From stay-at-home women to career-minded women: the Istanbul YWCA, 1919–1930

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buir.contributor.authorKarabağ, Müzeyyen
buir.contributor.orcidKarabağ, Müzeyyen|0000-0002-9177-9309
dc.citation.epage521en_US
dc.citation.issueNumber3
dc.citation.spage496en_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber31
dc.contributor.authorKarabağ, Müzeyyen
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-15T12:28:25Z
dc.date.available2022-02-15T12:28:25Z
dc.date.issued2021-07-26
dc.departmentDepartment of Historyen_US
dc.description.abstractExamining the labor policies of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in Istanbul from 1919–1930, this article claims that the organization’s mainly American staff were critical of women who stayed at home because the idea of being ‘an individual’ for them meant working, or having a professional goal. They encouraged young women develop their individuality and self-expression as independent career-oriented women. By establishing an Employment Bureau, offering business training, presenting career-oriented role models and talks, YWCA staff encouraged young women to gain financial independence and pushed them towards making active decisions about their careers, detaching them from paternal and societal authority. Working for oneself and focusing on one’s own career became the key to taking control of one’s life and choices, pursuing personal happiness and potential, all of which was part of attaining a sense of individuality. Their prioritizing of having a career over marriage and motherhood contributed to feminist activism. This case-study argues that 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.en_US
dc.description.provenanceSubmitted by Merve Nalbant (merve.nalbant@bilkent.edu.tr) on 2022-02-15T12:28:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 From_stay-at-home_women_to_career-minded_women_the_Istanbul_YWCA,_1919–1930.pdf: 2030020 bytes, checksum: d5d4ddd1d1800c79c5baf6de0e43c6b7 (MD5)en
dc.description.provenanceMade available in DSpace on 2022-02-15T12:28:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 From_stay-at-home_women_to_career-minded_women_the_Istanbul_YWCA,_1919–1930.pdf: 2030020 bytes, checksum: d5d4ddd1d1800c79c5baf6de0e43c6b7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2021-07-26en
dc.identifier.doi10.1080/09612025.2021.1956081en_US
dc.identifier.eissn1747-583X
dc.identifier.issn0961-2025
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11693/77386
dc.language.isoEnglishen_US
dc.publisherRoutledgeen_US
dc.relation.isversionofhttps://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2021.1956081en_US
dc.source.titleWomen's History Reviewen_US
dc.subjectYoung Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)en_US
dc.subjectWorking womenen_US
dc.subjectIndividual employmenten_US
dc.subjectWomenen_US
dc.subjectTurkeyen_US
dc.titleFrom stay-at-home women to career-minded women: the Istanbul YWCA, 1919–1930en_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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