IJASOS- International E-journal of Advances in Social Sciences

Abstract

The position of women in society, women’s role in society has always been debated along with men. In Turkey as well, there has been a lot of discussion on the women’s social position. The main aim of this study is to evaluate women’s issues in the context of gender roles by focusing on the novels of three writers from different periods of Turkish political history. In this study, first the Ottoman era writer Fatma Aliye Hanım’s novel “Muhadarat”, then the Republican era writer Adalet Ağaoğlu’s novel “Ölmeye Yatmak”, finally contemporary writer Ayfer Tunç’s novel “Yeşil Peri Gecesi” have been analysed over the gender roles of their characters. We have chosen only one novel of each writer not to exceed the time limit of the congress report. In the scope of this research, a literature review was done and it was observed from the works reviewed that, in general, comments were made about single period of time. Moreover, the purpose of addressing different time periods is to examine changes in women’s issues throughout the history and changes in the social structure over the concepts such as female-male relations, family, social gender, work, politics and freedom, through the characters of novels. Even though, women ‘s problems still exist, the results indicate that women have changed the social perception by increasing awareness, as a result of their efforts. In conclusion, this paper facilitates understanding by providing an opportunity to compare the social opinion of three writers from different periods and by showing the progress which writers have made. Providing an opportunity for interdisciplinary vision, literature and social structure can also give convenience for researchers from different disciplines in their future studies.

Keywords: Women Writers, Gender, Turkey.