New Britain herald., 1919-09-04
TURKEY, PIONEER
 IN WOMEN'S RIGHTS
Females Under Mohamnedan Law
 Control Own Property

Washington, D. C., Sept. 4.-"Some extremely modern young womep who mistake symptoms for the causes of woman's independence, should make a tour of Turkey" suggests d bulletin from the Washington head quarters of the National Geographic society.
 There women smoke, have had property rights for centuries and di- vorce is easy, but who-in all respects
 wants to be a Turk?
 The toys of the Turkish harems were to be pitied in many ways, it is true, but considerable pity for them has been misdirected. For example, the Turkish women who now are to be emancipated' have had absolute control of their own property for hundreds of years whereas the Ger man wives cried in vain for such emancipation under the Kaiser" ...,
 The bulletin quotes from a com munication by Mary Mills Patrick, which gives a vivid picture of the condition of Turkish women before the World War as follows r.
 Tt is a we'll known fact that Ro- man law regarded the rights of the individual without consideration of . sex; a man or woman was alike a citizen of the Roman world, This met the requirements of Mohamme- Y dan life, where no woman ever mo- cessarily sustained a lasting relation with any man. F.. 4 .& 4
 "Therefore, during all the centurieg of Mohammedan history, women
 have legally controlled their own
 property. They have been free to
 buy, sell, or alienate it without con- sulting any male relative. This has given them independence of thought and an influence in business affairs that seems wholly inconsistent with
 their life of comparative personal
 slavery. a. ..t. Enter a harem and there you see a Circa ssian beauty, who has been
 newly acquired by the tall, handsome pasha who has just passed you in the street. The air is heavy with l the odor of Eastern perfume, and ! the black enunch stands by the door | to watch all who come and go-4 The l beauty herself is thickly powdered,
 with an elaborate coiffure erected by her numerous maids. Jewels half | cover her arms. and she >wearsresa
 beautifully embroidered nesligee, 1 There is a languorous expression alr | her black eyes as she sits idly smok.
  1 coffee. t. -f Would you think. to look at her that when she draws her money from l the bank that she must sign. her owr l check? These two sides of life have 1 been wholly at variance with each l other; but, as years have gone .hyh'f l the thoughtful side has predoninated | among the more intellectual Moham. 1 medan women, until now theysf are 1 ready to enter into the affairs of to, l day with an understanding andexigor | which the world has never accredited | to them. aa {aas
 Tt has been on the social side that 1 Mohammedan women have sufferee l most under the oppression of theS 1 last thirty years, especially from the 1 frequency of divorce. A man could 1 legally divorce his wife at any min.
 ute, the only condition being the pay
 ment of the dowry which was settled l upon her by the husband at the time l of her marriage. TT 4~t 'In the last attempt to keep the ] sex in the role assigned to them l by the life of the harem, very strict ! laws have been made to prevent all l possible progress among them. Laws ! have been proclaimed over and over l again forbidding Mohammedan wom- \ en to attend foreign schools In this { emergency they engaged govern esses. | Most of these goVernesses were alien, l and many of them were inefficient l and bad moral guides to so large l a portion of the population begin < 1 ming to think and question. The l governess system obtained so much l influence after a short time that laws were made forbidding women to have governesses. Yet they struggled | on in an effort for mental illumina- ton, reading, writing, talking things
 over among them selves, and some times getting help from their hus- bands and brothers. They have ac- complished much, with so heavy ! handicap, in literature, science, com
 merce, and politics"