510 Nuran Yıldırım, in A History of Healthcare in Istanbul provided a detailed account of the
hospitals and doctors in Ottoman State. Women seeking training or medical education abroad was
common. In 1917, Ferit [Talay] Bey who was the Health Director was critical of the fact that
Turkish women studied abroad for being doctor while foreign doctors could easily practice being
doctor in Turkey. Nuran Yıldırım, A History of Healthcare in Istanbul: Health Organizations,
Epidemics, Infections and Disease Control, Preventive Health Institutions, Hospitals, Medical
Education (Istanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi, 2010; European Capital of Culture, 2010).
511 “International YWCA Radiogram, Dorothy Rutherford, Health Education Director,
Constantinople Service Centers, Health Education in Constantinople, January 1- March 31, 1926,”
p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
512 “International YWCA Radiogram, Dorothy Rutherford, Health Education Director,
Constantinople Service Centers, Health Education in Constantinople, January 1- March 31, 1926,”
p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
173
YWCA Istanbul through these examinations was able to detect many kinds of
diseases but they were also trying to change the young women’s health routines.
Dorothy Rutherford, the Health Education Director in Constantinople Service
centers, in a radiogram revealed the details of the examination process and which
policies applied afterwards. One of the common “faults” detected was posture,
according to Rutherford. What young women needed was discussed after these
check-ups, varying from body mass to circulation:
Out of the twenty-eight girls examined we found no serious defects but we
found good material for an individual health class. We can, without a doubt,
correct uneven shoulders, heads forward, flat chests, relaxed abdomens,
poor circulation, toes turned out, and several cases of overweight and
underweight. The girls, especially Girl Reserves, are keenly interested in
posture and health habits.513
The YWCA was also influential in terms of directing girls to attain a “healthy” life
through regulating their eating and drinking habits. On “food values,” her
recommendation to one of the groups was “the little item of drinking water before
breakfast,” and drinking 8 glasses of water a day. One of the girls who was very
keen on developing “healthy rules” proudly told her that “I am drinking eight
glasses of water right now.” All girls needed to pay more attention to “health
rules.”514 Making women conscious in their weight and bodies, the YWCA was
defining what was and was not ideal healthiness. The YWCA Istanbul represented
these messages with visuals, presenting ideal role models. Healthy and unhealthy
representations made their message more strong and powerful. Thinness, having a
513 “International YWCA Radiogram, Dorothy Rutherford, Health Education Director,
Constantinople Service Centers, Health Education in Constantinople, January 1- March 31, 1926,”
pp. 2–3, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
514 “International YWCA Radiogram, Dorothy Rutherford, Health Education Director,
Constantinople Service Centers, Health Education in Constantinople, January 1- March 31, 1926,”
p. 2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
174
fragile outlook, and wearing high heels might all have been associated with the
concept of attractiveness of the time; the YWCA was eager to break those
stereotypes of women, who did not wear high heels, but looked strong and healthy:
In another corner a screen was removed and we had on one side the thin
frail girl, slumped down in a chair, holding her head with aspirin and pills
before her, the fat girl with her candy and sweets, the girl who insisted on
paint from the outside to brighten up her face while her feet were almost
crying out for relief and her shoulders needed material comfort while on the
other side the very attractive, animated looking girl in sensible shoes, middy
and skirt was a delightful contrast. The crowd fell back and several girls in
middy and bloomers represented the Recreation side of our Health program
with two clog dances followed by the folk and interpretive type of
dances.515
There is not a statistic record of the exact number of people living in Turkey in
1923 but it was estimated to be around twelve million.516 In 1927,517 the population
had increased to 13,648,270.518 The percentage of people who lived in the villages
was quite high, being 75.78% whereas people who lived in the cities was
24.22%.519 In this mostly peasant society, the number of illiterate people was more
than eighty percent. In 1923, the number of lycées was still very low, being only 23
whereas the number of students who attended lycées was 1,241 and the number of
teachers who worked at those lycée was 513. Only 0.01 percent of the total
population in 1923 attended a lycée.520 Furthermore, health education was not a
specific course taught in schools in 1926. Instead, under the name of Hayat Bilgisi
[Knowledge of Life or which could be interpreted as Home Economics], a course in
515 “Report of the Health Carnival, Constantinople Y.W.C.A., March 4, 1926,” microfilm reel 63,
YWCA-SSC.
516 Necdet Sakaoğlu, Cumhuriyet Dönemi Eğitim Tarihi (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 1992), 30–37.
517 The first census in the Early Republic was taken in 1927. In the Ottoman State, the census which
included for the first time the number of women, was held in 1880s.
518 Rüya Kasarcı, “Türkiye’de Nüfus Gelişimi,” Türkiye Coğrafyası Araştırma ve Uygulama
Merkezi Dergisi, no.5 (1996): 248–66.
519 Abidin Temizer and M. Selçuk Özkan, “Köy Enstitülerini Sözlü Tarih ve Yazılı Tarih Üzerinden
Anlamak (Kars Cılavuz Köy Enstitüsü),” Journal Of Oral History 1, no.1(2018): 21–39.
