Women living in communities that periodically traversed vast expanses of the Ottoman realm experienced some of the harshest conditions within the empire. It is often assumed that because of the semi-arid and sparsely populated environments there existed strict codes of behavior regulating how these “isolated” communities organized themselves. While conditions were indeed harsh and may have contributed to austere customs that often regulated women's social life, it would be a mistake to see women's role in this environment as uniformly subordinate.

The nature of the pastorali…