A socio-political assessment of the role and importance of women in the Manas Epic

Turkish epics are valuable not only as records of historical events or acts of heroism but also as reflections of the social structure and values. In this study, the political roles assumed by female figures in Turkish epics, their symbolic representations, and their positions within the social order have been examined. The narratives constructed regarding the place of women in society function not only as cultural elements but also as carriers of a political ideology. In the epics, women sometimes appear as wise wives, sometimes as warrior leaders, and at times as sacred figures. In this context, the thesis discusses the place of the roles assigned to women in epics within the systematics of political thought, aiming to analyze the cultural representations of women's influence in society from a political perspective. In this thesis, the Epic of Manas was chosen as the research subject, and the role, function, and importance of women in the epic were examined using historical-sociological analysis and document analysis methods. Within this scope, the study adopted an inductive approach, formulated a total of seven research questions focusing on gender equality in the Epic, and reached six main findings in response to these questions. The typologies of female characters within the epic, along with the functions and roles of these typologies, were analyzed from the perspective of gender concepts, and both positive and negative aspects were explicitly presented. As a result, the study concludes that the multi-faceted roles assigned to women in Turkish culture possess diversity and depth, offering foundational points that can be influential in modern social structures and politics. Keywords: Turkish Epics, Women and Epic, The Epic of Manas, The Epic of Manas and Gender, The place of Women in Turkish Epics