Ottoman Women, in the eyes of Western travelers: By Filiz Barin Akman
There have always been a misapprehension concerning Middle Eastern lifestyle, culture, and gender roles. In books, articles and even movies, Eastern women are portraited as illiterate housewives who are caged in their own households. Not only that, but some of the books I came across elucidated on this matter by tracing women as slaves who live to serve… Today my talk encompasses women related issues and private lives amid the Ottoman provinces. This is not a publication filled with boring long historical texts. No this is an interesting journey of privacy within households. The aforesaid is a collective study and chronicles of the indicated topic, but from the perspective of Western travelers. As you go further with the book, you’ll notice the disparity in narrations between men and women. And that’s because women travelers did have access to women related gatherings, while men came up with random explanations from what they apprehended through others or ...