A Socio-Economic Examination of the Representation of American Women in Ottoman Women's Periodicals

Articles published in the Ottoman press about other countries are of great significance in describing the perspective of the Ottoman society towards the outside world. These articles, which may sometimes be only unbiased news articles or sometimes statements of positive or negative criticism, were employed as a model to shed light on numerous questions about women in the Ottoman Empire. Articles published in newspapers and journals for women, which are often consulted in studies about the Women's Movement in the Ottoman Empire, provide an insight not just into the Ottoman Women's Movement, but also into the women's movements in other parts of the world, and their evaluation from the Ottoman point of view. In this context, these publications portray the achievements or attempted achievements of women worldwide in social, cultural, economic, and political spheres; and they compare different perspectives of the era to seek answers to questions about the position of Ottoman women or what it should be. This study aims to present tips regarding the position of American women in economic and social life based on these articles to draw a comparison of their status to Ottoman women and their projections in Ottoman society, and how it is evaluated with an Ottoman perspective.