Abstract
In 1879, June 17th, School Loving Ladies Association stated its own purpose in the letter was addressed to Patriarchy of Constantinople; “The main purpose of the Association is to open a college and provide free education to poor and uneducated ladies, as well as preparing them as teaches for province.”1 Women’s engagement in civic activities in the Middle East have largely ignored in historiography writing. Female non-governmental organizations have been assumed to pursue either charitable or trivial activities not requiring further research. Furthermore, as a result of the neglect of female organizations, Armenian schools have been studied only as a subsection of Christian or missionary school activities in the Ottoman Empire.2
This paper presents the developments in the education of girls and women through the activities of one of the main Armenian female organization of School Loving Armenian Ladies Association (1879-1914), which is one of the largest and long-lived Ottoman-Women’s associations in the Empire. It began its activities by founding a girl college in a small house in the middle of Ortaköy district, Constantinople with 20 students in 1879. This organization lasted longer than 30 years and acted as agents of the bodies, minds, and interests of Ottoman-Armenian girls and women. In 1892, at the end of its 12-year’s operation, the Association’s college had 110 students, 60 of which were free of charge, 12 are boarding students, established 10 colleges in various provinces of the Ottoman Empire and the students of School-Loving Ladies college were accepted as teachers and lecturers, who delivered the skills and knowledge of their own education throughout the Empire. This paper will try to answer the questions about the management, curriculum development and teaching aims of this association's schools; and the impact of vocational education on women's employment; moreover, the means by which how this association raised money, hired teachers, provided classroom materials (books, tables, sewing machines), and whether girls could seek a wider variety of employment, after completing their education at schools that opened by the associations.
1Masis in 1879 August.
2Selcuk Aksin Somel’a article of Christian community schools during the Ottoman reforms period, Mutlu ?amil’s missionary schools in the Empire and Adnan ?i?man’s Foreign countries cultural and social enterprice in the Ottoman Empire.
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