The image of women in the History of the Republic of Turkey lesson books in secondary education (1931-1960)

The great changes the Ottoman Empire experienced during the second half of the 19th century resulted on the one hand, as an effort to prevent the loss of land and on the other hand, as an attempt to create a new society model by adopting the concepts of equality, justice, freedom and nationalism. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the proclamation of the 2nd Constitutional Monarchy, the transition of the state to the constitutional order was ensured, and in the wake of the Constitutional Monarchy, women began to show themselves in the change of the society and to make their voices heard in a higher tone. However, the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War and the occupation of Anatolia as a result of the Armistice of Mudros caused the struggle of Turkish women to obtain their rights, which started with the 2nd Constitutional Monarchy, to be delayed for some time, and turned into a struggle for existence of Turkish land. During the establishment of the new Turkish State, the liberation of the country from the occupation, and the revolutions that started afterwards, Turkish women played a major role in the path to the proclamation of the Republic. While being individuals who adopt, spread and protect the values of the Republic of Turkey, they have also become one of the subjects of the Republic with their role of raising individuals with these characteristics. Considering the dominant role of education and training in transferring the values of the Republic to the next generations, the education and training programs in the newly established schools of Turkey were also restructured. History teaching programs and textbooks were also rearranged within this framework. In line with the changing purposes in history teaching, Turkish women, one of the most important founding elements of the state since the early years of the Young Republic, began to take their place in the textbooks as well as in the social structure. In this context, the purpose of this study is; to examine the image of women in the History of the Republic of Turkey textbooks taught in secondary education between 1932 and 1960. It has been examined how the "image of woman" took place in the Turkish Republic History textbooks starting from the History IV textbook, which is among the four-volume secondary school history textbooks prepared in 1931 by the Association for the Study of Turkish History at the instigation of Atatürk; as well as textbooks written by Enver Ziya Karal, Enver Behnan Şapolyo, Mükerrem Su and Mükerrem Kamil Su, Neriman Serdarlar and Fahriye Yazgan, which were taught in secondary education until 1960. The research was designed with the historical model which is one of Qualitative Research Methods. The document analysis technique was used in data collection, and the data were analyzed by determining the themes employing the descriptive analysis method. In the study, the political, social, economic and military fields where the revolutions were made were determined as the themes, and the data were reached by examining the textbooks and extracting the codes from these themes. The data obtained in the research were analyzed by dividing into two periods, between 1931-1950 and between 1950-1960. The data of both periods were evaluated by making comparisons. In the secondary school "History of the Turkish Republic" textbooks taught in the first years of the Republic, it was seen that the image of woman was "equal, strong, well-educated, raising children with qualified education, modern, existing in every field together with the republic". While examining the subjects with the image of women, it was observed that quotations were made frequently from the speeches of Atatürk at different times during his nationwide tours. In the secondary school textbooks, it is seen that it is a matter of upmost importance to spread the "self-confident, strong and equipped with equal rights" image of the Turkish woman. It has also been stated that women, who undertake separate roles in professional and domestic lives, successfully overcome this situation. However, starting from the year 1945 -but more significantly in 1950s- with the changes made in the textbooks, the female image began to take less place. The Turkish woman's feature as a subject of the Republic began to fade gradually. While the emphasis on the necessity and importance of the existence of Turkish women in every field and profession was given with quotations from Atatürk's speeches in the first years of the Republic, these quotations in the textbooks, the emphasis on the equal position of women in the society gradually decreased after 1950 and became less visible towards the 1960s. For this reason, it is thought that examining the historical process of women's image will be more important and instructive nowadays in order to strengthen the position of Turkish women in all areas of a socially equal and strong society.