A Work That Speaks to the Women of Its Age in the 20th Century: The Woman’s Mysteries (Avanzâde Mehmet Süleyman)

Abstract

Avanzâde Mehmet Süleyman (1871-1922) is one of the important writers and intellectuals of the Constitutional Monarchy period with his copyrighted and translated works and magazine publishing. Among the works of the author, whose area of interest is very broad, those about women attract attention. The Woman’s Mysteries, published in 1330, is one of them. In the preface of the work, he writes, it states that it will touch upon women’s lifestyles, their relationships with their spouses before and after marriage, and what they need to do to protect their health and beauty. In this respect, the work aims to be a “health and beauty guide” for women. The author, who also emphasizes the power of women to transform society, is of the opinion that only morally and intellectually high women can carry a nation forward.

Avanzâde Mehmet Süleyman divided The Woman’s Mysteries into two main sections; in the first part, he has focused on moral beauty, and in the second part, he has elaborated on physical beauty. In the first part, where he explains issues such as chastity, loyalty, hijab and so on; he also gives information about “feminism”, which was spreading around the world at that time. The second part of the work is devoted to women’s health and beauty. Here, Avanzâde Mehmet Süleyman, as a “pharmacist”, offers healthy life suggestions and extremely detailed beauty recipes to women.

Some parts of The Woman’s Mysteries are quoted from Ebuzziya Tevfik’s Takvimü’n-Nisa and Ebu’l-Muammer Fuad’s Vezâif-i Aile. Although these quotations prevent us from learning Avanzâde Mehmet Süleyman’s views on certain issues, they also suggest that the author more or less shared these views - due to his inclusion in his work. Avanzâde Mehmet Süleyman, who tried to provide information on all issues concerning women in his work, sometimes highlighted their duties as wives and mothers from a traditional perspective. On the other hand, there were also points where he showed an egalitarian and libertarian attitude towards women’s rights. The author did not remain ignorant of the demands of Ottoman women who struggled for equality in the free environment of the Constitutional Period, and also looked at women as “individual” due to the fact that he was a scientist. Opposing girls to be married at a young age, reminding them of the responsibilities of both parties in marriage, seeing divorce as legitimate, and advocating that girls should be educated in national schools are views that were ahead of their time. He emphasized that mothers should be conscious about the importance of breast milk in raising the generation -which is also adopted by modern medicine today- and giving moral and conscience education to the child until they reach a certain age. According to him, society; it will rise with educated, thinking and advanced women. The suggestions and recipes that the author gives for women’s health and beauty, especially in the second part of his book, are indicators of his human-oriented view of women. In this article, the perception of women in The Woman’s Mysteries, written by Avanzâde Mehmet Süleyman for women in the early 20th century, was examined; and it was seen that the author -under the conditions of his age- defended women’s rights and freedoms with a progressive view at certain points.