Women's Studies
Hamed Shiri; Yaghoub Ahmadi; Bahar Shariati; Leila Khodavirdi
Abstract
Work and Home: A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences and Narratives of Employed Women on Domestic WorkIntroduction In contemporary societies, gender roles and societal expectations of women have undergone significant changes. One of the most notable transformations is the widespread entry ...
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Work and Home: A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences and Narratives of Employed Women on Domestic WorkIntroduction In contemporary societies, gender roles and societal expectations of women have undergone significant changes. One of the most notable transformations is the widespread entry of women into the labor market and the increase in their employment opportunities. Employed women, in addition to their professional responsibilities, still face traditional expectations of homemaking and family care. This issue gained prominence as a social problem with the publication of the book "The Second Shift" (Hochschild & Machung, 1989) which became a central topic in the sociology of family and gender. The Second Shift refers to the duties and responsibilities women face at home after completing their daily formal work. Research indicates that while the hours women spend on domestic work have decreased in recent years and men’s participation in household tasks - particularly childcare - has increased, women still perform more housework than men in most households, even in those where women earn equal or higher incomes than their spouses (Greenstein, 2000; Tichenor, 2005; Gupta, 2007; Schneider, 2011). In Iran, women have gradually transitioned out of their traditional role as homemakers and entered the labor market. While this transition may improve women’s economic status and quality of life through new opportunities, it also comes with additional responsibilities and challenges. Iranian women tend to carry more responsibility in managing household and family affairs compared to men. Even in families where both spouses are employed, women still dedicate more time to housework (Tabatabai & Mehri, 2019; Maqsudi & Bostan, 2004). The simultaneous performance of professional roles alongside traditional roles as mothers, wives, and homemakers creates challenges in achieving work-life balance and imposes psychological and physical pressures on women. Given these issues, this article aims to qualitatively examine the lived experiences of employed women in managing domestic work responsibilities and their related challenges in the city of Marivan (Kurdistan).Methodology This study adopts a qualitative approach with an interpretive phenomenological framework. The primary technique for data collection was in-depth interviews, combined with the researchers’ prior lived experience and observations. Sampling and sample size determination were carried out using common qualitative methodologies, employing both purposive (prior) sampling and theoretical (progressive) sampling techniques (Flick, 2009). The adequacy of the sample size was based on the principle of theoretical saturation, resulting in the selection of 15 employed women from the public and private sectors in Marivan. Data analysis was performed through interpretive phenomenology using thematic analysis techniques.Findings The findings of the study reveal that "housekeeping as an inescapable responsibility for women" remains a persistent social and cultural norm in society. Cultural pressures and the intergenerational transmission of domestic roles have prevented women, despite their participation in the workforce, from detaching from traditional housekeeping roles. Consequently, employed women inevitably experience a "dual identity" (employee–homemaker), placing them in a continuous cycle of conflicting responsibilities. Even women who have achieved financial independence or live in families with less traditional perspectives still feel that a home requires "feminine warmth" and "female management." The duality of work and home profoundly impacts women's time and energy, leading to significant emotional and psychological strains such as stress, feelings of inadequacy, and even resentment toward certain household duties. The study also highlights the role of cultural and social structures in reinforcing gendered roles. Patriarchal traditions in society continue to define housekeeping as a "natural duty of women." From childhood, men are taught that household tasks are the responsibility of women, leading many men to perceive participation in domestic chores as "beneath their dignity." These roles are reproduced within families and the broader culture, persisting widely even among newer generations. While employed women remain bound to domestic duties under the influence of patriarchal discourse, working outside the home represents a deliberate and autonomous act of resistance for many of them. Employment offers more than financial resources—it becomes a way to challenge structures that confine them to traditional domestic roles. Employment grants women economic independence, empowers them in family decision-making, and enables them to challenge their position as the "sole homemaker." Finally, the "emergence of progressive and egalitarian families" reflects a growing trend that challenges traditional perspectives and fosters a movement toward gender equality. This transformation promises cultures where cooperation and partnership replace traditional gendered divisions of labor, paving the way for more equitable societies. Discussion and Conclusion Achieving improvements in the conditions and status of employed women primarily requires creating a balance between work and life while advancing towards gender equality. This necessitates fundamental changes in cultural, social, and economic structures through gradual steps toward fostering a participatory and egalitarian culture. These changes must extend from micro levels (family and individual) to macro levels (policy-making and public cultural awareness). In the cultural domain, it is imperative to reassess traditional attitudes toward gender roles. Raising public awareness about the benefits of men’s participation in household responsibilities and promoting modern family models through mass media can be an effective step in this direction. In the social domain, there is a need to redefine familial roles and foster active collaboration and