A Health Issue from Azerbaıjan's First Women's Newspaper, Işık (1911-1912): Health of Women and Children

Abstract

With the declaration of the "October Manifesto" by Tsar Nicholas II on October 30, 1905, the opportunity to "come together" and "carry out media activities" emerged among the Russian Turks. In this environment of freedom, various magazines and newspapers were brought to the publication life in order to reach all segments of the people in Azerbaijan so that the Russian Turks could emerge from the darkness of ignorance to the light. The place and importance of women in society as a vital and indispensable issue for the progress of society has been examined in various publications on many political, social, cultural and economic issues that concern the society. In addition to this, the first women's newspaper of Azerbaijan named "Işık" (1911-1912), which gives special importance to the women's issue, has determined women as its editorial policy in order to raise the social position of women to the level of contemporary civilizations. Considering women as the cornerstone of the process of building society, the newspaper "Işık" drew attention to the fact that women, whose social life was imprisoned within the four walls of a house at every stage of their life, would raise well-equipped generations thanks to their becoming educated individuals, and expressed these thoughts with the support of Islamic rules. For this reason, he called on women to stand up for and seek their legal and human rights. Regarding health, which is one of these rights, warnings about easy feeding for babies who do not eat, and giving cow's milk to newborn babies instead of breast milk, trying to feed the baby with pacifiers to heal the sick baby, rocking the baby in the crib or giving poppy tea to the baby, not keeping it clean for babies suffering from smallpox, measles and rosacea have an important place in the volume of the journal. As the first woman director of Azerbaijan's first women's magazine, Hatice Alibeyova used her medical specialization to raise awareness of women and wanted to convey her knowledge to women through her writings. Mustafa Alibeyova, Çaykıraklı Hayat Hanım and Ağababa Yusufzade, in addition to Emine Batrişina, who completed her medical specialization on the factors that mothers should pay attention to in order to eliminate the known dangerous mistakes about the nutrition and care of children, drew attention through their articles and reported the duties that fall on mothers. In addition, in order to set an example in the magazine, information about child care was given thanks to the education that women received in Finland. In this study, the articles of Işık Newspaper written in order to avoid situations that may endanger women's and children's health, to protect public health and to raise awareness of women will be examined.