State Feminism, Modernization, and the Turkish Republican Woman

As part of a social experiment designed to create a modern, Westernized society out of a mostly rural, conservative population, the Turkish state, founded in 1923, gave women rights still radical for the time. However, these reforms by the "feminist" state did not evolve as a result of demands originating within society, but were imposed from above. The state's ideal of the modern Republican woman left out the majority of women beyond a small urbanized elite. Furthermore, state feminism did not concern itself with what happened behind closed doors, but focused on expanding women's public roles. Nevertheless, these dramatic reforms have expanded the realm of possibilities for Turkish women of all classes and allowed development of a more individualist feminism. The debates continue, but Turkey is one of the most important success stories of women's empowerment in the early twentieth century.