520 Sakaoğlu, Cumhuriyet Dönemi Eğitim Tarihi, 30–7.
175
elementary schools included subjects such as keeping clothes clean and the
importance of vaccination.
In a booklet which described the YWCA Turkey, under the title of Health
Education, the transformation in Turkey was underlined. The YWCA stressed in
the booklet that the YWCA had a role which in a way offered a method for the new
regime to be effective:
The emancipation of women shown in dress, social reform, opening of new
professions, the making of polygamy illegal, and the recognized influence
of women makes an insistent demand on the YWCA to expand its program.
The Health Education classes are one of the most effective means of
preparing girls for this new freedom.521
Even small steps like inspiring the girls to adopt a habit of brushing their
teeth daily was a goal in the health education of the YWCA Istanbul. In an example
Rutherford presented, the YWCA provided a girl with a toothbrush out of their
special fund because the girl did not already have one due to her financial situation.
The girl’s response when questioned about how she brushed her teeth and what she
used was “fingers and soap.” Another example of insufficient knowledge of dental
care that Rutherford gave, was with regard to one of the girls who was 14 years old.
She was asked the last time she had brushed her teeth. She answered, “The dentist
told me not to touch my teeth till I was sixteen.” The last time she had brushed her
teeth had been one year prior when she was thirteen.522 The YWCA staff, by
providing knowledge on health, corrected misinformation regarding the girls’ selfcare
routines.
521 Booklet of the YWCA, [Health Section], microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
522 “International YWCA Radiogram, Dorothy Rutherford, Health Education Director,
Constantinople Service Centers, Health Education in Constantinople, January 1- March 31, 1926,”
p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
176
A number of them had problems with clothing in winter; “I marveled every
time I asked a girl to remove her middy: you could hardly believe so much could be
clothes and so little actually the girl herself.”523 According to Fisler, Turkish girls
were “greatly handicapped” because “they have so recently come into any freedom
of action, thought or dress, and consequently have had no opportunity to participate
in games, dances, etc.”524 Mary Em Fisler claimed the YWCA helped girls wear
healthier clothes and transformed their fashion; “Middies and bloomers and full
skirts are now essential parts of most girls’ wardrobe and have come to be almost a
regulation uniform for the younger girls. Freedom of movement for even the
Turkish girls is being enjoyed now as never before.”525 They encouraged them to
have a more comfortable outlook, develop small healthy daily routines, and adopt
more recreational lifestyle:
Through health talks, posters, individual conferences with girls, and
personal example, a gradual change has taken place in the clothing of the
girls. Comfortable shoes, middies, bloomers, and full skirts have become a
part of a girl’s wardrobe. Some habits of living in regard to bathing,
sleeping with windows open etc. have changed. The Center program has
created an interest in recreational activities, particularly in more out-of-door
living, and play is no longer considered a waste of time.526
“The influence of the department is noticeable in the clothing of the girls, even
those who are not gym girls. This has been particularly noticeable in the case of
shoes.” Mary Em Fisler, the Health Director, at the beginning of 1920s was quite
surprised at “the shoes worn by all ages of girls.” High heels, which were common
523 Ibid.
524 “Summary Report of Mary Em. Fisler to Constantinople Y.W.C.A., Health education Secretary,
1922–1925,” p.4, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
525 “Summary Report of Mary Em. Fisler to Constantinople Y.W.C.A., Health education Secretary,
1922–1925,” p. 4, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
526 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.73, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
177
among the young women, did not offer any support while walking, according to
Fisler. As the streets were full of “cobbled roads,” the French heeled shoes
preferred by the girls would be very problematic, being “poorly made,” and “worse
fitting shoes” than low-heeled shoes. The Health department especially
recommended comfortable, low-heeled shoes.527 The high number of girls wearing
French shoes was a sign of imitating western norms and the desire to be more
fashionable by replacing their old traditional shoes. On the other hand, the
secretaries were critical of the practicality of those fashionable trends offered,
disregarding the popular beauty concerns of 1920s:
Araxie, inclined over the toe of a huge shoe, made it plain why our feet
objected to wearing the high-heeled pointed toe shoe, still so often seen on
the streets of Constantinople, and the shoes on display, from the extreme
painful looking shoe down to the comfortable sensible looking one now so
generally worn by our center girls, spoke for themselves. The foot games
were very popular and appreciated by all. Sona walked stocking with the
toes; she explained later she had never worn shoes and stockings till ten in
her village life. The Glee Club in the meantime burst forth with their songs
about good feet and good shoes, bad habit-good habit etc.528
Activities in the Istanbul Centers including health talks and posters as well as
gymnastic shows and general examinations “stimulated increasing interest in the
health question.” The curiosity to learn more about health-related issues was
obvious. According to the secretary, that could be seen in the increasing number of
members in different health education classes.529 The YWCA organized many
health talks in Istanbul on subjects including “feet, posture and health rules.”530
527 “Summary Report of Miss Mary Em Fisler, Health Education Secretary, 1922–1925,” pp. 4–5,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
528 “Report of the Health Carnival, Constantinople Y.W.C.A., March 4, 1926,” p.1, microfilm reel
63, YWCA-SSC.
