Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran
Abstract
Introduction
Despite social and cultural changes in Iranian society, patriarchy still has a hegemonic position and is reproduced through gendered institutions, including the family.in Iranian Kurdistan, the family, as a social institution and one of the main sources of socialization, has significant sanctity and importance and has played a unique role in the construction of gender identity.gender identification in the context of the family has been associated with the subjugation of women. Recent studies have shown the continuation of subjugation and inferiority of Kurdish women (Ghaderzadeh & Hosseini, 2017; Ghaderzadeh & Khalghi, 2017; Ghaderzadeh & Abdollahzade, 2022; Rostampour, 2013; Shahriari, 2014).gender socialization is one of the conceptual and theoretical constructs that lead the way in understanding patriarchy and women's inferiority. Socialization is a process through which people find gender identity. They learn what is expected of them because of being a woman or a man and how to express these characteristics. Due to the fact that most sociologists believe that gender differences have a social origin, understanding gender socialization is important for analyzing the status of women (Wharton, 2012:56).understanding the dimensions and institutional sources of gender socialization and revealing it,s vulnerable strains is the precursor to redefining the social status of women in different fields of society.the practical importance of addressing the issue of gender socialization in the context of Kurdistan society becomes more relevant when women are abused openly and covertly in various fields.honor killings and murder by father or husband, the daily representation of news related to the assault of women on social networks and it,s increasing growth indicate asymmetric relationships and the weakness of dialogical and emotional democracy in the context of the family.based on field evidence, the city of Sanandaj is facing significant examples of gender inequality and gender violence. Therefore, the main question of the current research is, according to women's narratives, how does gender socialization take place in Sanandji families? And what are the sources and agents of gender socialization?
Methodology
Understanding gender socialization in the context of the family requires studying the real life situation; Therefore, qualitative methodology has been adopted and among the qualitative methods, thematic analysis has been chosen as a method and strategy of data analysis to understand women's narrative of gender socialization.due to the events faced by women in childhood and adulthood and after marriage, the field of study is focused on a sample of married and working women in Sanandaj. By narrating the details of their lives and the events that happened in their lives and those of others, women provide rich data based on which gender socialization can be understood .on the other hand, due to the background nature of gender socialization and influence of ethnicity, the field of study is limited to Kurdish women of Sanandji.the sampling of the present study was a combination of targeted sampling and sampling with maximum diversity. In this study, theoretical saturation was achieved after conducting 30 interviews. In this study, after collecting data through semi-structured interviews, data was analyzed and interpreted using the thematic analysis approach.
Results
One of the dimensions of gender socialization is gender roles. to understand the gender roles, the participants were asked what they do as women at home? Why do men refuse to do the things that women do? by analyzing the themes, we found 4 main themes: “identification with home,” “instrumental roles,” “patriarchal order of care,” and “glass ceiling and the difficulty of promotion of working women”.the interviewed women defined themselves by housework and the home environment, and since childhood, girls' cooperation and companionship in housework has been expected.most of the women admitted to asking men's permission in various matters, and men's ignorance of their work or leaving the house without men's permission has been associated with men's annoyance and anger.restrictions in the field of interactions and not being allowed to travel with friends or travel without family were among the common experiences of the interviewed participants.women believed that there is not much difference between housekeeping and employment in offices and institutions, and in both areas, the position of women is not recognized, and women's ideas are confiscated by men, and women's activities are hindered by men.after “gender roles”, another construct that helps to understand gender socialization is “gender stereotypes” which are resistant to change.gender stereotypes are closely related to social roles and perpetuate gender inequalities by legitimizing gender norms and identity.regarding the gender stereotypes related to the presence of women in public spaces, we found two main themes: “genderization of public spaces” and “insecurity in public spaces and blaming women”.one of the central topics in the current research was understanding the personality dimensions of women. Based on the understanding of women, the two main themes of “expressive identity” and “genderization of work and education” have formed gender stereotypes related to women's personality.among the other topics investigated were gender stereotypes in the field of family planning and management, based on women's narratives, two main themes were reached: “risklessness and dependent decision-making” and “gender separation of family planning and management”.in order to understand the gender stereotypes related to choosing a spouse and marital relations, interviews were conducted with women regarding topics such as the process of marriage and choosing a spouse for children, having children, and marital relations. From the analysis of the themes, 3 main themes were obtained: “urgency and strictness in the marriage of girls”, “woman as a sexual object” and “woman as an honor”.the last subject under investigation was the recognition of the sources of women's socialization. Based on the data, “family and relatives” and “mass communication media” have formed the main sources of gender socialization of women.
Conclusion
One of the distinguishing features of the current research was acknowledging the role of the family and especially the role of mothers in the continuation of gender inequalities through internalization and reproduction of gender roles and stereotypes. Participating women have actually perpetuated and consolidated gender roles and stereotypes by following the example of mothers.In addition, mass communication media along with family represent women in the framework of gender roles and stereotypes.Contrary to studies that have emphasized women's resistance to accepting conventional social identities, the findings of the present study indicate the weakness of gender awareness in kurdistan society.due to the dominance of patriarchal social and cultural structures, weak institutional support and exclusion from the labor market, women are unable to deconstruct gender stereotypes and redefine gender roles.still in kurdistan, a woman is associated with the honor and honor of the family, and women consider family issues as a personal and private matter.in order to understand gender roles and stereotypes as a social problem, it is necessary to sensitize the society and convince the members of the society about the harmful nature of gender socialization and in this way, women should be organized.the structure and system of male ideology is reproduced through gender socialization and has imposed expectations on women that have perpetuated gender discrimination and inequality; Therefore, according to Giddens, an emancipatory politics is necessary for women, and this implies the deconstruction of the patriarchal discourse, the horizontalization of couple relations, and emotional democracy in the context of the family.
Keywords
Main Subjects
)