May 28,2014 is the anniversary of Ottoman Feminism officially organized in 1908.At the end of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century educated women began organizing themselves as feminists within the elites of Istanbul. These feminists fought to increase women’s access to education and paid work, to abolish polygamy, and the peçe, an Islamic veil. Early feminists published woman magazines[1] in different languages and established different organizations dedicated to the advancement of women. Also during this time the first women association in Turkey Ottoman Welfare Organization of Women[2] was founded in 1908 and became partially involved in the Young Turks Movement which was a driving force in the founding of the Turkish Republic. During the turn of the century accomplished writers and politicians such as Fatma Aliye Topuz (1862-1936), Nezihe Muhiddin (1889-1958) and Halide Edip Adıvar (1884-1964) also joined the movement not only for advocating equality of Muslim women, but for women of all religions and ethnic backgrounds.
Ottoman women had legal standing regardless of marital status, the like of which caused even non-Muslim Ottoman women to prefer Islamic courts to their own courts.
[1] See Ottoman Feminist Press from Mavi Boncuk
[2] In the last decades of the empire, feminist societies emerged like Taal-i Nisvan
Mavi Boncuk |
The 2014 Most Powerful Women list features nine heads of state who run nations with a combined GDP of $11.1 trillion with 641 million citizens — including the No. 1 Power Woman, German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The 28 corporate CEOs control $1.7 trillion in annual revenues, and 18 of the women here founded their own companies or foundations, including our youngest self-made billionaire, Sara Blakely, 43. Speaking of, this year’s class has 13 billionaires valued in excess of $81 billion.
#60
Guler Sabanci
Chair-Managing director, Sabanci Holding
Age: 59
Residence:Istanbul,
Turkey
Citizenship: Turkey
Marital Status: Single
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Bogazici University
A third generation member of Turkey's billionaire Sabanci family, Guler Sabanci is the first woman to run Sabanci Holdings. With $14 billion revenues it is Turkey's second-largest conglomerate. Begun as a textile company by her grandfather in the 1930s, the family holdings span several industries. Sabanci, began her career aged 23 in the clan's tire business. She was the first female member of the Turkish Industrialists'& Businessmen's Association, as well as the first and only female member of the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT). She is the founding president of Sabanci University and chairs Turkey's largest private charity, the Sabanci Foundation. Already holding two honorary degrees and France's Légion d'Honneur, last year she was honored with the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award for her philanthropic contributions.