529 “Report of Health Education Department, Mary Em. Fisler, October-December 1924,” pp.4–5,
microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
530 Ibid.
178
Rutherford in her 1925 report stressed that the sign that a high number of girls were
interested in health education was that they asked a lot of questions regarding the
subject.531
Physical self-care included following a healthy diet, getting enough
nutrition, developing regular routines and getting exercise. In the health carnivals
organized annually by the YWCA Istanbul, theater was used not only for
entertainment but as education for health consciousness. Health Theater included
two actors, one speaking Turkish and one English. “One (stunt) took place on
shipboard where only healthy passengers were allowed to come aboard and the
other on the train making various stops but refused passengers to Coffee Lane [sic]
and Sleepless Village, etc.” In that carnival, a negative role model was presented by
the YWCA class of Home Nursing showing a house in which a low-income family
lived in terrible conditions, not following any “health rules.” “The girls appeared
and showed how things should be done and kept.” 532 The health carnival also gave
messages about what to eat or what to avoid by their booths named “Vegetable
Greens” and “Potato Hills.”533 “The Health Theater” showed how they looked
before the YWCA entered their lives and after, by performances of four girls who
were “stout, very pepless with painful feet etc.” While “they represented the
condition of girls before they had come to the gym,” the powerful transformation of
them after they joined the YWCA was presented by their “do[ing] something
531 “Report of Miss Dorothy Rutherford, Health Education Director, September- December 1925,”
p.4, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
532 Dorothy Rutherford, Health Education in Constantinople, April 1- June 30, 1927, Constantinople,
Turkey,” pp.1–2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
533 “Dorothy Rutherford, Health Education in Constantinople, April 1- June 30, 1927,
Constantinople, Turkey,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
179
energetic or healthful.”534 Using drama was thus one of the most powerful means to
instill personal hygiene and increase leisure and recreation. “The Exercise and Diet
Booth” gave the message to girls that they should follow personal gymnastics
routines which fit their bodies. They showed “the overweight girl” doing a totally
different exercise than “the underweight girl.” Each exercise was adapted to
different body types.535 Another booth was designed for posture. Using songs and
poems about posture (for instance one of the songs they sang was about the perfect
posture being round)536 for attracting people and raising their consciousness was
common in health carnivals. After hearing the instructive song, girls adjusted their
posture and asked one another whether they were doing it correctly. Height and
weight booths were provided for girls to learn the term “average weight” for the
first time in their lives according to the staff.537 Office women wearing more
professional outfits, comfortable clothes and low-heeled comfortable shoes, as well
as good posture were shown in contrast to office women wearing dressy clothes,
too much make-up, sitting with poor posture, and tottering in high-heeled shoes.
Performers also talked about how to follow good health habits. It represented the
YWCA as a “Health City” like “a magic box” where women could acquire these
desirable habits in their lives.538
A Bundle of Letters to Busy Girls on Practical Matters, written by Grace H.
Dodge, who worked at the YWCA of the USA, was one of the books the YWCA
534 “Report of the Health Carnival, Constantinople Y.W.C.A., March 4, 1926,” pp.1–2, microfilm
reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
535 “Report of the Health Carnival, Constantinople Y.W.C.A., March 4, 1926,” p.1, microfilm reel
63, YWCA-SSC.
536 “Report of the Health Carnival, Constantinople Y.W.C.A., March 4, 1926,” p.1, microfilm reel
63, YWCA-SSC.
537 “Report of the Health Carnival, Constantinople Y.W.C.A., March 4, 1926,” p.1, microfilm reel
63, YWCA-SSC.
538 “Report of the Health Carnival, Constantinople Y.W.C.A., March 4, 1926,” pp.1-2, microfilm
reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
180
Istanbul assigned the young women who attended the Business Girls’ Club.
Phydalia Stephandias, who was the Club Assistant at YWCA Istanbul during that
time, revealed the young women’s opinions on the book;539 “they enjoy it
immensely although they sometimes disagree with the author’s opinion.” The
author of the book talked in detail how a woman should organize her day, at what
time she would wake up, how much she should eat, and how much time should she
sleep. The book, having a specific chapter on health, recommended also Victorian
hygiene habits such as breathing fresh air and ventilating the room in an extensive
way, i.e., opening the windows in the morning and at night. In cases where the
bedroom did not have any windows, one should leave the door open according to
the author. “If it seems too much of a draft, do as it is often done in a sick-room: a
piece of flannel or open cloth is taken and nailed on the sash, and the window
opened a foot or more.”540 Information on what breakfast, lunch, dinner should
include, which foods one should specifically avoid, at what time one should have a
snack and how much food one should consume were provided in detail by the
author. She recommended “eating slowly,” drinking a lot of water, and avoiding
caffeine. Dodge specifically wrote this book as practical advice for the working
young woman who should nevertheless not forget to take care of herself during the
day and even act as her own doctor at times:
Many of us suffer from constipation. We have appointments or are due at
work seven, eight, or nine, and find it hard to allow time for attending to
ourselves. We let it go for a day, then another, and so on. After a short time
our system will not act as it should. A bad habit has been formed.
