Woman in Development and Politics
Year:2008 | Volume:6 | Issue:3|Papers Count:9

Assessment of women's status entails calculating various indices from different fields including scientific, economic, social and political. Calculating these factors and comparing them with that of male indicates a country's development and progress level thus determines their position in the world ranking as compared to other countries. Although assessment of women's status in the region depends on various parameters, but considering the fact that nowadays development is one of the elements of national power of countries and national power is an important issue in political geography, the present article aims to present new models and methods for the purpose of assessing women's status. This research has made use of SPSS computer software to conduct evaluation and statistical analysis of data. Using a multi-stage sampling method, the data is collected and the current status of countries is compared and through a time series statistical technique their status in the year 1404 is predicted.

Theoreticians of development believe that among the 3 types of capital; physical, technological and human capital; the main important one is human capital and its appropriate utilization. Economical development will not occur unless environmental factors of work and work organization develop culturally. Thus work ethic in the work culture of society will become important and warrant development and improvement. Presence of women in the work market is one of the effective variables on work culture and work ethic. This research has a gendered view of work ethic in Iranian society. The question raised in this article tackles the following issues: What similarities and differences are observed in men’s and women’s work ethic? If they are different, which factors interfere? This research is conducted through a survey using a questionnaire. The sample population consists of 356 faculty staff of Tehran University including 148 females and 208 males. The sampling method used is stratified sampling. The results of research show that the variable of gender does not influence work ethic directly but it is influential through other variables. The most effective variables are mediating variables such as inner organizational and cultural variables. The causal model is distinctive both in men and women. While the work ethic model is very complicated for men, it is very simple for women. The reason for this refers to the fact that women want to maintain their jobs and keep it as long as they can. Therefore, in order to reach a desirable and effective work for all individuals based on universal standards, it is important to consider gender differences.

This current research is a quasi experimental design which is aimed to study the effectiveness of two couple therapies, Cognitive Behavioral Couple Therapy (CBCT) and Emotional Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), on depression and some other variables in infertile male factor pairs. The sample includes 30 infertile volunteer pairs from Kosar Infertility Clinic which are placed in an experimental and a control group by applying Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and U-man vitney test. The results show that depression in CBCT group has a significant difference in comparison with control group (p<%1), while the EFT approach has no significant effect on it (p>%5). The results also reveal that the effect of two approaches on men and women are the same and there is no difference between them in affecting the depression (p>%5).

The present article's focus is mainly on the qualitative analysis of women's representation in Iranian national TV series. Thus, three series, "if my dad was alive!", "the ninth month gazelle " and the satire genre "homeless" produced by channel 1 and 3 in the second half of 2004 have been addressed through qualitative method. The analysis of these cases focused on the concept of the deserving presence of women in the series' plot. To this aim, the views of Islamic thinkers as well as the television's agendas and purposes in 2004 have been examined. The authors conclude that the qualitative presence of women in the series is not consistent with the agendas and purposes although the quantity of the presence is reasonable. In reality, a significant rupture between Islamic Iranian policy-makings and the productions of the Iranian TV has resulted in the ineffectiveness of this organization in exercising its gender policy.

In recent decades, empowerment as delegation of power to someone has been used a mechanism to increase personal and work life quality of women. Higher education and occupation are effective instruments for empowering women but the role of culture can't be denied in this relation. Social norms can directly or indirectly limit women's empowerment. In this article the role of higher education and occupation in psychological empowerment of women in Tehran has been quested. Current research is a descriptive-practical research. Education and occupation are independent variables and empowerment is the dependent variable. Random sampling is used and 600 questionnaires are completed by women in Tehran city. To determine validity of scale, construct validity and factor analysis is utilized. The reliability index of chronbakh is 0.8945 and spearman correlation and structural equations model are used for statistical analysis. Results of research indicate that higher education and organizational occupation determine the level of empowerment for women in Tehran.

Ferdowsi's Shahname (one of the most valuable literary works in Iran and in the world) can be studied from different viewpoints. This important literary work can be analyzed from various dimensions including literature, sociology, mythology and elements of the story. One quite new aspect which can lay the ground for research in Shahnameh and can be very useful and give great results to us is psychology and psychoanalysis. Karl Gustav Jung is an outstanding figure and prominent scholar of psychology in recent centuries and his views are very useful in studies of literary eastern works. Anima is one of his most important views regarding social unconscious and has also been applied in myth and epic. Anima can have a dual aspect, it can be creative and maker or contrary killer and ruinous (positive and negative). In Shahname women can be considered both as creative and ruinous Animas, such as Sowdabe and misleader women in the seven exploit (Haft khan) who are fatal, ruinous and are thus negative anima; and Faranak, Farangis, Roodabe and Sindokht who are creative and savior animas and thus positive anima that play special roles in epic. Twins sisters in Shahname (Jamshid's daughters and Esfandear's sisters) who were captured by Zahhak and Arjasp and freed by Fereidoon and Esfandear, show that conscious can change anima and it can become both fatal and savior. This subject will be researched in this essay briefly.

The victory of Tugrul in Dandanghan (431 HQ/1073 AD) heralded the rule of Seljuks in Persia. The pinnacle of this period could be said to have been the ten years reign of Alp Arsalan (455-65/1063-73) and twenty years reign of his son Malekshah (465-85/1063-73). These thirty years of continuous rule by father and son coincided with the chancellorship of Khajeh Nizam al-Mulk, a wise counselor to the Seljuks, who encouraged his Turkish Masters to follow Persian Tradition (Iranshahr) of Absolute Ruler. In his masterpiece the Siyasatnameh he not only developed his political philosophy on the rules of governance, but also attempted to give a precise paradigm for an oriental Empire. In this essay an attempt is made to look at the question of ‘gender’ as a social phenomenon in a cultural context and Siyasatnameh, a text from the fifth HQ/eleventh Ad century, is chosen as representing the cultural system of Persian society during this Period. Having introduced his society and era, his views concerning women as a social class during the Seljuk period is discussed. It is argued that Nezam al-Molk’s views with regards to women are influenced more by older Persian traditions than by Islamic Sheria laws.