Women Under Polygamy/Chapter 15
CHAPTER XV
FEMINISM IN TURKEY
The title of this chapter will seem a misnomer to those who hold the preconceived view that Mohammedan women are hopelessly crushed beneath male tyranny, and devoid of most of the common rights of human beings. It is not unusual to hear critics in the West assert that "no women under Islam can enter Paradise," and that Mohammed insisted upon the inferiority of the female sex to the extent of likening them to mere animals, "asses," and the like.
There are passages in the Koran bearing upon the proper conduct of women, which inculcate humility and modesty. Precisely similar teaching may be found in the epistles of St. Paul, the supreme Apostle of ecclesiastic Christianity. Women were bidden to learn of men, to stay at home, not to speak in the public assemblies, to avoid vanity, to dress plainly, and to obey their husbands in all things.
St. Paul's view of marriage was that of the ascetic saints who succeeded him. He had no fine, spiritual appreciation of love and the married state. Marriage was a method of avoiding carnal sin.
The Prophet of Mecca proclaimed a nobler estimate of wedlock, though this will be disputed by the extremists who cannot separate polygamy from innate iniquity in those who practise it. Liberal orthodox Christians have, however, admitted justly that a man with more than one wife is not of necessity an immoral character. They recognise that some of the most righteous of mankind have been supporters of polygamous marriage. The following passages from the Koran, while they enjoin modesty and restraint upon women, are less patriarchal in spirit than the injunctions of St. Paul:—
"And speak unto the believing women, that they restrain their eyes, and preserve their modesty, and discover not their ornaments, except what necessarily appeareth thereof; and let them throw their veils over their bosoms, and not show their ornaments, unless to their husbands, or their fathers, their husband's fathers, or their sons, or their husband's sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the captives which their right hands shall possess, or unto such men as attend them and have no need of women, or unto children, who distinguish not the nakedness of women.
And let them not make a noise with their feet that their ornaments which they hide may thereby be discovered."
Making a noise with the feet refers to the tinkling ornaments and bells that the women of the Prophet's time wore upon their ankles.
If the women of Turkey have not attained to those forms of freedom in society enjoyed by English and American women, they have a much firmer security in a legal sense. There was no need for a Married Woman's Property Act in the Ottoman Empire. Complete possession and control of the personal property of women was granted ages ago.
Every Turkish mother has sole guardianship of her children in their early years. In after life, the children seek her counsels, and the sons frequently obey their mothers during the whole of their lives. Upon divorce or repudiation by a husband, all of a wife's property is allotted to her.
It is supposed that divorce is impossible for a woman in Turkey. This is incorrect. There are several causes for a legal separation from a husband. Cruelty, and even neglect to maintain a wife in the station in which she was born, are reasons for a woman's plea for divorce. Desertion by a husband is another cause. If a wife wishes to leave a husband on any of these charges, she is entitled by law to a return of the dowry paid upon marriage.
"Turkish women," writes Mrs. Garnett, "thus already possess all the legal personal and proprietary rights necessary to give them a social position equal, if not superior, to that of European women generally; and the objection to their emancipation from harem restraints is consequently one of custom and prejudice rather than of religious law, the seclusion of women and the veiling of the face being immemorial social usages borrowed from other neighbouring Oriental races, and not institutions peculiarly Turkish, and no religious law would, therefore, be contravened by a change in these merely social customs."
Returning once more to the question of divorce, we must realise that it is not quite as simple a matter as it appears. A devout Mohammedan shrinks from casting aside his wife, unless the reason for so doing is exceptionally definite. He remembers the stern words of the Prophet: "The curse of Allah rests on him who capriciously repudiates his wife."
Critics of Islam, who state that the men of the East "treat women as chattels" while they are of use—and discard them with sheer callousness when they have lost the freshness of youth—should consider the testimony of the many Christian observers of Turkish home-life. As a matter of fact, in many harems old women will be seen leading contented and happy lives, surrounded by relatives and young children. The Turk does not turn out his grandmother to starve in the streets. He has rarely any inclination to do so. Moreover, his creed and the law do not allow it.
In a spirit of fair inquiry, we must listen to those travellers in Turkey who do not share the optimistic view of the writers I have quoted, and the friends with whom I have conversed. There are still Occidental visitors who speak of unfortunate women in Turkey, pent up in the harems, and living degraded lives as the mere instruments of sensual men.
Sir Edwin Pears, in the work to which I have referred, is not so prejudiced an investigator as some of my compatriots. He admits that there are admirable traits in the Turkish people, and he testifies to their love of children. But this author's impressions are very different from those of Mrs. Garnett, who lived so long in Turkey, and has studied the inhabitants of town and country with much zeal and intelligence.
Sir Edwin Pears finds an absence of family life, whereas other strangers in the land seem to discern domestic affection and tender conjugal love in almost every home.
In the East husbands and wives do not walk arm-in-arm in the streets. Frequently, as in India, the man walks in advance of the woman. This is, however, no sign of an open assertion of male superiority. It has a very different origin. In the old times, the husband strode in front of the wife, to hold back the branches of the forest and to make a track for her. He was like a military vanguard, ready for encounters with enemies, and not the leader of a weak and submissive spouse, who was not worthy to walk at his side.