Constipation is the result. Let us be careful of what pills or medicines we
take. Use natural means as far as possible, or, if it is necessary to take
539 This book was recommended by the YWCA Istanbul in 1920s. However, it is hard to read the
last number of the year in the primary source, suggesting that it was recommended either in 1923 or
1925.
540 Grace Hoadley Dodge, A Bundle of Letters to Busy Girls on Practical Matters (New York: Funk
& Wagnalls, 1887), 16.
181
anything, let it be something we know all about, some licorice powder or
other simple remedy. But prevention is better than cure, so let us try and
care regularly for ourselves early in the morning. Then, while at work we
must not feel that we can accustom our system to going without relieving
itself in another way. Agonies have been suffered by some of you because
you thought you could go without caring for yourselves, being ashamed to
leave work or to go where you could find relief…541
Caring for the self often included new habits and measures for the working women
and these were also discussed among young women in the reading clubs. Leisure
was among the issues speculated upon. In a Business Girls Club meeting, regarding
business standards in Istanbul, members complained about insufficient recreational
activities for business women; a comment like “no play for business women in this
city; a dreary life, that of the business woman” revealed their discontent and
disappointment at the same time.542
The YWCA’s American staff, while promoting leisure and recreation, at the
same time, considering to teach “sex hygiene” to the young women. In 1928, Ruth
Woodsmall was eager to “promote courses in health standards and teach sex
hygiene if the right person can be found for this.” In addition to increasing gym
classes for adults, she also recommended the translation of all YWCA sources on
health and recreation from English to Turkish for young women.543 In 1930, in the
Health Program, discussing the problems of the young employed girls was one of
the points of focus of the YWCA Istanbul. In those discussions, the YWCA found
541 Grace H. Dodge, A Bundle of Letters to Busy Girls on Practical Matters, 17.
542 Maro M. Depanian to Jean Grigsby Paxton, “Conditions of Business Girls in Constantinople,”
December 31,1924, p. 1, Box 63, Folder 11, Series V. Professional Activities: YWCA, Post-WWI,
Field Surveys, Near East, Reports, Interim,1921–1928, Ruth Woodsmall Papers, Sophia Smith
Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
543 Appendix G Future Policy, “Recommendation for the YWCA (Part of report by R. F.
Woodsmall) January, 1928,” p. 53 in “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November,
1929-June, 1930,”Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
182
out “what health problems have become more acute in the depression.” The YWCA
offered an “individual service” in that program, as well.544
6.5. Training for health-related jobs
Amid the constant wars, the YWCA gave medical help to orphanages,
young women in shelter homes, and even offered nursing classes at its centers. The
YWCA Istanbul worked with relief workers, such as Dr. Graff, who managed
nursing classes in the YWCA in 1919. The goal of this class was to train “visiting
nurses” for different parts of Istanbul, which aimed not only to provide “relief
work” but also to teach young women a “valued profession” which they could use
in their lives. If they did not end up being nurses, according to the YWCA’s staff,
White, they could still use what they learned from nursing classes in their daily
lives which included “practical demonstrations.”545 As well as training nurses, the
Istanbul YWCA sent a secretary to Harput to help young women in the Rescue
Home.546 Many of these women were dislocated after the war. When the Spanish
influenza hit the Rescue Home in 1920, only two girls died of the epidemic while
38 young women recovered with the aid of the YWCA secretary, Helen G. Jones.
As the hospitals were full and there was not enough space for girls, she arranged for
544 [Health section], microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
545 “Report of Margaret B. White for October, 1919, YWCA Service Center Constantinople Turkey,
November 12, 1919,” p.1, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
546 In Jones’ account, the Rescue Home was also a shelter to girls who were running away from
“mounted men.” Helen G. Jones, Letter, April 7, 1920, Harpoot, pp.1–2, microfilm reel 63, YWCASSC.
