A A Critical Dıscourse Analysıs of Representatıons of “Women” And “Space” In The Media In The Early Republıcan Perıod of Turkey

Abstract

This study analyzes news texts published in the Early Republican Period of Türkiye, focusing on how female identity was associated with domestic spaces. The scope of the research includes discourses related to concepts such as kitchen, living areas, furnishing elements, and domestic economy, as presented in newspapers like Cumhuriyet, Hakimiyeti Milliye, Akşam and Yeni İstanbul, and how these are associated with gender roles. A qualitative research method was adopted, and Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA) was employed. The selected texts were identified through purposive sampling, and a three-stage model-textual, ideological, and socio-cultural analysis-was implemented. The representational forms, ideological structu-res, and spatial implications of the discourses were examined through textual data. Thus, the relationship between women’s labor, domestic economy, and private space was analyzed through discursive production practices. The analysis revealed that female identity was redefined through spatial arrangements and modes of production tied to everyday practices. Notably, women were represented as creative agents capable of finding practical solutions even under economically constrained conditions. Roles such as carpenter, repairer, painter, or decorator were assigned to women, portraying them as not only organizers of the household but also as productive agents within the home. However, this productivity functioned ideologically to reinforce domestic roles rather than to pave the way for public engagement. The study illustrates how modernization ideology instrumentalized female identity, turning women’s productivity into a culturally idealized form rather than merely an economic necessity.