The article deals with the model of womanhood sponsored by the Turkish state and how we can assess it in the light of female preachers (vaizes) enrolled by a state institution, the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet). The question behind this research is: how far the rising number of vaizes influenced the evolution of a Turkish Islamic model of womanhood? Which are the values and the definitions employed by these educated and professional preachers concerning female religiosity? To address these questions, a ten months ethnographic fieldwork to enlighten vaizes' activities in Istanbul will be combined with a set of repeated in-depth interviews to Diyanet female personnel in the Ankara Head Office. The
article casts light on Turkish official preachers as representatives of a “modern Muslim” woman who is able to access modernity through religious sources and whose visibility in the public sphere demands a participation in the mosque public dimension.
