Thesis

In the 19th century, a women’s movement emerged in the Ottoman Empire. This movement was spurred on by increasing global influence from the West, however, Islam no doubt influenced it before the West did. As the women’s movement grew, so did feminism. From the late nineteenth century until our current day, women’s rights and feminism in the Middle East has been influenced by Western ideologies. The increased globalization of ideas and speed of communication resulted in a blossoming women’s movement in the Ottoman Empire, and the countries that developed after its fall; this increase resulted in the growth of feminism and a changing of women’s roles in the Middle East.