183
nurses to check on their health condition. The total number of people who died due
to the Spanish influenza was 12 out of 500 cases of flu.547
The Istanbul YWCA continued spreading health training to the Muslim and
non-Muslim orphanages by their weekly visits. “The weekly visit of an American
YWCA Secretary who teaches gymnastics and games, and an occasional lesson in
folk dancing from an Armenian teacher, bring a little variety into the otherwise
humdrum lives of the [orphanage] girls.” Another orphanage the YWCA provided
regular recreation to was Asylon Asteghon Orphanage in Beşiktaş: “The children in
this institution suffer chiefly from trachoma, which makes it impossible for them to
do anything but play. The YWCA Physical Director visits this place and teaches the
children drills and dances.” Dancing and recreational activities put a smile on
children faces, as noted by one of the YWCA staff.548 Not only YWCA secretaries
made regular weekly visits to the orphanages in Istanbul; young women who were
members of the YWCA and had received training would also visit and teach young
girls and boys some recreational activities. All the Armenian orphanages in Istanbul
had one thing in common: “It is interesting to note that all the physical teachers in
the girls’ orphanages which require compulsory recreational work. The majority of
the older girls are in the Armenian Trade School where they are learning domestic
science.” The YWCA encouraged its trainees to try dancing, singing, exercising,
walking, and jumping rope. The YWCA’s work with Turkish orphanages such as
those in Bebek, Ortaköy, Beykoz, and Pendik was not any different from their work
with the Greek or Armenian ones. “The Physical Director of the Y.W.C.A. visits
547 Helen G. Jones, Letter, April 7, 1920, Harpoot, pp.1–2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
548 Anna Welles Brown, “Orphanages in Constantinople” in Constantinople To-Day; or the
Pathfinder Survey of Constantinople; a Study in Oriental Social Life, ed. C. R. Johnson (New York:
Macmillan, 1922), 225–58.
184
the orphanages each week and instructs the teachers and demonstrates the work
with the children. The girls are not as responsive as the boys and it is much harder
to instill the free play spirit.”549 The number of boys, girls and children at Armenian
orphanages in Istanbul numbered (“these statistics are [were] given in round
numbers and are only roughly accurate” due to mobility) 3,827; 2,798 at Turkish
orphanages; 1,548 at the Greek orphanages; 280 at Russian orphanages; 279 at
Jewish orphanages. At orphanages in general, limited equipment, inadequate heat
and ventilation, small playgrounds, an insufficient number of teachers as well as
their often mechanical teaching methods and lack of enthusiasm were problematic
for the YWCA and needed to be improved.550 Other than orphanages, one of the
clubs of the Istanbul YWCA visited the American Tuberculosis Hospital regularly.
They entertained the children in the hospital with activities they organized.551
The recreation courses at the YWCA were spread to orphanages and refugee
camps through the YWCA’s group leaders. They usually received this type of
training of the YWCA which lasted for six months, including “four hours’ work a
week, with six weeks’ practice work in schools.” Young women who had learned
forms of recreation including games, folk dancing, gymnastics, and stunts at the
YWCA were able to share those skills even in abroad. The YWCA sent eight girls
who had completed the training to Greece in 1922. Those girls interacted with “the
thousands of refugees” there. This training program of the YWCA continued until
1928 when the decrease in the numbers of refugee camps and orphanages, along
with growing interest in physical education in Turkey, exemplified by a school
549 Anna Welles Brown, “Orphanages in Constantinople,” 225–58.
550 Anna Welles Brown, “Orphanages in Constantinople,” 225–58.
551 “Report of Miss Margaret B. White, General Secretary, from January through November 1921,”
p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.
185
focusing on physical education opening in 1926, showed that “there was less need
of this work.” Also, the YWCA’s leadership training did not have an educational
permit from the government. They needed to secure a special permit which very
few of them obtained. The license issue was problematic: “Since the very drastic
changes have come about in Constantinople only one phase of the work has been
entirely discontinued; the recreational work for the city. Only the graduates of the
Tchapa Normal School are allowed to direct such work where it exists.” In the late
1920s, some of these YWCA-trained girls would go to Greece, England, France
and South America.552
The YWCA sent physical directors to the schools as well. A scarce number
of Turkish schools had physical training program as compulsory whereas Greek,
English, American, Italian, and French Schools all had it in their curricula; 16
Armenian schools had mandatory physical training. Usually schools that had higher
budgets and more financial resources and therefore better equipment were foreign
schools such as American, English, French and Italian ones. “The native schools
are poor in equipment and teachers, and they put less –though an increasing—
emphasis on physical culture.” The YWCA Girl Guides offered recreational
activities for the Constantinople College for young women as well. The YWCA
reached people both by spreading recreation into the public sphere as well as by
emphasizing its importance to the young women in its centers.553
According to the YWCA staff, “The need for trained teachers of
Gymnastics in the schools has been recognized by the Turkish Ministry of Public
552 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.74–6, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
553 G. Gilbert Deaver, “Recreation” in Constantinople To-Day; or the Pathfinder Survey of
Constantinople; a Study in Oriental Social Life, ed. C. R. Johnson (New York: Macmillan, 1922),
270-272.
186
Instruction, and a training school for teachers started.” Woodsmall further claimed,
“the emphasis in this school however will be almost entirely on formal gymnastics
and not on recreation.” Physical education teachers’ lack of education in some
schools was still a concern to the YWCA staff; one of the recurring point they
called attention to was that the concept of play in education was not encouraged in
schools and orphanages; in their training the YWCA offered for raising supervisors
of recreation, they specifically gave importance to instilling the concept of play in
their trainees.554
There is not a record of the exact number of people living in Istanbul in
1926. However, as the first census of the new Republic was held in 1927, the
number of Istanbul residents was 806,863 including the suburbs.555 The number of
women living in Istanbul in the city boundaries was 340,432.556 In the same year, in
Istanbul, the number people who lived in rural areas was 12.6%. In 1926, the
number of women who participated in Health education Training course outside the
YWCA Service Centers was high. With the help of 17 girls from the Health
Education department, “100 girls in an embroidery workshop, 33 students in a
hospital nurses training school, 600 children in 7 orphanages, 270 children in 4
refugee camps” and also 1526 participated in the health education program. In total,
the number of people who attended the course outside the Service Centers and
inside Centers was 2,559. The number of total registration for the Centers was 828
in the same year. Without including the number of girls who attended summer
camp of the YWCA and the mothers of participants sometimes involved in the
554 Ruth F. Woodsmall, “Survey of Social Conditions in Turkey,” October 1926, pp. 65–75, Box 63,
Folder 9, Series V. Professional Activities, Ruth Woodsmall Papers, YWCA-SSC.
