Portraits of women in the late nineteenth century Ottoman Empire from the pen of Ahmed Midhat Efendi

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the status of women in the late nineteenth century Ottoman Empire from the perspective of Ahmed Midhat Efendi. The thesis will trace the issue of women and related topics such as concubinage, prostitution, women’s instruction, marriage, love, flirting and modes of behaviour as dealt with in Ahmed Midhat Efendi’s works. To analyze Ahmed Midhat Efendi’s perspective two types of sources are used: Ahmed Midhat Efendi’s novels and stories as primary sources and contemporary books and articles providing information about life in the late nineteenth century Ottoman Empire as secondary sources. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate Ahmed Midhat Efendi’s approach towards women and his mental outlook which was shaped under the impact of patriarchal gender roles prevalent in an Islamic patriarchal society and which played an important role in the development of his arguments considering women’s issue and related topics.