IntroductionThroughout its history, cartoons have been used both as a tool for propaganda and opposition. The power of the visual over the text, the ability to convey complex messages by simple symbols and metaphors, the chance to reach to the illiterate as well as the literate have been the advantages of this medium. Its publication in the newspapers has also facilitated the dissemination of its messages to the masses through a medium which was a tool itself in the creation of the nations (see Anderson 2006). As for the case of modernisation and nation-building in Turkey, the cartoons have been assigned similar roles to that of the ones in Western societies. They became a functional tool of propaganda during the nation-building process (Gencer 2012 and. They also assisted the creation of stereotypes in which the friends and enemies of the nation had been coded. During this period, the transition to a modern and secular society went hand in hand with the cultural and historical memory of the society. Despite the fervent efforts for women"s emancipation, the reforms related to the women have been a realm of meaning in which historical memory was transformed to a new form of patriarchy. Settled stereotypes of this ideology held the liberation of women hostage. Women became the face of a modernising and Westernising society by becoming more visible in public life, attaining "men"s professions" or voting, yet meanwhile they were expected to act not as individuals but as the missionaries of the nation-building process by being mothers and child rearing for the nation. This was the creation of the "child-woman" (Zihnioğlu 2003), growing with the Kemalist reforms whom was asked to suffice with what the "fathers" gave and serve to the nation within the boarders of the "common good" decided by the political elites. Any independent voice would be stigmatised as a deviation from the national ideology of the nation-builders.The granting of the suffrage rights in Turkey exemplifies this attitude toward women. The sideline of the women"s movement embodied in the Women"s Union which was leaded by Nezihe Muhiddin indicates the thin line between being the ally and the enemy of the founding ideology of the regime. The analysis of the depiction of women after the granting of the suffrage rights in the cartoons of the era, enable to see the construction of women"s identities and evaluate whether their individualities have been circumscribed within the forms of patriarchy. By scrutinising the cartoons ran in the newspapers when the suffrage rights were granted, this study aims to understand the stereotypes which defined the boundaries of womenhood and women"s movement.