Woman in Development and Politics
Year:2004 | Volume:2 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

A.dolescentgirls healt is the prerequest of societys health, This study aims to develop an analysis on the female adolescents perspectives on health and freedom / limitations. This paper outlines the findings of a qualitative study that addresses and analyzes the meanings of freedom and limitations. Four themes have emerged as a result of the study, including: the feeling of being controlled, the negative consequences of control, the importance of freedom, and the need for identifying criteria defining freedom and limitations. The findings demonstrates their tendency toward idealism, which can be aptly attributed to their age and is a characteristic of adolescence. From their perspectives, health is directly related to a clear definition of freedom and limitations. Greater awareness on the development of adolescents and girls situation, can work to build mutual trust be~een parents, teachers, stakeholders and adolescent girls.

The present Iranian labor market is faced with a huge number of people who are seeking work, and with insufficient growth of job opportunities, it will entail increasing rate ofuncptployment.The process of job creation has neither met,the demands of the unemployed, nor those of university graduates, and the countrys population as a whole. In this study, a review will be made of the major economic policies at the macro level with their impacts on womens work force in the labor market. Policies such as reducing fertility rate,expansiQn of education, controlling inflation rate, privatization, and economic growth were amllyzedin this study. The findings indicated that while economic growth improves macroeconomic capacities, but unemployment rate is reduced only slightly. The fertility rate has been reduced noticeably in recent years; however, it had minimal impact on womens participation rate. Inflation encourages women to enter labor market. With an increasing number of women ,graduating from universities, the labor market will not be able to meet the demands of the female population and in the near future, the country will encounter a new crisis: "The crisis of young unemployed women graduates".

This study is focused on domestic violence and in particular spousal murder, which takes into consideration different cultural-social, economic-political characteristics of the provinces of the country. This article presents the finding of Sistan and Baluchestan province. The phenomenon of violence, social and domestic, in Sistan and Baluchestan, given its unique geographic situation, tribal way of life, traditional culture and the entreme poverty, has a high occurrence. At the same time, spousal murder is lower as compared to the high incidence of violence in other provinces of Iran. Violence against women is a deep rooted social problem, directly related to the patriarchal system, which dominates social and familial life. The result of the research reinforces the relation between violence and the education level of husbands, the history of domestic violence, and addiction. The women of this province, despite their dissatisfaction with married life, continue to remain in abusive relationships with their husbands. Economic dependence, the fear of losing their children and traditional cultural and social norms. Additionally, many of these abused women, because of fear of reprisal, endemic of patriarchal systems, refuse to press charges with police forces and courts.

The emergence of families with two income sources (employment of husband and wife) is one of the important social changes in Iran. This type of family, despite benefiting from a blending of roles, is faced with certain pressures, which stem from traditional division of labor within the family and new responsibilities of its members. If the conflict is not properly managed, have a negative impact on the social unity and functions of the family as well as the emotional and social health of the members. This paper identifies the impact of social support as one of the resources for addressing the conflict of work/family and gender-based expectations in two income families. The findings of a surrey conducted in Tehran demonstrate that the strategies chosen for addressing the conflict of work and family tend to be influenced by traditional gender roles. Additionally, the swdy indicates; women prefer to receive family support in addressing the pressures, while men choose professional support systems as a means of addressing the conflict.

The purpose of this study is to examine the family, social and political positions of women in the Safavid period, with the aime of understanding thr gender stereotypes in a different dimensions and ears. A historical explanatory approach has been utilized for the research. Research finding demonstrates in Iran, the situation of women after the Mongolian invasion and during the Safavid era was subject to fewer transformations. Women in these periods did not enjoy legal rights, individual freedoms, personal access to wealth and ownership. Families would offer their daughters as gifts to kings, as part of the royal harems; so that through their daughters they could gain higher social and economic status. Gender stereotypes that existed during that time, and perhaps persist to date and continue to limit the advanement of women.

