Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Department of Political Science, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran,
2 University of isfahan
3 Department of Political Science, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract
Introduction
The present study aimed at analyzing and deeply understanding the process of identity formation among women using postmodern feminist approaches based on the grounded theory method in the city of Yasuj. In this study, an attempt will be made to explore the causes, strategies, and consequences of a phenomenon called "the formation of women's identity within traditional contexts."
Research Method
The qualitative research design was employed for this study. In this study, a qualitative research methodology was based on the classic version of the grounded theory by Strauss and Corbin (2015). Data collection was through semi-structured interviews with 27 women living in the city of Yasuj. Data analysis to develop contextual concepts from the interview data was done through open, axial, and selective coding. The accuracy of the data was determined by the participant review and comparison with related theoretical sources. Lastly, the focused codes and the core code were found through the data analysis regarding the formation of identity in women.
Conclusion
The findings of research illustrate that in the level of causal conditions, women's identity formation is rooted in hegemonic patriarchy, gender othering, and religious authoritative discourse. For Foucault (1978), such discourses of power and social surveillance hold tremendous significance as agents in shaping women's identities. It is through the process of social reproduction that such discourses have managed to instill patriarchal roles and norms onto women, which have implications for curbing choices in career and educational pathways. Lacan further moves to show that women, in interaction with structures of symbolization, remain incomplete in identity—a constant state—that through a system defining them as the "Other," their sense of self is molded and they remain wanting. In contextual conditions, the normative discursive system and symbolic religious order support Apollonian gender roles through family and religion. Butler (2011) claims that the gender identity of women is reproduced by the norms being performed. Such performances get shaped within the framework of gendered embodiment and hegemonic dress code where women's bodies serve as sites of social and cultural surveillance in society. It is in this system where they also experience a family structure based on gender, which makes them fit into the latter roles enjoyed in the family. Among intervening processes, institutional gender discrimination and normative deterrence act as barriers to realize the modern identities by women. Within intra-family power relations as well as patriarchal capitalism, the same is considered distinguishing toward preservation of traditional roles and economic constraints on the woman. This would also lead to bodily control, whereby social and economic institutions monitor the bodies and identities of women and further limit their access to independence and autonomy.
The data show that women in Yasuj developed two main strategies in response to the studied phenomenon: acceptance or resistance. In the acceptance strategy, influenced by traditional and hegemonic discourses, women accept imposed gender roles, likely due to internalizing social and religious norms reinforced by institutions like family and religion. According to Foucault (1978) and Butler (2011), this acceptance unintentionally reproduces power structures, as women legitimize social control over their bodies and identities. Women may feel pressured to pursue education or employment while also facing traditional family responsibilities imposed by society. Resistance, on the other hand, involves women, as conscious agents aware of oppressive discourses, striving to reframe their identities and challenge imposed sex-based roles. This can manifest through opposing forced marriages, seeking economic and educational independence, or building independent identities via social media. From a postmodernist viewpoint, such resistance directly challenges patriarchal power mechanisms and works to alter dominant discourses and reshape women's identities. Acts of defiance, like rejecting dress codes or refusing educational and employment limitations, symbolically allow women to critique existing structures and create new narratives.
Finally, the results expose that the identity formations among women can be viewed as resulting in three kinds of outcomes: negative, mixed, and positive. In negative outcomes, power discourse and social surveillance are used as tools for the purposes of controlling women. According to Foucault (1978), power over bodies and identities of women is wielded through apparatuses of social institutions. Institutions like family and religion force women to adhere to gender roles and control their activities through monitoring mechanisms. The autonomy lost within this structure is a direct consequence of social surveillance and cultural pressures. According to Butler (2011), the female body becomes a playground to exert one's power, eliminating all regular decision-making processes for women in career perspectives as well as personal lives. But this is achieved through internalization, wherein women unconsciously internalize such social norms that have been influenced by power discourses and thus simply accept their restrictive roles. Through the theory of subjectivity developed by Lacan, these norms are internalized in identity/women and become part of their nature, whence they start acting as if these limitations were natural and unchangeable.
In the mixed outcomes, the discourse of resistance and acceptance comes forth as one of the central issues in describing a process in which women find themselves at the juncture of accepting traditional norms while resisting them. Butler (2011) frames this struggle symbolically as a struggle about possession of women's bodies, whereby their bodies become a site of reproduction and opposition to these norms. Herein lies a duality of roles: women are situated in a dual space between family and society. The former expects them to continue with traditional family roles, while the latter presses them to assume more modern roles in the public sphere. It is this identity conflict that arises out of the patriarchal and post-colonial pressures which leads to deeper identity tensions. From Foucault's 1978 perspective, this can be understood as thus, a sort of pulling between the subject and the social order whereby the female subject is multiplied since she has internalized the social norms, and at the same time she is trying to emancipate herself from expected standards. This leads to an endless pull between the self and social order.
Identity and embodiment reconstruction in positive outcomes from a place of change: women get their identity and independently make reconstructions against the confining discourses. While Butler (2011) and Foucault (1978) recognize that women's bodies are used as arenas to duplicate social norms, they equally emphasize these can also turn into spaces of resistance and redefinition of identities. It is this resistive force that further develops the cuerpo in reformulating their bodies and identities anew, free from such discourses. This process also leads to the development of resistance against dominant discourses. In this case, women support an additional view of independence and find new ways towards progress and autonomy by refusing and challenging social and traditional norms. This kind of resistance will lead to bodily autonomy and control whereby, through challenging and rebelling against the patriarchal structures of power, women regain their bodies and behaviors and achieve economic and personal independence as a way of showing resistance to social order and institutional control.
Keywords
- Women'؛ s identity formation
- patriarchy
- traditional identity
- identity conflict
- grounded theory method
Main Subjects
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