In the Ottoman Empire (1299–1922), a multiethnic and multireligious society, women of different backgrounds had different voices with respect to the representation of gender in literature. What is known about this subject is confined to the use of language, concepts, imagery, and motifs in the poetry of Ottoman Muslim women (both heterodox and orthodox), predominantly in the tradition of classical divan (compilation of poems) literature.

A female-specific language did not exist in divan literature; the reason for this should be sought not so much in language constru…