“Layla” (1923-1925), the first women’s magazine in Iraq: an indepth reading of its slogan “towards a women’s awakening”

Abstract

This thesis offers a systemic study of the contents of Layla, the first women’s magazine published in Iraq between 1923-25. I focus on the relationship between the editorial line in ‘Layla’ and the slogan it raised calling for “the awakening of women”. I argue that the magazine’s founder and editor-in-chief, Pauline Hassoune, sought to curate an editorial content that allows her to both define and legitimize the awakening of women. ‘Layla’ deployed various strategies to achieve these twined goals against the backdrop of opposing social and political forces. In offering a study of the relationship between the content and the slogan, the thesis aims to contribute a study of this pioneering magazine that allows us to situate it in relation to the comparable projects that were cropping up across the region at the time. Furthermore, the project also contributes to our understanding of the history of the ‘women question’ in Iraq.