ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey is primarily concerned with the status of women and defines the parameters of Islamic community in terms of a sexual differentiation of social and familial roles. Structural factors have played a significant role in determining women's status. Family law and the status or women was one area in the long list of legal reforms in the Ottoman Empire which remained under the jurisdiction of the Sharia courts until the republican period. The history of the feminist movement in Turkey—however embryonic both in terms of aims and organization—goes back to the Second Constitutional Period in the Ottoman Empire. The fundamentalist movement in Turkey is in essence a response of the marginalized sectors of society to rapid industrial growth and the concomitant structural and cultural transformation it brings. The education of Muslim women is an example of the new understanding concerning women's role within the movement.
