WOMENS STUDIES
Year:2006 | Volume:4 | Issue:2|Papers Count:8

Addiction is a serious problem which threatens millions of people. Addiction not only affects the individuals, it also confronts the family with a multitude of problems. The aim of this paper is to compare the rate of violence as experienced among wives of addicts and non-addicts. Among addicts who came to our counseling centre, seeking treatment to quit their addiction, 107 of their wives were selected through random cluster sampling, and compared with 107 wives of non-addicts, in terms of their age, economic and educational status, and occupational situation, in Hafshejan city. The rate of experienced violence was assessed with researcher's inventory. The rate of women's social support was evaluated with Procidano's Inventory. The validity of this inventory was 0.81.The distinction of achieved violence number between the two groups and sub-scales was shown to be significant, using ANOVA. The rate of experienced violence was significant with the education level among safe groups. There was negative correlation between the level of social support and violence experienced rate in non-addict group but that was not significant in addict group. The income level was significant with violence experienced rate in addict group. The number of children and years of marriage were not significant in relation to experienced violence neither in non-addict nor in addict group.

This paper investigates the relationship between self-efficacy and academic achievement among 300 girl students in second year of high schooling. The students are majoring in math-physics and in human sciences in the 6th educational district of Tehran. The research instrument used was MJSES Scale. This scale contains three components: talent, context, and effort. The mean score obtained in verbal (literature, Persian syntax, and conjugation) and mathematics (geometry, math, and statistics) tests was also used as a measure of academic achievement.The results showed that in both groups, the academic self-efficacy could predict academic achievement. The results of step-wise regression indicate that the Effort Component is a more powerful predictor of the academic achievement than the Aptitude and Context. Furthermore, analysis of variance on all variables: academic self-efficacy, effort, aptitude and context components, and academic achievement showed that the two groups are significantly different in academic self-efficacy, academic achievement and aptitude component, but no significant difference in effort and context components were observed. These results imply that if the academic self efficacy of a student increases and if the context of school and home provides the best for the student, their academic achievement, and the probability of selecting the math-physics field will also increase.

This paper discusses some aspects relating to incongruence of social and family roles in women. Thus, along with investigating various perspectives concerning social and family roles, special attention is given to their incongruence. The statistical society of the study consists of married young women (20 to 30 years of age) in Shiraz city, who have been married at least for one year. The statistical sample includes 287 persons. The research instrument is the questionnaire which measures role incongruence in eight aspects: education, employment, financial management, domestic work, sexual and affective ties, family and friendship ties, leisure, and the child rear. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and significance testing methods were used.The findings show that women experience the role incongruence in all eight aspects, although the degree of such experiencing has been downplayed. Women feel the least incongruence within the family and the most incongruence in financial management. Concerning the relationship between independent variables and role incongruence, it was also revealed that as the husband gets older, marriages grows longer, and woman's working hours increases, the overall role incongruence rises. Yet, along with an increase in couple's education and income this incongruence diminishes.

According to systems theory, husband and wife constitute a parent subsystem on which depends a healthy family functioning. Husband and wife satisfaction is related to their interaction and to how they nurture each other and their children. The aim of this study is to investigate aspects of marital satisfaction and marital status among employed and housewife women in Tehran. A sample of 400 married (less than 5 years) women were chosen and classed in two groups: 200 employed and 200 housewives. They filled GRIMM and ENRICH questionnaires. The results were analyzed using t-test and frequency percentage methods.Findings showed that the employed women were more satisfied with their marriage and had fewer problems with their husband's idealistic distortion, and their personality issues. They communicated better with their husbands and resolved conflicts more effectively. They were also more satisfied with their sexual relationships, and their family structure moved towards egalitarian style. Almost 40 percent of the subjects were not satisfied with their marriage reporting it as 'poor', 'bad', 'severe problems', and 'very severe problems'. Concerning the employed women, 16.5 percent of them, compared to 23.5 percent of housewives described their marriage with 'severe problems', and 'very severe problems' that could threaten the marriage. These findings imply that the women's employment had no negative effects on their marital satisfaction, and that employed women were more satisfied with their marriage. It seems that the issue of marital satisfaction needs more attention, help, and treatment.

Cooperation is one of the important economic sectors of the country and contributes significantly to the employment generation. During the past two decades, female cooperatives have been extended through the country. One of the paramount endeavors of these cooperatives has been to explore and share the factors of success. Accordingly, this study was conducted to identify factors influencing female cooperatives success in Iran. A descriptive-survey research design was adapted for the study. The statistical population of the study consisted of 1500 of the expert officials from ministry of cooperative and 12,819 of the members of managerial board from female cooperatives, out of which 153 expert officials and 453 members of managerial board were selected as a sample, using a multi-stage sampling technique. A specific questionnaire was developed for the study. Factor analysis of the view points of the members of managerial board revealed about 66.5 percent of the variance of success. This analysis identified four main factors affecting the success of women's cooperatives viz., improving psychological and motivational environment of the cooperatives, getting support from the able and supportive exteriority, improving managerial and organizational competencies of the cooperatives and enhancing and improving capabilities of cooperatives' marketing. Analysis of the viewpoints of another group showed similar results.

ShahName has been a rather important source of cultural studies on women. This is so because on the one hand, women in ShahName are given an important and positive role to perform, and on the other hand ShahName manifests some pessimistic judgments about women. The aim of this writing is to look into ShahName and see what the desired status of woman was prevalent in the society at that time. Such aim also encompasses the researcher's outlook, an outlook which is involved in today's human rights regarding the woman.As far as this paper is concerned, (this paper is based on portions of a research on bearing the same subject), women in ShahName enjoys a status which can be considered better (higher) than what the spirit of the times had for her. Having said that, it is doubtful that female personifications in ShahName, that is, images that are political, reasonable, and power-seeking, can be viewed as pointing to an egalitarian situation to be existing in ancient Iran. Such personifications tend to lend themselves more suitable for the aristocratic setting of the 'events', and for rendering the epic stories more attractive. Based on the above statements, although female models described in ShahName as being independent, bold, and wise, can support feminine ideals, similar to those portrayed by feminist narratives, yet this portrayal cannot be overstated because there are other female models in Ferdowsi's work which differ more radically from the former.