Women Went Down History

Abstract

Always loved and cherished a brave woman left her trace on every page of the world history. Women from the earliest times to our modern life have left their mark on the creation of human values with their love, patience, endurance, perseverance, and perfect thinking, thus, nowadays they use their rights equally with men in their social and political activities. Present article is based on the book “Turkic Women Rulers and Naibs in Muslim States” by Bahriye Uchok, a well-known Turkish researcher and politician of the last century. Bahriye Uchok, the first female scholar (academician) of the Faculty of Theology of Ankara University, the Ordu deputy (1983-1987) and member of the party council of the Social-Democratic People’s Party (1987-1990), was appointed to the Senate of the National Assembly in 1971 and served as a senator for 6 years. The author, who presented historical and documentary information about the well-known female rulers of the Muslim world, such as Raziya Sultan of Delhi, the Egyptian sultan Shajar ad-Dürr, the ruler of Kerman Gutlug Turkan Khatun, etc., shared interesting information on each of them. As a result of the skillful political talent and management of these historical figures, the “slave” image imposed on women for centuries was destroyed, and it was even proven that they are superior to men in some subjects. The present article deals with the author’s curious ideas on the political position and reforms held in the sake of prosperity of their countries by the women rulers since 13th century, as well as the concept of women in the medieval Muslim world from the Bahriye Uchok’s perspective. During the research the memoirs of several writers who witnessed the events related to the subject and the works by history researchers were also applied.