The role of the Turkish Translation Bureau (1940–1966) in promoting women’s presence in the literary sphere

This article focuses on women’s presence in the literary sphere in Türkiye after the proclamation of the Republic in 1923 and the foundation of the Translation Bureau, which was set up to establish the humanistic cultural background of Western civilisation as a role model for the young Republic. The article starts with an overview of the Early Republican Period in Türkiye, with a focus on women’s presence as literary figures and translators and in regard to the provision of an equal public sphere for women. It presents a brief historical overview of examples of literary translations by female translators from English into Turkish for cultural transfer strategies, ‘promoting’ women’s presence and women’s issues. The analysis examines the contribution of female translators to the texts written by women within the overall strategy of ‘cultural acceptability’. It further investigates how their translational decisions helped shape gender-conscious narratives within the culture-building discourse of the Republic. The article concludes that women translators associated with the Translation Bureau contributed to women’s visibility in the literary sphere, while their gender-related translational decisions variously reshaped Turkish target texts in ways that could be both enabling and limiting.