Women's Issue According to Sırâtımüstakim Writer Ferîd Vecdî and Women's Rights Advocate Fatma Aliye Topuz

Abstract

Ferîd Vecdî and Fatma Aliye Topuz are people of two different worlds who lived in the same period. Although there are some differences in their views on women's issues, the sources they refer to are the same. Both authors approach the women's issue by reinterpreting Islam's perspective on women. The aim of the study is to explain the position of women in social life from the perspective of Ferîd Wajdî and Fatma Aliye Topuz. The authors sought ways for women to create surplus-value in society and came to some conclusions. Methodologically, the study is based on the works of two authors. Although the thoughts of both authors are outdated in the modernizing world, when interpreted historically, they provide readers with arguments to make a socio-economic analysis of a period. As it is known, what a historian should not do when evaluating events and phenomena is not to fall into anachronism. The idea of Westernization, which emerged in the mid-nineteenth century, gave rise to two types of intellectuals. The first was Ferîd Vecdî style intellectuals who defended the traditionalist understanding, and the second was Fatma Aliye Topuz style intellectuals who were influenced by Western value judgments and advocated for women's presence in social life. The study also provides information about the historical background of the West-East irreconcilable contradiction in our country.