La Kuestion dela Mujer: Westernization and Sephardi Women in the Eastern Mediterranean Ladino Press in the Period 1870-1913

Author: Anne-Marie Gabel

Field of Study: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Spanish

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Bryan Kirschen, Dina Danon

Easel: 64

Timeslot: Afternoon

Abstract: Westernization efforts in the eastern Mediterranean during the late 19th and early 20th centuries provided for numerous cultural, political, and social shifts throughout the region. Among these, the western schools of the Alliance Israelite Universelle offered new educational opportunities for Sephardi women in the region alongside a westernizing objective. As seen through the discussions of these developments in the Ladino press, westernization altered the context of the proscribed roles of women as wives and mothers to be in accordance with western concepts of separate spheres and the cult of true womanhood. In analyzing articles from the eastern Mediterranean Ladino press and the writings of two Sephardi women with ties to the press, this study aims to examine the representations of the roles of Sephardi women in the Ladino press and the influence of these western ideals on the discourse surrounding the social roles and education of women.