Sultanate of Women

In a court where physical access to the sultan was the primary currency of power, the women who had that access were doing precisely what any rational political actor in their position would do.

This period, stretching roughly from the 1570s through to the mid-17th century, is sometimes called the Sultanate of Women, a label that has attracted debate among historians, who point out that it frames female political participation as inherently aberrant.

What it actually represented was a power vacuum in the sultanic office that various actors rushed to fill.

The women of the harem were simply the most effectively positioned among those actors.