The aim of the present research is to study the social origin of womens mental disorder, particularly depression. A survey was conducted using questionnaires of casual-descriptive basis of "Social production of vulnerability/ stress" among women (20-60 years of age) in Tehran. The research findings indicate that womens depression has been influenced by complex network of numerous interrelated factors/causes. Mental stress of women has a social origin that is closely and extensively linked to social structures and systems. Unequal access to valuable resources within the family, gender-based work division, types of power relations in the family, along with social-economic status-related variables of womens background have important roles in creating mental stress. The process of womens socialization determined by ascribed gender roles of womanhood (e.g. having mental stress and lacking self determination among women) tend to make them more vulnerable to mental disorder, particularly depression. Feeling socially alienated and having cognitive duality are also among meaningful and critical social factors causing womens depression.

This article aims to present the findings of an. epidemiological study on the prevalence and variety of personality disorders, including Schizophrenia, Schizoid and Paranoid personality disorders among female students. The Millon-2 Questionnaire, with high validity and reliability in Iran is applied to study the female students in all three grades of high school, in five education districts of Isfahan. The results of the research point to the fact that prevalence of serious personality disorders among girls in schools is more than 17 percent. Among the group with serious personality disorders, 4.4% suffered from paranoid, 23% from Schizophrenic and 3% suffered from Schizoid personality disorders. The second group at 36% of the female students studied, includes those students with great potential for developing serious personality disorders, who given the right environment have a high chance of developing some type of personality disorder. Among this group 3.9% demonstrated a likelihood of developing paranoid personality disorders, 1.23 Schizophrenic and 1.15%Schizoid Personality Disorders.

Psychological differences between girls and boys which influence socialization of the young in their perceived gender roles are becoming highly important. The aim of the present research is to study these differences within the conceptual framework of BEM Gender Index. The data was gathered through questionnaires completed by a sample group of over 500 high school students. The research findings demonstrate significant differences among girls and boys in such a way that gender beliefs among boys in comparison to girls were more non-stereotyped. If born again, girls wished more than boys to have a different sex. This issue is an indication of girls being less content than boys about their sex. Considering that girls with active and social characteristics and behaviors, and boys with emotional characteristics and behavior were more frequently criticized, it seems gender stereotyping is a prevailing practice in the society and getting away from it is considered an abnormality.

Globalization is an encompassingphenomenon, which has created challenges for all of humanity. The family, as a social institution, has experienced some transformations brought about by globalization. The issue under study in this paper examines the potential impact of globalization on the family and the challenges and the opportunities that are created by globalization for todays family. The results of this study point to fact that the family in the era of globalization will continue to survive. However, there will be changes in the family structure and in the relations between family members. The typical nuclear family will experiences transformations, and greater varieties of family types. Additionally, the power structure of patriarchy within families, womens greater awareness, their social participation, employment and education, will transform their status in the family and society. While globalization can have the potential to create opportunities for the eradication of patriarchy and increase of womens rights, it also holds many challenges in the realm of identity and structural relations of family members. As such, it is important to understand globalization in its various dimensions and its possible impact, so that its positive opportunities can be harnessed and its challenges be appropriately addressed.

The aim of the present article is to report the findings of a study on the condition of divorce that is Osre-o-Haraj. Woman can request divorce for the hardships in her married life (Osre-o-Haraj). When the life is impossible to continue and women can not tolerate anymore, she has the right to ask for divorce. The article of 1130 of Civil Code emphasizes; when the hardship is proved in the court, the husband has to divorce his wife. If he resists, the judge can divorce her. Considering the importance of Osr-o- Haraj, few questions should be raised: 1. What is the status of Osre-o-Haraj in the Iranian legal system? What are the conditions for its implementation? In what circumstances women can file a request for divorce? 2. What types of problems and deficiencies are raised due to the generality of the concept? Is it a good solution to the problem? Is it able to provide judicial security in the family relations? The available information demonstrates womens difficulties in proving hardship. Also Judges issue different verdicts based on their interpretation of the concept.