Gender and Justice: The Status of Women in Ottoman Courts

Metin Cosgel (), Hamdi Genç, Emre Özer and Sadullah Yıldırım
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Hamdi Genç: Istanbul Medeniyet University

No 2022-03, Working papers from University of Connecticut, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper studies legal disparities between men and women in a patriarchal framework. Throughout history, women have confronted discrimination in matters of inheritance, property ownership, and various other legal rights. We examine the consequences of legal discrimination for women's differential engagement and success within legal conflicts, using data from Ottoman courts in the early nineteenth century. The results show that women were parties to approximately thirty percent of cases, with a modest gender gap of around eight to ten percentage points in terms of plaintiff win rates. The gap varied across courts and types of cases, consistent with gender disparities in legal knowledge and trial stakes in patriarchal societies. Notably, when litigating against male defendants, the disparity was more pronounced in provincial courts (Konya and Kütahya), as opposed to courts in the capital city (Galata and Üsküdar). Similarly, while the gender gap was greater in property and probate cases than those involving personal crimes and commercial exchange, the gap was reversed in family matters. The analysis suggests that a significant portion of the gender gap in litigation success can be attributed to disparities in evidence presentation (witness testimonies, written documents, and legal opinions).

Keywords: Gender; women; discrimination; Ottoman; law; legal; dispute; settlement; trial; evidence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 K38 K4 N45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50 pages
Date: 2022-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara, nep-gen, nep-his and nep-law
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https://media.economics.uconn.edu/working/2022-03.pdf Full text (original version) (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Gender and justice: The status of women in Ottoman courts (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uct:uconnp:2022-03

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