Women's Representation in the History of Ottoman Science: The First Female Author of a Geometry Book, Şazimend [Özhan] Hanım (1887-1955) and Her Ottoman Turkish Work Entitled a New Method of Practical Geometry (Yeni Usûl ‘Amelî Hendese)

Semiha Betül BAYAM Takicak

Fiscaoeconomia, 2025, issue s1

Abstract: Şazimend Hanım was one of the first women to become a teacher during the Ottoman and the Republic periods. She wrote an Ottoman Turkish textbook called Yeni Usûl ‘Amelî Hendese (1918). This study aims to evaluate the work from a pedagogical perspective and present it as evidence of women's representation in the Ottoman scientific world. The qualitative study involved conducting a historical and theoretical analysis of the text based on its transliteration. The sole surviving copy of the book is located in the Rare Books Library at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaşi Veli University and was transliterated from Ottoman Turkish by the researcher. The text was then compared with the current mathematics education curriculum, after which it was added to the literature on the history of science and education. Based on these findings, it was concluded that the work was an original work written by Şazimend Hanım, rather than a translation or compilation. In this respect, Yeni Usûl 'Amelî Hendese is the first and only known Ottoman Turkish geometry book written by a woman in the Ottoman Empire. Alongside books by prominent scientists of the time, such as Salih Zeki and Mehmed İzzet, the work was recommended for use in schools by the Ministry of National Education in 1924. This demonstrates that the work's pedagogical quality was recognised by the different educational approaches of the period. Additionally, archival documents have revealed Şazimend Hanım's biography for the first time, as her name had not previously appeared in Ottoman mathematics and science history bibliographies.

Keywords: History of Science; Women in Ottoman Science; Şazimend Özhan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B41 I20 J16 N45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fis:journl:25s0106

DOI: 10.25295/fsecon.1720084

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