WOMEN IN TURKEY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17945, 24 November 1932, Page 11

WOMEN IN TURKEY

NO MORE HAREM SECLUSION MINGLE FREELY WITH MEN LONDON, Nov. 16. Gone arc the days of the seclusion of the Turkish harem, says the Constantinople correspondent of tlio Times, Women police, women barristers* axid women judges are the latest proofs of the emancipation of the woiuen of tne East. Where, only a few years ago, the women of the harem saw only her husband and her relatives, she is now admitted to the universities on an equal footing with men and is eligible for almost all professions. Such is Turkey under the rule of Mustapha Kernel, the modern President.

Women to-day mingle freely with men in restaurants, dance halls and cinemas, and even marry according to their choice. Divorce is becoming the exception rather than the rule. The “wiyes” of the harem are exercising an increasingly important influence on the character and minds of the rising generation, though the peasant conservatively refuses tq discard his ancient habits, feeling that the “new r women” will not labor in the fields at his command, or walk while he rides on a donkey. Turkish women are approaching complete emancipation. The women of Turkey even acquired a notable victory at the expense of the AVest when Keiiir.au ITanum, the Turkish “beauty queen'” for 1932, was elected “Miss Universe.” When she returned to Turkey Kel'iman Hanum received an ovation comparable to the triumph of a victorious general.