Women and Workın The Ottoman Empire Society for The Employment of Ottoman Müslim Women 1916 1923 12 C 10 — Yavuz Selim Karakışla

World War I deeply altered the lives of Muslim Ottoman women The Ottoman Army consisted only of Muslim men and war caused the death of one and a half million Muslim Ottoman men The heavy losses of the Ottoman army meant that every day more and more dependants lost their breadwinners When the breadwinner had gone to war was wounded or died at the front the wives daughters sisters and mothers they had left behind were faced with two options to find work and make a living or to starve to death On 14 August 1916 the Committee of Union and Progress İttihâd ve Terakkî Cemiyeti the ruling party of the Ottoman Empire established a new society under the leadership of one of its leading figures Vice Commander and Minister of War Enver Paşa The Society for the Employment of Ottoman Muslim Women Kadınları Çalıştırma Cemiyet i İslâmiyesi was a Unionist organization created to find employment for Muslim Ottoman women who were in urgent economic need Within a matter of months it received more than 14 000 applications and was soon employing 8 194 destitute Ottoman women in its braches and in the related state and military institutions In time it would offer jobs to an aggregate number of 20 000 women workers and became the leading employer of Muslim Ottoman women in the Ottoman Empire This comprehensive work constitutes both a case study of Muslim Ottoman women during World War I and a detailed analysis of the foundation organization and activities of the Society for the Employment of Ottoman Muslim Women created to find employment for them

World War I deeply altered the lives of Muslim Ottoman women The Ottoman Army consisted only of Muslim men and war caused the death of one and a half million Muslim Ottoman men The heavy losses of the Ottoman army meant that every day more and more dependants lost their breadwinners When the breadwinner had gone to war was wounded or died at the front the wives daughters sisters and mothers they had left behind were faced with two options to find work and make a living or to starve to death On 14 August 1916 the Committee of Union and Progress İttihâd ve Terakkî Cemiyeti the ruling party of the Ottoman Empire established a new society under the leadership of one of its leading figures Vice Commander and Minister of War Enver Paşa The Society for the Employment of Ottoman Muslim Women Kadınları Çalıştırma Cemiyet i İslâmiyesi was a Unionist organization created to find employment for Muslim Ottoman women who were in urgent economic need Within a matter of months it received more than 14 000 applications and was soon employing 8 194 destitute Ottoman women in its braches and in the related state and military institutions In time it would offer jobs to an aggregate number of 20 000 women workers and became the leading employer of Muslim Ottoman women in the Ottoman Empire This comprehensive work constitutes both a case study of Muslim Ottoman women during World War I and a detailed analysis of the foundation organization and activities of the Society for the Employment of Ottoman Muslim Women created to find employment for them