Şefiqa Gaspıralı (; 14 October 1886 - 31 August 1975) was a Crimean Tatar feminist leader who was editor-in-chief and ŞefiqaGaspıralıpublisher of the first women's magazine, a member of the Presidency Council of the Kurultai, and a deputy for two terms in the Crimean People's Republic. She was also a kindergarten teacher.
Early years
Şefiqa Gaspıralı was born to Ismail Gasprinsky (1851-1914), a Crimean Tatar thinker, publisher, educator, politician and reformer, one of the leaders of the Turkish cultural and political awakening in the early 20th century, in Bakhchysarai, Crimea (Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire) on 14 October 1886. Her mother was Zühre Gaspıralı, a member of the Akçora dynasty. Şefiqa had seven siblings, four brothers, Refat, Danyal, Mansur, Haydar and three sisters Behiye, Leyla, Nigar.
Gaspıralı learned to read and write from her father. She then continued his education at her father's "Usûl-ü Cedit" (New Method) School in Crimea. Her father chose and raised her among his siblings, gave special importance to her education. Her mother died when she was 17 years old. She took on the responsibility of the house.
Journalist career
On the other hand, she became her father's most important assistant in the management of the publications of the newspaper Terciman ("The Translator"), the correspondence and translation from Russian language, as well as the postal and distribution affairs. In 1903, she wrote her first article in Terciman.
During this time, she met Nasib bey Yusifbeyli of Ganja, a young Azerbaijani man, who often visited her father. Her correspondence on political issues with Yusifbeyli turned into intimacy, and they married in 1906.
İsmail Gaspıralı founded the magazine Alem-i Nisvan ("Women's World") in 1906 after realizing that Terciman was inadequate in matters of improving the low social status of women in Russia, women's education and employment. Şefiqa was appointed head of the magazine. Published articles informed, directed, encouraged and organized Turkic women, giving detailed information on women and women's movements in the Turkish and Islamic world.
In 1908, she gabe birth to a daughter Zöhre, and a year later to a son Niyazi. During this period, she, together with her husband Nesip and her older brother Rıfat, assumed the entire burden of Terciman.
In 1912, Şefiqa and her husband Yusifbeyli moved to Ganja, Azerbaijan and settled there after the magazine Alem-i Nisvan was closed. At the end of that year, she returned home as no one could be found to deal with the newspaper Terciman. Her father İsmail Gaspıralı died on 11 September 1914.
Women's rights activist and politician
Turkic women living in the Russian Empire were excluded from social, political, cultural and economic life, neglected and deprived of education. Şefiqa was one of the pioneers to start a women's movement under these adverse conditions. All her life, Şefiqa Gaspıralı struggled with her schools, organizations and political participation efforts for the awakening of Turkic women, about which not many people cared.
Şefiqa became one of the first deputies of the short-lived First Crimean Congress of the Crimean People's Republic in 1917, with her recognition during her term as the editor-in-chief of themagazine Alem-i Nisvan. She also participated in the All-Muslims of Russia Congress within the Crimean delegation convened in Moscow.
Şefiqa Gaspıralı aimed to make Turkic women equal legally, socially and culturally in a male-dominated understanding of administration and society in all respects.
Crimea had two advantages over other regions for the socio-cultural and political development of Turkic women: First, it was the birthplace of the innovation and modernization movement initiated by İsmail Gaspıralı. Secondly, compared to the Caucasus and Turkestan, Crimean women suffered less from polygamy and veiling. However, when the 1917 Revolution began, due to the absence of a unifying female leader, there was no other women's organization other than the Taze Hayat Cemiyet ("Fresh Life Society") in Yalta. İsmail Gaspıralı's efforts against the narrow-minded people, who were against the full and equal participation of women in social and political life, yielded results, albeit slowly, but in order to achieve real success with the support of the society, he needed a female leader, even leaders, who could influence the masses in the way of "women's organization" was needed.