participation among family members. Consequently, providing educational opportunities for families, especially for men, regarding the importance of sharing household responsibilities can lead to positive changes. In the economic domain, policies must be designed to provide greater support to working women. Additionally, recognizing the economic value of domestic work and offering benefits and support for homemakers as part of the social workforce can elevate their status in society. The transition towards a participatory and egalitarian culture requires continuous and gradual efforts. Incremental steps such as implementing educational programs, reforming laws and policies, and identifying and encouraging successful models of egalitarian families can gradually undermine patriarchal structures and replace them with a culture of gender justice. These transformations can lead to societies where women and men have equal opportunities for growth, advancement, and a higher quality of life. Achieving such a goal will bring widespread benefits not only to women but to all members of society, as gender equality serves as a foundation for sustainable development and social justice.References Greenstein, T. N. (2000). Economic dependence, gender, and the division of labor in the home: A replication and extension. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62 (2), 322–335.Gupta S. A. (2007). Autonomy, Dependence, or Display? The Relationship between Married Women’s Earnings and Housework. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69(2):399–417Hochschild, A. R., & Machung, A. (1989). The Second Shift: Working Families and the Revolution at Home. New York, NY: Avon BooksMaqsudi, S., & Bostan, Z. (2004). A study of the challenges arising from the simultaneous roles of homemaking and social obligations among employed women in Kerman. *Women's Studies*, 2(5), 130-156 (In Persian)Schneider. D. (2011). Market Earnings and Household Work: New Tests of Gender Performance Theory. Journal of Marriage and Family, 73(4):845–60Tabatabaei, M.G. & Mehri, N. (2019). Gender Inequality in Unpaid Domestic Housework and Childcare Activities and Its Consequences on Childbearing Decisions: Evidence from Iran. Journal of International Women's Studies, 20(2), 26-42Tichenor, V. J. (2005). Earning more and getting less: Why successful wives can’t buy equality. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
economics
Mehdi Hajamini; Ameneh Zare; Abolfazl Dehghani; Masoud Nikooghadam
Abstract
In today’s world, the socio-economic statuses of women and men have evolved; however, the effects of masculine ideologies are still evident, particularly in developing and underdeveloped countries. The function of governments as a shield that protects the interests of men is widely believed to ...
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In today’s world, the socio-economic statuses of women and men have evolved; however, the effects of masculine ideologies are still evident, particularly in developing and underdeveloped countries. The function of governments as a shield that protects the interests of men is widely believed to be historically and institutionally related to this inequality of opportunities. As a result, the present paper has investigated the role of political structure and power on gender inequalities using two methods of variance analysis and random forest, as well as over 2500 observations from 94 countries between 1970 and 2020. For this purpose, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and political rights and civil liberties indicators were implemented. Based on the variance analysis, two dimensions of democratic political structure were found to be significantly involved in the explanation of the disparity between gender development and gender inequality, particularly the primary difference between not-free and partly-free countries and free countries. In order to experience a society with minimal gender discrimination, it is imperative to prioritize civil liberties and political rights, as the random forest results also confirmed. However, the results concerning cultural characteristics are exceedingly susceptible to fluctuations and are contingent upon the sample or gender index . A policy trade-off between gender freedom and development is not presented to policymakers in developing and underdeveloped countries; rather, they are presented with an all-or-nothing choice. Reducing gender inequality and achieving a free political system are two aspects of the same coin.
Sociology
Marzieh Movafaq; Rasool Nazari; Elham Moshkelgosha
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to present a model to explain the ways to reduce gender inequality in Iran's sports management. Philosophically, this research is interpretationist and from the point of view of inductive approach. In terms of strategy, this study is a data base theory type and a qualitative ...
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The purpose of this research is to present a model to explain the ways to reduce gender inequality in Iran's sports management. Philosophically, this research is interpretationist and from the point of view of inductive approach. In terms of strategy, this study is a data base theory type and a qualitative research type. The data was obtained through interviews, and the statistical community consists of 15 experts in the field of sports management. The snowball method was used for sampling and the sampling continued until the theoretical saturation limit was reached. To collect information, a semi-structured interview was used, and in order to analyze the data, three overlapping processes of open coding, axial coding and theoretical coding were used. By considering the text of all the interviews in the open coding stage, 303 concepts were identified, and after combining similar codes, 23 concepts were obtained. Then, in the axial coding phase, ten main categories were determined. The results showed that the selection criteria for management positions in sports organizations are not fair due to cultural and individual reasons. It is suggested that the selection criteria be such that both hierarchy is considered and starting from the middle level; As a result, the laws should be adjusted in such a way that the presence of women in social and cultural fields, including sports activities, becomes more prominent and the selection of women is based on meritocracy and specialization.
