WOMEN IGNORED BY REVOLUTIONS: FROM OLYMPE DE GOUGES TO NEZIHE MUHIDDIN

Abstract

The major goal of this study is to show how women who desired political rights were disregarded and even oppressed in the nation-state building process after the French Revolution and the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, using the example of two feminist women. Olympe De Gouges was a trailblazing woman who battled for women's rights during the French Revolution and was sentenced to death as a result of her efforts. Similarly, in the early years of the Republic, Nezihe Muhittin struggled for women's political rights in Turkey, but was shunned and despised by the state. She lost her mental health as a result, and she spent the rest of her life in a mental health facility. The study uses the instances of these two pioneering women to highlight how the government suppresses women's battle for political rights. Women were deprived of political rights after the revolution in both France and Turkey, while gaining rights in education and the workplace. The concept that the political arena is a masculine realm is at the heart of this. Because politics was considered as a man's work in the new regimes founded following the revolutions in both nations, women were excluded from this sector and given the duty of mother to raise children for the newly established nation.