From Patriarchal Household to Family Partnership: Reimagining Family Life in the Late Ottoman Women's Press, 1908–21

This study examines how three late Ottoman women's periodicals, Mehasin , Siyânet , and Kadınlar Dünyası , reimagined family life between 1908 and 1921. Using qualitative document analysis, 159 issues (2,176 pages) were screened, and relevant texts were examined using inductive thematic analysis. Four themes emerged: critiques of patriarchal households, family partnership through women's social and economic contributions, consent and legal personhood in marriage, and educated womanhood as a foundation for family renewal. Rather than rejecting the family, these periodicals challenged women's dependence and male authority, envisioning reciprocal family relationships and positioning family reform within the framework of late Ottoman feminist thought.