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THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT
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woman is, of course, insisted upon, and if she would reach heaven, it must be through her husband! In these circumstances it is, perhaps, supposed to be a charity to women to permit polygamy, and allow each husband to marry four wives if he chooses. The Koran permits to the wife the position of a person in the eyes of the law, and recognises the title of the wife to the separate ownership of her own property, to dispose of or to control as she pleases; but the habit of seclusion makes these provisions little more than a theory, seldom taken advantage of by the women of the harem.

Mohammedan women of rank and wealth must never appear in public unveiled, and their part of the house, the harem, must never see the presence of strange men. During the revolution carried out by the Young Turks, the educated and advanced women of Turkey appealed to the revolutionaries for help towards their own enfranchisement. Many women of rank walked the streets without veils in those wonderful days, a thing hitherto unprecedented; they even made speeches at meetings of women, and supported a programme of reforms to which the leaders of the new movement gave, at that time, their consent and approval. This list of reforms included the prohibition by law of polygamy; freedom for the woman to choose her own husband;