CONTRIBUTION OF THE FEMINIST WRITERS OF TWO DIFFERENT CULTURES, EMINE SEMIYE AND VIRGINIA WOOLF, TO WOMEN RIGHTS AND WOMEN’S EDUCATION

Abstract

When the the histories of the societies are analysed, it is seen that the women played important roles in the societies they lived in. However, patriarchal social structure confined the women at home by keeping them away from the social life. When Ottoman Empire and England are analysed, it is apparent that there is no name of women in education and work life. In both countries, women movement began in the late of 1800. The Pioneer of Women movement in Ottoman Empire is Emine Semiye ( 1866-1944) and Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) in England. Both of these women writers are the daughters of educated fathers. Semiye’s father, Ahmet Cevdet Pasha was a stateman in the reform period of Ottoman Empire and Woolf was the daughter of Leslie Stephen, who was a writer and critic. Both women writers made use of the luck of being a daughter of an intellectual father by reading and studying hard. They drew the attention of the society to economic freedom for women, the education of women, inequality between women and men in the society and the importance of education for the women by giving conferences. They strongly emphasize that there must be equity and equality between men and women. They also remark that it is necessary for the women to be in the social sphere to have their own economic independence and to actualize themselves. To them, a woman must be in the subject position in the society. In this study, it is aimed to expound Emine Semiye and Virginia Woolf’s contributions to women’s liberty, their education, their rights, and equality