555 Sayılarla İstanbul (Istanbul: Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi, 2001). Without the suburbs, this
number was around 690,000.
556 Mehmet Halid Bayri, “İstanbul’da Nüfus Sayımları,” Yeni Tarih Dünyası, no.14 (1954).
187
activities of the YWCA, the total number of people the YWCA reached was
approximately 3,387.557 Mothers participated in weekly recreational programs of
the YWCA which also included lectures, concerts, plays “in an increasing number,
especially at Stamboul where other forms of entertainment are scarce” at the end of
the 1920s.558 The YWCA out of an individual necessity and as a form of recreation
was successful in terms of bringing recreational activities to its members.
6.6. Conclusion
In the late Ottoman State, men were more encouraged to pursue sports. Nationalism
growing momentum was reflected in sports as well. Ancestral sports were brought
to the forefront for males, and being a Turk was conceptualized as having a strong
body. In the new Republican State, women were also encouraged to join sports,
however, women’s primary roles as mothers were always emphasized. Women’s
involvement with sports took place in a discourse that emphasized that women’s
reproductive health would greatly benefit. The nation needed strong children which
could only be borne and raised by strong mothers. The YWCA Istanbul offered a
different approach to how women should take care of their bodies and minds. While
the state constructed its health culture through maternal and nationalist politics, the
YWCA’s American staff promoted an understanding of physical self-care and
557 Brochure, no title, 1926, [Miscellaneous Section], microfilm reel no 64. (The brochure starts with
a photograph entitled “Along the Sea Wall at the Y.W.C.A. Summer Camp on the Sea of Marmara,
Constantinople.”)
558 “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,” p.83, Box 329
Folder 7, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
188
sports as a part of responsibility for one’s own self and happiness in the 1910s and
1920s.
In the late Ottoman State and in the early years of the Republic, at times
when dance faced prejudice, the YWCA in Istanbul was successful in bringing
dancing to women not only at its centers but also at orphanages, schools and
playgrounds. Although the dancing activities of the YWCA received pushback
from patriarchic culture, the YWCA increased the visibility of dance and made a
significant contribution to women’s freedom in this social context. The YWCA
helped gymnastics and sports such as volleyball, tennis, basketball, swimming and
baseball reach young women. The YWCA not only actively introduced sports and
gymnastics to young women but also offered training in teaching physical
education, demonstrating that women could turn sports into a profession. The
YWCA advocated the spread of fitness centers for women. The Istanbul YWCA
emphasized that women should do recreational activities for their personal
happiness, and self-care was a part of this, as well. The Istanbul YWCA made
women aware of healthy nutrition, hygiene and body practices, and trained them to
take the time to care for their own bodies.
189
CHAPTER VII
CONCLUSION
This study, by focusing on the period from 1913 to 1930, claims that the YWCA’s
mainly American staff contributed to the sense of individuality of young women
with their labor and health politics in Istanbul. It reflects how the YWCA was able
to penetrate into both the labor and social spheres of the late Ottoman State and
Early Republican Turkey, a subject which has been neglected in the historiography.
To understand Istanbul more comprehensively, their labor related activities in
Anatolia were traced as well.
Due to the high number of working women in the United States, the rights
of workers was one of the YWCA’s leading issues at the turn of the twentieth
century. A great number of women worked in the industrial sector, and bettering
their wages and working hours, while also increasing their leisure hours were the
main goals of the YWCA in the United States.559 This pattern also could be seen in
Anatolia, since the YWCA was able to interact with women in the industrial sector
there. In Anatolia, just as in the USA, the YWCA was able to touch upon issues
559 Sarah Heath, “Negotiating White Womanhood: The Cincinnati YWCA and White-Wage Earning
Women, 1918–1929,” in Men and Women Adrift: The YMCA and the YWCA in the City, N. Mijagkij
and M.Spratt, eds., (New York: NYU Press, 1997), 86–90.
