Woman in Development and Politics
Year:2003 | Volume:1 | Issue:7|Papers Count:11

Gender socialization process, as a basis for the reproduction of gender inequalities, has undergone major changes. As societies move from traditional to modern conditions and old structures and values are questioned, re-defined male and female identities require examination by social scientists. The studys objective is to identify patterns of gender socialization and its changes over time. It relies on qualitative methods, using group discussions and participant observation. The research examines learned gender symbols and roles, shifts in the family structure, and changes in gender norms among women and men across three generational groups. The findings reveal broad and imbalanced changes in gender socialization among the new generation. The discrepancy between the aspirations and expectations of young women and existing realities has led to tensions between social forces.

Rapid technological and cultural changes of the past two centuries in developed countries and their effects on modernization in other societies, including Iran, have preoccupied many social scientists. This study aims to measure the level of modernity among women who are active in the cultural realm (teaching profession). Modernization theories confirm that conditions such as urban dwelling, industrialization, level of education, communication, social participation, socialization patterns, and socio-economic status accelerate modernization. The modern individual believes in science, adapts to new experiences, seeks equality and independence, is achievement-oriented, civil-minded, global and democratic, and takes risks. The study applied secondary data and surveyed women teachers in the city of Tehran. The findings reveal that 72.3% of the instructors are modern-oriented and that education length and social status has a significant relationship with levels of modernity.

Development experts have distinguished citizenship control as the highest form and degree of participation. In such participation, people have decision-making power in issues that affect their daily lives. The identification of variables that ensure women and men’s ability to control societys affairs is important for the realization of participation. This article aims to identify the different forms of women’s social participation and its related factors. It is based on a study that was conducted in the city of Tehran.The analytical framework was assisted by theory application and previous empirical studies. Six forms of participation were identified: civil, social support ,cultural-entertainment, local, charity-religious, and revolutionary. Civil participation was the least prevalent among women, while charity-religious participation was the most widespread. In general, the level of social participation in Tehran was lower than expected

Rural women spend a considerable portion of their time and energy performing activities that are not calculated in production and the national product. Womens increasing inequality and decreasing resource benefits are glaring reflections of this condition. This study aims to identify womens activities in the village of Dona, in Mazandaran province, and the time they allocate to each activity. It applied qualitative research over a period of four seasons in 2002. Women spent two-thirds of their waking hours in productive activities, corresponding to an average work time of 10 hours and 26 minutes per day. On average, they spent 17 minutes a day on personal hygiene, health, and leisure-time. No time was spent on education and reading.

Empowerment is a multi-staged process in which womens growing awareness of their inner needs and wants strengthens their confidence and ability to implement their goals. This research studies the factors related to womens empowerment. The theoretical framework is women’s empowerment for participation in development which has been strongly influenced by feminist thought, particularly liberal feminism. A survey was conducted on 380 women between 20 to 25 years of age residing in Isfahan. The research found that higher education level, access to financial resources, better health, legal property rights, eradication of labor market discrimination, and elimination of traditional beliefs contribute to women’s empowerment

This study applies empowerment theory to examine womens access to the credit system. The theory distinguishes five stages of welfare, awareness, access, participation, and control and focuses on gender equality in the development process. Survey research was conducted in 1 the city of Tehran and attempted to answer questions such as: To what extent do women interact with the credit system? To what degree do they benefit from these services? In what stage of empowerment are the women located? Women mainly interacted with banks to pay household utilities bills and manage savings accounts. They used the banking system for savings and deposits (particularly qarz ol-hassaneh) more than for accessing credit resources. Those who were successful in securing loans had a lower sense of being discriminated against. The requested loan amounts were not significant enough to support major investments. Among the five stages of empowerment theory, the women were in the awareness and access stages

This article argues that investment in female education not only reduces the gender gap, but also leads to greater efficiency, increasing production, and higher income. The study is based on human capital theory, with an emphasis on gender. Secondary data was utilized. The findings reveal that increased education similarly affect women and mens wage levels, however, greater investment in higher levels of education (because of increasing financial and opportunity costs) produce lower returns. Given the fact that the average education level of women in Iran and most of the world is less than men, female education has a greater final output than male education. Additionally, economists believe that female education has a higher social return because of the important role educated women play in promoting the health, well-being, and education of their children. Educated women are more active in the labor force, in production and income-generating activities, pay more taxes and as such, contribute to the expansion of the tax base.