WOMENS STUDIES
Year:2005 | Volume:3 | Issue:8|Papers Count:7

Changes such as higher literacy and employment, extension of virtual spaces (IT), have caused the Iranian women to encounter a dilemma in their transition from a traditional mechanical society to a modem organic one. The traditional social structure, on the one hand, requires that women perform traditional functions. The newly arisen opportunities, on the other hand, encourage women to develop an independent personality so that to act without a passive dependence on others. Considering the fact that in the Iranian society the family is still regarded as the most vital social institution, this poses an anomic situation by which the survival of the family is threatened. This paper attempts to find an appropriate solution to the question as to how the society can pass through this crucial stage. In doing so< the authors critically examine various definitions of women's autonomy, and put forward their own definition. This has been achieved using various theoretical approaches with an aim to identifying the factors affecting women's autonomy; by either weakening or strengthening it. A questionnaire was used to test the independent and dependent variables of the study. The results of the stepwise regression analysis indicated that out of all the factors under study, five were of the greatest significance, explaining 61.4% of dependent variable changes. These factors are found to be as the following and in that order: self-concept, privacy, socio-cultural relations network, income and the husband's social status. Also, path analysis showed that the intermediate variables directly and the structural variables indirectly affect women's autonomy.

Considering "dependency ratio" as a social problem, the article seeks to investigate some of the socio-cultural factors and backgrounds, which tend to intensify this phenomenon within the Iranian society. Special attention is paid to the 'small share' of the Iranian women in the labour market, of which some the roots and reasons are analyzed. The article is based on fmdings of empirical research and classifies some stereotypic mentalities that prevail in the society and attempts to highlight their impact, as well as the function they perform in this area. Finally, the article ventures to put forward some propositions aimed at decreasing dependency ratio via logical increase of women's social participation. This is done through a review of two aspects of the social reality: the present employment system, and the existing functionalist model of the family roles.

Matrimony is a conventional phenomenon leading to a legal relation, which is established between the woman and the man when the marriage contract is concluded. The contract is ensued by rights and obligations that are explained on the basis of the principle of justice. Therefore, some researchers argue that "the key to marriage dissolution has been given to 'man' by the nature." It is also true that according to article 1133 of the Civil Rights "the man may divorce his wife whenever he wishes." But when the man refuses to perform his obligations (duties), and when the continuation of the common life becomes intolerable for the women, is it still the case that the woman has to put up with the oppression [injustice] until she is driven to death? Is it the case that such a view, as illustrated above, is in accord with Islam? There is no doubt that such a view is inconsistent with indisputable Islamic principles. Thus, considering the credible principles extracted from the Islamic jurisprudence, in such cases the woman may resort to a court asking for a divorce, and the magistrate would grant her the plea. It is the purpose of this article to expound the issue and discuss it in some detail.

This study attempts to investigate the relationship of daughters' emphatic behaviour toward mothers. These daughters are those who enjoying metacognitive skills (self-regulating learning strategies) and educational achievement. They are high-school girl students residing in Tehran, out of whom 196 persons were selected by two questionnaires: the empathy questionnaire and that of Zimmerman, regarding self-regulating learning behaviour. The results were analyzed using correlation, variance analysis, and regression methods. The findings show that there is a significant positive correlation between daughters' emphatic behaviour and their educational achievements. Also, a significant relation was found to exist between self-regulating strategies of the students and their given Educational District. There was no significant relationship among emphatic behaviour, educational achievement, and the Educational District.

Crucial to any education system is curricula planning. Textbooks are considered to be the product of curricula planning. This study aims at investigating the beliefs held by the curricula planners on gender differences in cognitive fields. The research was carried out using qualitative methodology. Within the target population were included managers, specialists, members of special commissions of department for compilation, insightful individuals on curricula and gender studies. The study's sample consisted of 77 specialists and curricula planners who were deliberately selected. The data gathering instruments were semi-structured interview, open questionnaire, and field notes. The data analysis method was inductive. Findings indicate that the majority of curricula planners were sensitive to gender differences in cognitive fields. They believed that there did not exist any innate differences between girls and boys in cognitive abilities and that every kind of possible differences between girls and boys, or women and men, in cognitive fields were of cultural nature; that is the differences were based on group thought/action, classmates behaviour, teachers' and parents' educational methods, and in general how the society at large expected the differences to be.

The existence of a significant relationship between nutrition and disease has been proven by many scientific studies. Unhealthy food patterns take important part in producing chronic diseases, and expose the individual's heath to different risks. Furthermore, social scientists have shown that dietary habits of the individuals bear significant association with some psycho-social and cultural factors. The present study seeks to describe and explain associations between patterns of dietary habits among men and women of University of Mazandaran (Iran) and Punjab University (India), along with several psych-social and cultural factors involved. The findings show that there are significant positive relationships between dietary habits and some variables such as gender, culture (nationality), socio-economic status of the family, health concerns, health knowledge, and health beliefs. Overall, Indian women and men students, as compared with their Iranian counterparts showed healthier and more positive dietary habits. This can protect them from chronic, non-infectious diseases.