END OF THE VEIL

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 48, 26 February 1938, Page 19

END OF THE VEIL

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN

COMPLETE EMANCIPATION

No longer do Turkish women wear the veil. This symbol, in European eyes, of the mystery and romance of the East has centuries of tradition behind it, but there'is rio place for it, nor for much else that is traditional, in the modern State that Turkey has become since the war, states a writer in the "Melbourne Age."

Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, ruler and virtual dictator' of the new Turkey, decreed the abolition of the veil some years ago. At first opposed, the decree, like most of those of the redoubtable Ghazi, is now willingly, even cheerfully, obeyed by Turkey's feminine population of nearly 9,000,000.

The women have probably realised that in parting with whatever there was of romantic allure in their veils they have gained something much more practical, and, in the long run, valuable. They have gained, in fact, freedom and equality of status to an extent unprecedented in Oriental countries, and even today unmatched in many Western States. IN THE PROFESSIONS. Under Mustapha Kemal's Government women are provided precisely equal opportunities with men in any trade, profession, or career in which they can humanly engage. Nor do they suffer the disability, so common in many other parts of the world, of receiving less pay than men for doing the same jobs. The rule is payment for proficiency; whether the worker be man or woman makes no difference whatever so long as he or she performs the job efficiently.

An example of just how seriously Turkish women are taking this new freedom is provided by the case of the young woman who recently offered herself for acceptance as a cadet at the Turkish naval academy. With polite regret her offer was refused, since the navy is not yet training feminine officers? but at the same time no one thought the move at all out of place. There are women employed in certain departments of ship building and several successful engineers, woman doctors are popular, and dozens of women have entered the legal profession of recent years, serving not only as barristers and solicitors, but as Judges, too. In the latter capacity they have proved themselves particularly successful in dealing with domestic cases and those in which children are concerned.

Curiously enough, perhaps, the Turks themselves, who have always enjoyed a reputation for being such proprietorial husbands, do not seem at all inclined to resent their women folk's new privileges. No doubt, in their almost fierce enthusiasm to bring their long-backward coucftry up to the level of modern European States, they realise the genuine value of this really progressive move. LOW WAGES FOR DOMESTICS. It is not even customary for professional women to give up their work when they marry. There is no ban, for instance, on woman teachers who are married, and it is generally conceded that women who have children of their own are better fitted to cope with other youngsters than are the majority of single women. The fact that well-trained domestic workers can be employed for the equivalent of about 10s a week makes it easier for Turkish women to combine marriage with a professional career, for all housekeeping cares can be removed from their shoulders without undue expense. Nor do the children of professional women appear to suffer. Family life in the wider sense is still common in Turkey. In most households there are relatives, grandmothers, or aunts, who help the nurse or nursemaid to care for the little ones during the hours .the mother is absent from home,