Sir Edwin Pears declares that the hold of a wife upon her partner is exceedingly insecure. In a fit of temper, or in a moment of caprice, the husband may say: "I repudiate you." But repudiation is not easy, and, according to other witnesses, it is not frequent. Nevertheless, the custom exists, and its existence is deplored by many thoughtful and high-principled men in Turkey.
"Whatever the recent teachers of Islam may say," writes Sir Edwin, "it is, however, beyond reasonable doubt that the position of women in Moslem is lower than in Christian countries."
I have already given distinctly contrary opinions expressed by English and American women. It would be absurd to pretend that cultured women in Turkey have all that they desire, intellectually and in the social sense. There is even a franchise movement among the educated women. Certainly, no country has yet been discovered in which there is no need of reforms; and it is true of Turkey to-day that discontent among upper class women is not altogether uncommon. I believe that this spirit of dissatisfaction is not always associated with the institution of polygamy. It is a desire for freer social intercourse, for culture, and for a widening of women's interests and pursuits.
The students who attend the women's college at Scutari are likely to develop into ardent pioneers of a feminist movement in Turkey. Among our Suffragist leaders are a quite imposing number of women who are distinguished as scholars. Education in any and every class gives rise inevitably to "divine discontent." Very frequently the widening of knowledge brings an awakening of conscience and a quickening of the social instinct. Women who learn to think begin to feel more deeply; and reflection upon the evils of society leads to action.
The national temper in Turkey is conservative; but, as I have said, the Turk is always a willing listener to the ideas and the reformative proposals of foreigners. Despite tenacious traditions, the women of Turkey are feeling the influence of that fervent feminism that is inspiring the women of the West. There is, perhaps, more hope for Turkish women in this movement than for any of the women of Europe. And a reason for thinking so is based upon the modesty and reasonableness of their demands and the method pursued. Already men in Turkey are attentive to the arguments of cultivated women, and there is, as yet, no apparent masculine opposition.
The Young Turkey Party, in the opinion of Mrs. Garnett, advocates the emancipation of women. The Turk is pre-occupied with women, but this pre-occupation does not spell only one kind of interest. The great feminists among men are the great lovers of women, the admirers of womanly beauty, grace and wit.
We have noted that the haremlik has reached a stage of something like unpopularity. Polygamy is not likely to give place rapidly to universal monogamy in Turkey. We might as well expect to banish polygny suddenly from Western societies. But the stricter rule of the seraglio is relaxing. Even doctors are allowed to enter the harems. Culture is invading the sacred precints of "the Abode of Bliss," and culture brings a longing for a freer life. The West of Europe is setting Turkey an example, for good or ill, and Turkey is at least heedful and interested. The ground is being sown. What will the future yield?
Is East eternally East? Turkey, at all events, is the most sensitive of all Eastern nations to the influence of outside social movements. In certain respects she admires England, and is willing to imitate English customs. Not even the influence of Mohammedism can withstand the irresistible force of human thought and social progress. Probably much that is admirable in Turkish custom will decline with the incoming of Western industrial and commercial ideals. Possibly there will be social gain also. Who can foretell? That which we laud as progress in the West is not always a boon to the East.
Are we happier in our pseudo-monogamic, jostling, commercial, spiritually-deadening civilisation? The answer is doubtful to all but the unreflective.
Pierre Loti, who feels, like a true artist, the strange enchantment of the Orient, has interested himself very closely in the affairs of Turkey. He has many friends in the country, and his penetrating mind discerns all the signs and symptoms of impending changes in the position of Turkish women.
Loti's novel "Disenchanted" reveals the soul of a woman in the haremlik. He tells us in his preface that the volume is one of fiction. But the author insists that it is entirely true, in so far as it demonstrates the advance in culture among the women of Turkey secluded in the seraglios. This spread of knowledge is yielding the inevitable dissatisfaction that the repressed sex naturally experience when they begin to reflect. The Woman Movement and Labour Unrest spring everywhere from education.
Sober-minded and thoughtful Turks are beginning to ponder on the Woman Question. They foresee that educated women will rebel sooner or later against many of the old traditions of religion and society. The spirit of England and France is permeating the harems. Women dress in the English and French fashions; they demand English furniture and pianos. They are learning foreign languages, and reading the literature of the West. Some of the Turkish ladies eagerly imbibe the new social ideas.
Pierre Loti's romance is not merely a pathetic story. It is a contribution to the sociology of the Near East. The heroine voices the aspirations of the new woman of Turkey. She cries out for light, for liberty in the supreme matter of choice in love, and for contact with the great world outside of the seraglio. The novel describes faithfully the narrow environment in which harem women live. Loti shows how the disenchanted yearn for love. The heroine of the story says:—
"She has achieved the sort of duality of identity which is common to many Turkish women of her age and rank, who say: 'My person is delivered over by contract to an unknown man, and I devote it to him because I am an honest woman; but my soul, which was not consulted, is still my own, and I keep it with jealous reserve for an ideal lover whom I may never meet with, and who in any case will never know anything about it.'"
The heroine of Loti's romance refers to the loneliness of seraglio life:—
"The sense of emptiness which is produced in our life by the necessity of never talking to any but women, of living always among ourselves, our fellow-women. Our friends? but, mercy; they are as weak and as weary as we are! In our harems weakness—so many weaknesses rather, combined and huddled together, are sick at heart, suffer the more from being what they are, and cry out for strength."