Marzieh Movafagh; Rasool Nazari; naser shahriary
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explain the dimensions of glass ceiling on women's management in sports. The present study follows the interpretive paradigm and inductive logic with a qualitative approach. Using a combination of previous studies in the last 10 years, a total of 163 studies have been ...
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The purpose of this study is to explain the dimensions of glass ceiling on women's management in sports. The present study follows the interpretive paradigm and inductive logic with a qualitative approach. Using a combination of previous studies in the last 10 years, a total of 163 studies have been extracted from various databases in both English and Persian. The criteria for entering research for analysis closely follow the main question of the research. They entail using interviews to gather information from specific participants, using theoretical saturation to determine the participants themselves, and using coding for analysis. Finally, eight studies are selected with the necessary criteria, and analyzed using content analysis technique. The central category of the present study, based on the glass ceiling of women's management in sports, is consisted of five main categories and 14 sub-categories. The main categories include: prevalence of patriarchal culture in society, lack of trust in society in women's empowerment, disregard for macro-policies in the development of women's sports, women's low self-esteem in the development of women's sports, incompatibility of women's work, and personal environment. Given the dimensions of glass ceiling of women's management in sports, the criteria for selecting management positions in sports organizations are not fair for cultural and personal reasons. Extensive studies in this field should be conducted to change the attitudes toward women and their capabilities.
Women's Studies
Soheyla Sadeghi Fasaei; Marziye Ebrahimi
Abstract
While men’s violence is assessed within their social life, women’s violence is attributed to personal factors, such as mental stress, aggression and/or womanish nervousness, regardless of social factors. Unlike such a common interpretation that tries to associate violence of women with interpretations ...
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While men’s violence is assessed within their social life, women’s violence is attributed to personal factors, such as mental stress, aggression and/or womanish nervousness, regardless of social factors. Unlike such a common interpretation that tries to associate violence of women with interpretations of stereotypes and individual, in this article, violence of women will be explained in terms of life experiences. The present study is a qualitative study conducted by in-depth interviews with 30 women who have been in prison for committing violent crimes at the time of the interviews (between 2012 to 2014), it was found that women are mainly exposed to violence, and the interpretation of violent crimes of women is not possible regardless of structural inequalities, gender inequalities, marginalization and powerlessness. The story of the women interviewed shows that women’s violence reflects their lifestyle which is intertwined by the exclusions and discrimination of individual, family and community; in other words, women’s violence can be considered as a kind of opposition against the conditions that constantly put them into the victim position. Backgrounds and lifestyles of the women under study show that many of them experienced physical, emotional, mental violence and sexual abuse during their childhood, or they have constantly been exposed to mandatory and aggressive relationship due to forced and early marriage which in fact reflects the cultural definitions of the role of men.
Sociology
Zeynab Kaveh Firouz; Fariba Karami
Abstract
In the last few decades, Iran has experienced sharp fertility decline. Studies indicate that women have a major role in childbearing; therefore, their empowerment and autonomy will lead to changes in their fertility behavior. This paper examines the relationship between family power structure and fertility ...
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In the last few decades, Iran has experienced sharp fertility decline. Studies indicate that women have a major role in childbearing; therefore, their empowerment and autonomy will lead to changes in their fertility behavior. This paper examines the relationship between family power structure and fertility behavior in the Tehran city. The data is collected from around 400 women in Tehran who are married and have at least one child. The results of the bivariate analysis showed that there is an insignificant relationship between fertility and access to valuable resources (education, employment, and economic capital), women autonomy, division of household labor, attitudes to gender inequality and family power structure. The results of the logistic regression analysis indicated that among all different variables, access to valuable resources and division of household labor are the strong determinants of dependent variable; as fertility rate reduces with the rise in access to valuable resources and decline in partnership in division of household labor. Women’s autonomy is another important variable affecting fertility rate; as fertility rate reduces with the rise in women’s autonomy. Given the results of this study, population policies in Iran in order to facilitate childbearing for couples should provide opportunities by which women can continue their economic activity, have their social participation, maintain and strengthen their power in family as well as promote childbearing.
