The Role of Women in the Urban Economy of Istanbul, 1700–1850

Abstract

This article examines the role of women in manufacturing and the urban economy of Istanbul during the premodern period. It shows that Ottoman women engaged in a variety of economic activities, and invested in the real estate market. They participated in the textile industry of Bursa, Ankara, and Istanbul as weavers, dyers, and embroiderers. Their labor, however, remained marginal to artisanal production through the guilds. Very few women were accepted into the guilds. They were hired by the putting-out merchants to produce secretly at home. Their input to manufacturing increased in the second half of the nineteenth century when the guilds were losing their monopoly over production.