The women's movement in Turkey has its roots in the 19th century Ottoman society when educated urban women started to discuss and write about women's rights. At the time Islamic law was the source of family law. Women and their status in society were central to the reform agenda of the Turkish Republic which emerged in 1923. At the same time, tensions arose between republican leaders and women activists. It took more than 40 years before a new grass roots women's movement emerged again in Turkey. Led by academics and writers, the new movement of the 1980s was inspired by the experience of feminism in other countries.