190
like improving the working hours, salaries, and conditions as well as the leisure of
working women in the late Ottoman State. The YWCA did not organize the
workers to negotiate with the managers nor did they develop class consciousness
among the female factory workers but rather YWCA secretaries themselves took
the initiative to advocate the rights of female factory workers in Anatolia. For
instance, in Shanghai the YWCA was able to raise solidarity and develop
consciousness between workers in the 1940s because of the YWCA’s long running
political education of women.560
In Istanbul, the association had expected to interact with a higher number of
working women in the industrial sector. They were disappointed by the number of
working women they interacted with in Istanbul. Their policies thus underwent
transformation based on the geography and type of members they reached. In
Istanbul, where the YWCA interacted with a higher number of women who stayed
at home, and thus the Istanbul case also offers an example of how the YWCA could
push women towards pursuing a career.
Sarah Heath in her article entitled “Negotiating White Womanhood: The
Cincinnati YWCA and White-Wage Earning Women, 1918–1929,” wrote that in
the Cincinnati YWCA, the YWCA staff expected women to have Victorian moral
standards and she also stated, “They encouraged young women to meet prospective
mates in a chaperoned setting and hoped that when women were married, they
would be able to leave the workforce to bear and raise children.” However, in the
560 For Shanghai, see Emily Honig, Sister and Strangers: Women in the Shanghai Cotton Mills,
1919–1949 (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1986). In her book Sister and Strangers:
Women in the Shanghai Cotton Mills, 1919–1949, Honig emphasized that although a high number of
women worked in mills in Shanghai, they did not develop class consciousness because of coming
from different social backgrounds, geographic locations, lack of communication and their having
strong ties with their native lands. It would only be in the 1940s that they would develop
consciousness with the efforts of the Chinese Communist Party and the YWCA.
191
1920s, the type of attendees of the Cincinnati YWCA program departed from the
Victorian type of women since these working women stood on their own feet
financially and socially, and broke social norms with their smoking, dancing or
drinking in public. The YWCA staff in Cincinnati thus had to ease the
“womanhood” standards they expected from their members.561 As it could be seen
from this example, it should be kept in mind that each YWCA center did not
necessarily have to act in the same way. The Istanbul experience of the YWCA
shows us that the YWCA’s mainly American staff in Istanbul ardently prioritized
careers over marriage and motherhood. Their understanding of womanhood fitted
into a type of self-sufficient individual who took care of herself financially and
socially and had her own say in the matters. Financial independence was
foregrounded as the means for young women to direct their personal choices, take
control of their lives, and achieve liberation from oppressive structures. The
YWCA’s mainly American staff observed that young women were suppressed by
their parents or their social circle and lacked educational opportunities and
encouragement from the family. These women were dependent on their mothers
and fathers since they needed consent to go out or to work. That their decisionmaking
was not totally independent can also be seen in the fact that arranged
marriages were common in the 1910s and 1920s. The YWCA’s American staff
interacted with a high number of the type of young women who sat at home
passively and appeared to have no professional goals. Also, those women shared
their problems with the secretaries and asked for help. “Personal help is given when
561 Sarah Heath, “Negotiating White Womanhood: The Cincinnati YWCA and White-Wage Earning
Women, 1918–1929,” in Men and Women Adrift: The YMCA and the YWCA in the City, N. Mijagkij
and M.Spratt, eds., (New York: NYU Press, 1997), 86–90.
192
asked for. The girls and sometimes their mothers come to the Center executives or
to the secretaries with their problems and attempt is always made to deal with these
problems as adequately as possible,” the YWCA staff reported.562 The YWCA’s
feminist identity can also be traced in the conversations they had with women. They
saw that young women in Turkey did not really gain any power in their personal
lives since they had familial and social authority preventing them from expressing
themselves and developing their individuality. As a part of being individual, having
a profession that one loved to do and leading an active, social, and healthy life
would offer them more than staying at home passively, lacking their own power
and authority. Prioritizing that a career mattered more than marital or maternal
roles, the YWCA came up with a true feminist discourse in Istanbul. They were
successful in terms of making some young women question the roles the society
and family imposed on them. By making young women write essays on economic
freedom, presenting career-oriented role models, offering a training program for
typists, physical directors, stenographers, and finding employment and networking
for young women, the YWCA came up with a long-term profession for young
women, encouraging them to stand on their own feet because this would also allow
them to make their choices independently. Compared to the other employment
bureaus in Istanbul, the YWCA’s understanding of profession was feminist and for
the long term; it was not for a short temporary work understanding they wanted to
implement in women. To be career-minded was only one dimension of the
YWCA’s American staff policies; self-empowerment also meant taking care of
562 “Report of Miss Jane Brewern, Education Secretary to Constantinople YWCA, “ from October-
December, 1923. Received February, 1924, p.2, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC, and Notes to
Appendix, p.168 in “Report of the Service Centers, Istanbul, Turkey. November, 1929-June, 1930,”
p.97, Part 2 Box 330 Folder 1, RG5, YWCA-SSC.
193
one’s body and physical needs, as well attaining knowledge of the body. This was
at a time the state promoted labor and sports for young women based on
nationalism and motherhood. The YWCA’s promoting these as out of individual
necessity thus contrasted with the ideologies of regimes of the period.