Fazileh Khani
Volume 8, Issue 3 , October 2010
Volume 7, Issue 2 , August 2009
Abstract
One of the important issues in development is the rate of active participation of women in different fields including macro-decision makings of society.
Gender inequality especially in management field has caused much potential of women to be left untouched. In Most countries women have a share in
social, ...
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One of the important issues in development is the rate of active participation of women in different fields including macro-decision makings of society.
Gender inequality especially in management field has caused much potential of women to be left untouched. In Most countries women have a share in
social, economic decisions. But Iran has not been successful in this process. There are many theories for explaining gender inequality .for example: Neo
Classic,-Segmentation of labor market, Gender (Feminist), socialization, social learning and others theories. These theories emphasize on gender and
body traits of women, household responsibility and social conditions of organizations and society, gender socialization and gender stereotype
variables. The aim of this survey is to study the factors that affect gender inequality especially in management field. Here, we consider gender and
body traits of women, household responsibility and social conditions of organizations and society variables that are more important. The sample size
of survey is 408 staff of state organizations in east Azerbaijan province. The results show that there are invisible obstacles known as “glass ceiling” in
these organizations. Thus, gender and body traits of women, household responsibility, social conditions of organizations, education, family and age
affect gender inequality especially in management domain.
Volume 3, Issue 2 , September 2005
Abstract
Power and its accessibility is one of the most important issues in social science. In more traditional societies, the power was an important phenomena in the family and most often it belonged to men. The occurrence of patrilineal led to the enhancement of male dominance and brought men many privileges.
In ...
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Power and its accessibility is one of the most important issues in social science. In more traditional societies, the power was an important phenomena in the family and most often it belonged to men. The occurrence of patrilineal led to the enhancement of male dominance and brought men many privileges.
In this article it is tried to address some of the issues such as:
- Recognition of power and its implications
- Discussion of power in original thoughts
- To identity an applied model to explain the relation between power and women in family arena.
The methodology which is applied in this study is documentary one.
In contemporary societies, gender roles in the family as discussed by functionalists (such as Parsons) is not convincing any more. Conflict and feminist theories also encounter deficiencies.
Due to social changes, male domination is changing within the family sphere. And with women's involvement in the decision-making process, gender inequality in the family is going to be undermined.
Volume 3, Issue 2 , September 2005
Abstract
Even though contemporary approaches have dwindled the class consciousness and class identity, but at the same time, they magnify the gender and its political aspects. The growth of women's consciousness and redefinition of gender identity is partly due to their social participation in public sphere and ...
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Even though contemporary approaches have dwindled the class consciousness and class identity, but at the same time, they magnify the gender and its political aspects. The growth of women's consciousness and redefinition of gender identity is partly due to their social participation in public sphere and partly due to women's movements.
Despite common belief, even those women who do not believe in women's movements, they show an active gender identity because of the high level of awareness provided by mass media and other sources.
Some factors such as structural, demographical, women's experiences, ideological tendencies and attitude are the most responsible in shaping gender consciousness.
A along with other factors ideological prejudgments, life conditions in childhood and adulthood, cultural and gender socialization, access to some resources such as education for women, women's authority in the family and society are considered to be the most important factors affecting gender identity and consciousness.
Despite the fact that social attentiveness toward gender inequality has grown remarkably, but the reaction of the public, especially women is still uncertain. For instance, it is not clear how Iranian women with different background evaluate their position in the family and social hierarchy.
This article tires to present a theoretical model and identify those factors
which can affect the gender consciousness.
Volume 3, Issue 2 , September 2005
Abstract
This article is an attempt to study the impact of socio-economic factors affecting women's attitudes from a sociological point of view. The data of this research was collected by using a questionnaire.
A sample of 384 women aged 25-54 from Shiraz city, Iran were included in this study.
To explain gender ...
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This article is an attempt to study the impact of socio-economic factors affecting women's attitudes from a sociological point of view. The data of this research was collected by using a questionnaire.
A sample of 384 women aged 25-54 from Shiraz city, Iran were included in this study.
To explain gender inequality, some theoretical approaches such as "Conflict", "Resources" and "Collins" model have been applied. Gender inequality was considered in five different areas such as: social participation of women, the status of women in the family and lab our market, civil and legal rights of women and gender stereotyping.
The result of research show that there is a significant relationship between independent variables (women's education, women's income, father's and mother's education, husbands' income, education of parents and mother's employment status) and dependent variable (gender inequality).
The results also indicate that the most important variables are women's education, mother's education, employment status and the type of women's jobs and these 5 variables together can explain 57/9 present of the variance of data.
