Women in Balıkesir in the 17th century

Sharia sijils that belong to the 17th century-Balıkesir - a Turkish town in northwest Turkey - show that like men, women applied to courts and file complaint on any problem. Women went to the court for divorce-related problems, including divorce allowance and even took their husbands, parents, children and other relatives to the court. When they could not solve their problems in local courts, they did not hesitate to take the matter to the supreme court (Divan-ı Hümayun). Women went to the court not only for their complaints, but also for registration of papers related to sale or buying of property and charity donations. Also, women went to the court to trace the situation of their lost husbands to marry someone else. They were able to assign a representative for their various matters and a patronage for themselves or their children. They had all paper work related to these matters recorded in sijils. Women that owned property were able to sell them as they wished and buy slaves. They were receiving income through heritage, divorce allowance, vakifs, and rent, and were working to some extent. They were contributing to economy as "sellers" rather than "buyers" - consumers-. Occupying an important place in family, women were usually dealing with house work. They were not taking part as much as men in social and economic activities outside family. Divorced women were the head of household. Women that were involved in charity works freed their slaves for the sake of good deed. As far as basic freedom and rights are concerned, non- Muslim women were not different from the others. Slaves lacked as many rights as free women, but most received their freedom at the end. VI.