Women talking about women: A Muslim woman in the Tatar periodical press of the early 20th century

Abstract

© 2018 Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. All rights reserved. This article deals with the study of the formation of two gender discourses, male and female, in Muslim Tatar periodicals of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. The study is based on an analysis of such journals as "Syuyumbike", "Azat Khanym" ("Liberated Woman"), the most authoritative journal of the Russian Muslims "Shura" ("The Council"), and other periodicals that dealt with the "women's issue." In this discourse, women took as active part as men, with respective differences. The article shows how, in the beginning, within the framework of the predominantly male discourse, the exceptional importance of women, primarily as a mother, was emphasized. Women's discourse, which appeared later, focused on the problems of women themselves and various forms of violence on the part of men, as well as the appeals for women's independence.