CONDITION OF WOMEN.
It is fortunate that the less enlightened members of the human family
are unconscious of their comparative inferiority--and are ignorant
of the bliss to which the more sublimated specimens of humanity are
constantly aspiring, and even rendering themselves discontented with
real life, as destiny has accorded it to them.
The actual condition of women in the East is not then so much to be
lamented, as their ideal of happiness so essentially differs from that
of other portions of the fair sex in Europe or America. As no other
philosophy has yet crept into their minds, they dream not of "woman's
rights," "free love" or "equality of the sexes," and calmly content
themselves with the rights of nature, and the relative position which
has ever existed among their simple and patriarchal ancestors. The
Osmanlis have not yet deviated from the form of family government
which nature dictated to them.
The venerable father, who has guided his children through youth, and
even counseled them in maturer years, is the monarch in the family
circle--the Dei penates are no creations of myth--but are embodied
in the one and sacred title of Pater familias.
Each son, as he succeeds to the paternal duties, is invested with
the robes of veneration and respect. Thus the male branches of the
household have a prior rank, which is unconsciously recognized by the
women and younger members of the family. The laws even allow to the
son double the share of inheritance that they do to the daughters,
because of the heavy responsibilities which may devolve upon him in
future by the death of the father.
There is not, therefore, the most distant suspicion in their
composition that females are equal to males, or girls to boys. It is
as if the members of the body should revolt, and the hands and feet
proclaim themselves superior, or even equal, to the head.
The women of Turkey know very well, and gracefully submit to facts,
which are stubborn things. They never think of denying that
"Women first were made for men,
Not men for them."
There are countries where the condition of woman is indeed miserable,
and where, also, they are unconscious of their own degradation,
and willingly toil and drudge in the service of men; content with
the slightest proofs of affection with which their lords may honor
them--indeed, any concession to their woman nature is thankfully
received.
To be bought and sold is a matter of course. In China, the
purchased wife is suddenly transported into the family of a man,
whose name even she has never heard. There she is the slave of the
whole establishment. The husband may beat her with impunity, reduce
her to a state of starvation, or hire her out, if he fancies to do so.
The Hindoo forces her to immolate herself on her husband's funeral
pile--after having spent a lifetime in his slavery and service.
Such barbarities are unknown in Turkey. For in no country in the
world are mothers more respected, wives more tenderly cherished, and
children more idolized. If, in the relative position of the sexes,
men rank above women, it is because the man is considered as the
vital principle, and the woman the material. Hence the man loves
and cherishes the woman, who in return regards him with reverence
and respect; and any deviation from these reciprocal affections,
would be considered as the greatest breach of decorum.
There are certain acts of politeness which devolve altogether upon
the lords of creation in the most exquisitely civilized regions of
the world, which are however sometimes reluctantly performed--but,
as usual, such matters are reversed in the East, where even the sun
rises at a different hour. There the Efendi graciously receives a
glass of water at the hands of his too happy Hanum; his pipe and his
coffee are gracefully served by some fair Hebe of a wife or sister,
who naturally considers herself as the helpmeet for her spouse,
as did Eve, the first and fairest of woman kind.
The reluctance they feel to have their ladies appear in general
society does not arise from any want of deference and respect on the
part of the men, but rather from an intuitive desire to guard and
protect them from public scandal.
As the Osmanlis enshrine the objects of their affection in the recesses
of their own hearts, so they love to guard them from all contact of a
selfish world. Indeed, Moore has beautifully expressed their feelings
in the warblings of the Peri,
"No pearl ever lay under Oman's green water,
More pure in its shell, than thy spirit in thee."
They feel so sensitive on this score, that they do not make their
Harems a subject of conversation. Even the most distant allusion
to this part of their establishment would consequently be, not
only indelicate, but also an infringement of etiquette--so that
the ordinary questions, such as "how are madam and the ladies,"
or according to Irish vocabulary, "how's yer wife and the gals,"
would cause the lord of the house to redden with astonishment.
As a further proof of the respect a man is supposed to feel for his
family, his enemy, when wishing to touch him to the quick, in cursing
him, only utters maledictions against his wife, mother, or sister.
A man may be publicly executed, but a woman is sacked, entirely out
of respect.
A Turkish lady is eminently queen of her own dominions, sometimes
even a despot--and most independent on all occasions, both public
and private.
It is not necessary for ladies to be attended by their husband or any
other gentleman when they go out; public sentiment entirely protects
them; for, if any one should accost them rudely, the commonest citizen
would immediately turn avenger. When the ladies are attended by
servants and eunuchs, they are only appendages of rank and distinction.
They seem, indeed, to be a privileged class. Wherever they appear
the men must retire--and woe to the man who ventures upon a warfare
of words with a Turkish woman; for her tongue has no bounds, and her
slipper is a ready weapon of chastisement; and no man would dare to
repel the attack.
The convenience of the slipper as a ready means of self-defence,
seems to have been familiar in the days of the old classics, for,
the Roman poet says:
"Et soleâ pulsare nates,"
And doubtless many of the rising generation can testify to its abuse,
even in these days of modern improvement.
The very whims and caprices which seem indigenous to the fair sex,
are tolerated as a matter of course with philosophic resignation,
as they are instructed by the Koran, "If ye be kind towards women
and fear to wrong them, God is well acquainted with what ye do." They
have a proverb also which supplants all reasoning on such occasions.
"Satchi-ouzoun, Akli-Kissa." Long hair, short brains.
To salute a lady, or in any way accost her, in public would be an
act of consummate rudeness; even a husband would pass by his wife and
family with an air of affected indifference. Certainly such a neglect
of the fair sex would be unpardonable in Europe and this country, but
on the contrary, in the East, it only evinces the greatest deference
and respect.
Nevertheless, the Mohammedans have been most maliciously reported
by ignorant writers on the East, to hold that women have no souls;
or if they have, that they will perish like those of brute beasts.
This assumption is founded upon the promise of the Prophet, that the
faithful shall be provided with black-eyed Houris in Paradise.
If this excludes the Mussulman women from Paradise, we may reasonably
place the Christian ladies in the same category, for they are assured
in the Gospel that "there will be no marrying nor giving in marriage
in Heaven."
On the contrary, Houris are but an addition to the earthly wives of the
Mussulmans, and the faithful are assured that "God promiseth unto the
true believers, both men and women, gardens through which rivers flow,
wherein they shall remain for ever," and that "whoso doth good works,
whether he be male or female, and is a true believer, shall be admitted
into Paradise, and shall not in the least be unjustly dealt with."