WOMENS STUDIES
Year:2007 | Volume:5 | Issue:1|Papers Count:7

In the Western countries since the 19th century, women's legal demands took shape in the form of feminist movements. These movements rapidly spread to the developing countries evolving in different types and forms.Simin Daneshvar is the first Iranian writer who, in all of her works and in different ways, seeks women's the lost rights. She explicitly calls herself a feminist believes in a type of Iranian and oriental feminism which lacks the exaggerated emphases put on and found in the Western feminism. Daneshvar's feminism openly includes and reflects some manifestations of the old patriarchy, male behavioural disorders, women's oppression, as well as their significance.This essay avoids a deconstruction of Daneshvar's works and does not intend to search for feminist elements in deeper layers of her writing.Nonetheless, the essay attempts to retrieve the simple and transparent traces of feminism in her works and state them in a general classification.

The present paper deals with factors pertaining to women's mental health who are employed in managerial, specialists and service sectors of nongovernmental centres in Tehran. Based on a list provided by the Ministry of Labour on non-governmental centres, among northern, southern, eastern, and western districts and centres, 400 testable persons were selected out of which 359 persons cooperated. The factors under study were: the degree of support rendered by the spouse (participation in household's tasks), satisfaction on different aspects of life, role conflict, coping modes, and emotional states as experienced through employment. The aim was to establish whether these factors had relationships with mental health. The findings showed that coping through somatisation methods, life satisfaction, role conflict, income level, working hours, and negative emotional states experienced through employment were .among the major psychological disorders. Likewise, the group of managers and the physicians, as compared to the specialists and the service group, showed more positive emotional states and higher life satisfaction levels. The service group, compared to other two groups, had experienced more psychological problems and more negative emotional state.

Today's world is a world of communication. The use and expansion of the internet has recreational, scientific, and educational dimensions. The internet has grown to the extent that experts are debating over the explosion of information. In this regard, a type of inequality appears in the form of "digital divide" that exists at global, national, and individual levels; at the global the gap is between the developed, developing, and poor countries with respect to the socio-economic status, race, gender, and the like.The focus of this research is on the study of the digital divide between women and men with respect to the amount and type of computer and internet usage. The study has been performed using the survey method. The information has been gathered using the questionnaire. The study's population consists of undergraduate and graduate students (male and female) studying at state universities in Tehran in the areas of engineering, social sciences, sciences and arts.The findings indicate that there is a significant relation between gender and the amount and type of the internet use. Male student spend more time on the internet and on the use of computers. The type of usage is also different between males and female; female student prefer receiving and sending emails, and purchasing goods; while male student use the internet to gain information and read the news. Therefore, it can be concluded that in the same manner that women tend to keep their ties with friends, relatives, and family in the world, they use their online communications for the same reasons and less to gain information and news, as men do.

This paper reflects the results of a survey-method research aimed at assessing the impact of women's occupation on their self-reliance in two Townships of Esfahan province: Borkhar-Meyme¢ and Falavarjan. The samples were selected through the clustering Method. The information was gained out of the gathered data from 375 women within 20 rural setting categorized as: small, medium, large and very large. Based on the results, the economic factor-the urgent earning needs-is the major factor of occupation among 94 percent of the women. In addition, 45 percent did not receive their revenue directly themselves, and 63 percent did not have the right to expend their income.Broadly speaking rural women in various occupation groups did not enjoy the same structure as that of economic self-reliance. Based on the data acquired, women's self-reliance correlates positively with the level of the women and their spouse's education. On the other hand it showed a negative correlation with age and prolongation of the marriage period. Occupation type of the rural women spouses also has had a meaningful effect on women self-reliance.

The stereotypic images about gender are static and stable views that resist change and are thus repeated and reproduced. These stereotypes which are universal and common include subjectivities that are static and stable, and usually lack scientific foundation. Yet they play an important role in our understanding of the self and of others. This research concerns the examination and comparison of different types of gender stereotypes between male and female. The sample included 45 female (under45-70 year) 30 housekeeper female (45-70 year old), 30 male (under 45-70 year old), 30 males (45-70 years old). The subjects were selected randomly by cluster sampling. The instrument of study was Williams and Snell's (1994) the beliefs about female scale this scale comprises 15 subscales. Internal consistency on 150 individuals was 0.92 by Cronbach's Alpha and validity was 0.83 by correlation with dysfunctional attitude scale (power et al, 1994). The result showed that between gender stereo types in male and female there are significant differences in sub-scales (dominating, passive, vulnerable, emotional insight, interpersonal relationship, logical intelligence, problem solving power, appearance conscious, moral tendencies, irrational behaviours. In all of them, males have more stereotypes expect irrational behaviours.

To create a conflict-free, healthy relationship between spouses, it is necessary to understand the spouses' responsibility and their statuses in that relationship. In the Islamic legal system, man and woman are not equal in the financial rights. Man is incumbent on paying the Mahr (the marriage portion) and all the life's expenses. But in the other legal systems this is not the case. For example in the Western law, financial responsibilities are divided equally between the man and woman.The present article deals with: the unilateralist philosophy of such right in Emamiye¢s rights, its characteristics and limits, the religious and legal guarantees of such obligation, and the question that on what verdicts of the law such commitment is based? This article thus examines the limits of paying alimony, unilateral payment of the alimony by the husband, and executive, canonical, and legal warranty of this obligation. It is thought that the scientific explanation and argumentation of the issue can help resolve many of the challenges by which the family legal system is faced.