The fact that the conservative press called on the government to close the
YWCA is evidence not only that the YWCA’s sphere of influence was wide
enough that male journalists brought it into their columns, but also that the YWCA
was seen as posing a major threat to the conservative press and its audience which
reinforced patriarchal culture. However, the governments of the late Ottoman State
and Early Republican state were not against the activities of the YWCA, unlike the
conservative press. Ismet Pasha addressed to the Americans at Lausanne: “I hope
above all things that Americans will not worry about the future of their educational
and philanthropic institutions in Turkey. We want these institutions to stay and
have no intention of adopting laws that will embarrass the continuation of the
admirable American altruistic work among our people.”563 The government did not
challenge the YWCA since it secured an education permit and the YWCA did not
try to convert people. The YWCA and the statesmen were in touch with each other
as seen in the example of Selim Sırrı Tarcan visiting the YWCA and observing
their different techniques in gymnastics and dance. The early years of the
Republican state certainly benefited from the YWCA's programs since it was hard
to make people dance at a time when social codes were limiting people; the YWCA
spread dance among the people they reached. The YWCA was thus a force serving
Westernization with their dance, language and sports courses. Young women who
563 “Ismet Pasha’s statement to the Americans at Lausanne,” American Research Institute in Turkey,
Istanbul Center Library, online in Digital Library for International Research Archive.
194
learned the Latin-based alphabet at the YWCA then went home and taught their
mothers. The Kemalist state indirectly benefited from the actions of the YWCA
since it was trying to spread western modernity among people. However, the
Republican State’s project on women was based on motherhood and nationalism,
the point at which the YWCA separated from them. In the Early Republican State,
the Turkish Civil Code legitimized men as breadwinners and decision-makers, and
wives needing the consent of their husbands if they decided to work. During the
CUP’s rule as well, women’s maternal roles were prioritized, since the association
they established for women for employment expected women to quit their
temporary jobs and marry men. While these two regimes failed to promote a
professional identity out of a personal necessity, the YWCA’s American secretaries
were successful in bringing professional skills to the ones they were able to
influence, enabling them to start a career-oriented life, and reminding them that
marriage should not be the ultimate goal of a woman or regarded as a career plan.
While up until 1930 the Republican state offered women freedom legally by
banning polygamy, enabling compulsory elementary education, and granting equal
rights to both sexes in a divorce, in its inner dynamics, women still had to maintain
their domestic nature. Their role as mothers was designated to be the most
important while legally they still needed to get the consent of the husband to work
and they did not have suffrage rights. Suffrage feminists like Nezihe Muhiddin
were also suppressed by the government up until 1930. The freedom the Kemalist
state promoted for women was a project, as mentioned by many scholars. It never
truly liberated women, as Arat has argued. However, the YWCA in Istanbul was
able to engage with these dynamics, which were important for women’s social and
economic freedom. To the young women they interacted with, the YWCA’s
195
American staff would advise to follow their own passion and create their own
career goals so they could live the life they wanted without the shadow of a parent,
husband, or a friend, because financial freedom offered true independence of
choice. The YWCA’s contribution to feminism in Istanbul did serve for outer
dynamics as well. Nakiye Elgün, in the years voting rights were not granted to
women, found a platform in the YWCA, spreading consciousness on women about
their citizenship and voting rights in the 1920s. The YWCA, by picking up feminist
women as members and Board members who fought for suffrage, also contributed
to political feminism in Istanbul by giving full support to suffrage for women. The
YWCA was a feminist group and did not care for nationality or religion; what
mattered to them women’s freedom.
Elaine Tyler May in her book, Homeward Bound: American Families in the
Cold War Era, pointed out the women of the 1910s were represented as more
innocent and fragile figures, i.e., Victorian, whereas in the 1920s women in visual
culture were constructed based on love who ended up in marriages; the audience
could therefore voyeuristically sneak into their private sphere of marriage. The
1930s departed yet again, focusing on the woman as a star; an independent single
career-minded women who was physically strong. The press wrote articles
recommending actress Loretta Young transform her body to a fitter and stronger
look; she needed more energy and strength in her image. Single strong women as
individuals seeking ambitious careers, and having physical strength and liveliness
were praised. This was a more individualistic presentation of women, careeroriented
and physically robust and vigorous, whatever they put their mind to, they
196
would achieve.564 The YWCA’s American staff, in the 1910s and 1920s,
contributed to the spread of individuality even earlier than the visual culture’s
presentation of strong independent women, and contributed to feminism in the late
Ottoman State and Early Republican Turkey at the same time. The YWCA, coming
to the late Ottoman State during the constant state of wars, helping orphans, the
sick, children, refugees like any voluntary women’s association’s agenda, was on
their mind. Yet, the association was more than a charitable organization. The
Istanbul YWCA reminded young women that they were in charge of themselves
and their bodies. Standing on one’s own feet financially and socially, and acquiring
a profession that one loved to do were ways that gave young women control of their
own lives and were indispensable for them to become true individuals.
564 Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (New York: Basic
Books, 1999), 44-45.
197
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1: A map of YWCA centers in Istanbul in 1928565
565 Staff Correspondence and Reports, microfilm reel 63, YWCA-SSC.