WOMENS STUDIES
Year:2006 | Volume:4 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Production process in agricultural sector is highly dependent on natural climatic conditions; its exposure to diseases and pests are factors which distinguishes agriculture from other economic activities. These factors make agriculture a risky activity. In addition, the majority of farmers active in cultivation of strategic and main foods such as wheat, rice and barley are smallholders. They are highly vulnerable to fluctuation of local and national markets and the pressures of international competition. In fact, to reach development goals as set for agricultural sector, its human-resource capacity should be optimally utilized, of which women constitute a main part. Rural women, especially those heading their families, face more risks compared to their counterparts, and are economically fragile. Women of the Northern Iran comprise a substantial part of the agricultural labor force, thus attention needs to be paid to their working and living conditions.The main objective of the present research is to study factors affecting the adoption of risk by female rice growers. It was conducted in Rasht County in 2005. The stratified random sampling technique was applied and 182 female rice growers were selected out of five districts of the county, and were interviewed. The result showed that the majority of female rice growers were risk neutral. The study also revealed that there was significant negative relationship among age, experience (of rice growing), the family size, and the level of adoption of risk. There was significant positive relationship between literacy level, the lands allotted to rice growing, the size of landholding, rice income, and the level of risk taking. The result of comparative studies showed that rice growers with different style of landholding had significant differences in terms of risk adoption.

This paper examines the impact of technology in general and information technology in particular, on employment of women. In so doing cross country data are applied and linear and non-linear regression models are used. The independent variables of the model include indices for the following categories: technology creation, diffusion of recent innovation, diffusion of old innovation, human skill. The dependent variables of the model are: the rate of women's economic activity, income, gender empowerment measure. The results show that IT has not had a significant effect on the rate of women's economic activity, but it bears a significant effect on women's income and gender empowerment measure. Although the immediate effect of information technology on women's income was positive, but this effect has gradually been reduced. In regard to the impact of IT on activity rate of women and GEM (gender empowerment measure) the results indicate that there is no significant difference between Iran and other countries. Nevertheless, the impact of IT on women's income in Iran has been significantly higher than that of other countries.

This article attempts to classify the opponents' views on women's participation in the Iranian judiciary system. It starts out by describing women's status within the judiciary system. The article then proceeds, following such a description, by presenting a sketch on transformation of the status of women in the post-revolutionary Iranian judiciary system. For the writer it is an opportunity to study the evidence (documents) as submitted by the opponents of women's inclusion within the judiciary system. Finally, the article reaches the conclusion that neither Verses and the Traditions (Hadith) nor other reasons put forward, such as the weakness of women, none constitutes solid grounds for denying women's inclusion within the judiciary system, i.e., to hold the position of a judge.

Marital adjustment of subjects is under the influence of personality and psychological variables. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a relationship between androgyny and mental health with marital adjustment in married women. The results showed that androgyny provided adjustment and mental health. The sample consisted of 200 married women who were selected through random sampling method. The subjects completed the General Health Questionnaire, Spanners Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and Sex Role Questionnaire. The findings showed that androgyny is related to marital adjustment (r=0.38). The results also indicated that that mental health is related to marital adjustment (r=0.35). The result of multiple regression showed that a significant correlation exists between predictive variables (androgyny and mental health) and the criterion variable (marital adjustment). These findings are fairly in line with those of other studies, and emphasize that the sex types in the premarital counseling of the youth, can be applied in clinical and therapeutic centers, from the strategic point of this paper.

The objectives of this study were: 1. To examine girls' attitudes toward premarital dating and friendship.2. To explore the relationship between cultural grounds of socialization and girls' attitude towards premarital dating and friendship.Using the survey method, a sample of 360 girls from Shiraz University (253 girls), and Shiraz Medical Sciences University (107 girls) with a mean age of 21.9 was selected. The descriptive findings showed that over half of the girls (55.6 percent) had a moderate attitude toward this kind of relationship (girls with negative attitude were 23.5 percent), and girls with positive attitude were 11.9 percent).Inferential analysis indicated, out of independent variables, priorities of material/post-material values, religious beliefs, persistence on religious values, family attitude, friend's attitude, mother and father education, university type and use of some mass media had a significant relationship with girls' attitude. But duration of study in university, and use of magazines and newspapers did not have a significant relationship with the dependent variable.Using a multi-variable regression analysis with the aim of determining the model's soundness was indicative of three variables: persistence on religious values, friend's attitude, and family attitude explained 60.5 percent of dependent variable's variance. Although in the area of the opposite sex interpersonal relationship, the trend changes is moving toward positive attitude and modem values, but girls, at present, are amazed at an area between the traditional and modem values.

Few women currently hold management positions in Iran's public sector. This situation is particularly marked at the chief executive level. The development of positive strategies to address this situation, and ultimately to increase the number of women in public service chief executive positions, can be informed by the wealth of information of international literature on barriers to women's career advancement. In this article we investigated the literature on barriers to women's advancement. By using expert's opinion and Delphi technique, these barriers are classified into four dimensions and twenty seven factors. Finally we used statistical methods and MCDM techniques and ranked these barriers. The findings of this ranking show that cultural and social factors are the most important barriers to women' advancement.