Struggling for individuality: the Istanbul YWCA

Date
2021-08
Instructor
Source Title
Print ISSN
Electronic ISSN
Publisher
Bilkent University
Volume
Issue
Pages
Language
English
Type
Thesis
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract

This study argues that the YWCA’s mainly American staff, observing that familial, social and educational structure prevented women from independent decision-making 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 and patriarchal codes. Their prioritizing having a career over marriage and motherhood contributed to feminist activism.

Course
Other identifiers
Book Title
Keywords
Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Working women, Individuality, Career, Health
Citation
Published Version (Please cite this version)