Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T13:10:28.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“Women without guardians” in Iran: gender, cultural assumptions, and social policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2020

Rezvan Ostadalidehaghi  and
Daniel Béland
Rezvan Ostadalidehaghi
Affiliation:
Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Daniel Béland*
Affiliation:
Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores the role of cultural assumptions in the formation of the only Iranian social programme designed exclusively for women, “Empowering Women without Guardians”. It examines these assumptions at different stages of the policy process: problem definition, policy formulation, and policy adoption. As shown, assumptions behind the adopted policy are not consistent with the ones underlying the original problem definition; women are considered mothers at the problem definition stage, but at the policy adoption stage they are understood as workers. The relative power of these assumptions helps explain both continuity and change in Iranian social policy towards women.

Keywords

gendersocial policyIrancultureideaswomen
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 48 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Taylor & Francis

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abaselati, P. (1975). “The Debates of National Parliament” (in Persian). Library, Museum and Document Centre of Iran Parliament. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.ical.ir.Google Scholar
Afary, J. 1996. The Iranian constitutional revolution, 1906–1911: Grassroots democracy, social democracy, and the origins of feminism, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Afary, J. 2009. Sexual politics in modern Iran, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Afkhami, M. 2004. “The women's organization of Iran: Evolutionary politics and revolutionary change.”. In Women in Iran from 1800 to the Islamic Republic, Edited by: Beck, L and Nashat, G.107–135. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Afshar, H. 1987. “Women, marriage and the state in Iran.”. In Women, state, and ideology: Studies from Africa and Asia, Edited by: Afshar, H.70–89. Albany: State University of New York Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aghajanian, A. 1986. Some notes on divorce in Iran. Journal of Marriage and Family, 48 (4): 749–755.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agharahimi. (1983). “The Debates of Islamic Parliament.” (in Persian). Library, Museum and Document Centre of Iran Parliament. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.ical.ir.Google Scholar
Al-Sistani, S. A. “Islamic laws.” Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.sistani.orgGoogle Scholar
Barati, F. “The Growth of Female-headed Households.” (in Persian). Jamejam Online, April 27, 2008. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://jamejamonline.irGoogle Scholar
Behrouzi. (1983). “The Debates of Islamic Parliament.” (in Persian). Library, Museum and Document Centre of Iran Parliament. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.ical.ir.Google Scholar
Béland, D. 2009. Gender, ideational analysis, and social policy. Social Politics, 16 (4): 558–581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bigvand, F. (1977). “The Debates of National Parliament.” (in Persian). Library, Museum and Document Centre of Iran Parliament. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.ical.ir.Google Scholar
Etemad Moghadam, F. 2004. “Women and labour in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”. In Women in Iran from 1800 to the Islamic Republic, Edited by: Beck, Lois and Nashat, Guity. 163–203. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Ferdows, A. K. 1985. “The status and rights of women in Ithna Ashari Shi'i Islam.”. In Women and the family in Iran, Edited by: Fathi, A.13–37. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar
Fraser, N. and Gordon, L. 1994. Dependency’ demystified: Inscriptions of power in a keyword of the Welfare state. Social Politics, 1 (1): 4–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamidzadeh. 1983. “The Debates of Islamic Parliament.” (in Persian). Library, Museum and Document Centre of Iran. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.ical.irGoogle Scholar
Hassanzadeh. 1983. “The Debates of Islamic Parliament.” (in Persian). Library, Museum, and Document Centre of Iran Parliament. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.ical.irGoogle Scholar
Islamic Penal Code [Islamic Republic of Iran], 28 November 1991. Retrieved June 9, 2012, from http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4d384ae32.htmlGoogle Scholar
Katouzian, A. N. 2003. “Drafting the first constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” (in Persian). Journal of Constitutional Law,: 115–138.Google Scholar
Kavyanpoor, M. 1992. “An interview with Monireh Gorjifard.” (in Persian). Payame Zan, 6: 31Google Scholar
Khalili. (1983). “The Debates of Islamic Parliament.” (in Persian). Library, Museum, and Document Centre of Iran Parliament. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.ical.ir.Google Scholar
Khan, M. A. 2006. Women in Islam, Jaipur: Sublime Publications.Google Scholar
Khomeini Relief Foundation. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.emdad.irGoogle Scholar
Kingdon, J. W. 1995. Agendas, alternatives, and public policies, revised edition, New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. 1992. Gender and the development of welfare regimes. Journal of European Social Policies, 2 (3): 159–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moghadam, V. M. 1988. Women, work, and ideology in the Islamic Republic. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 20 (2): 221–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moghadam, V. M. 2006. “Maternalist policies versus women's economic citizenship? Gendered social policy in Iran.”. In Social policy in the middle East: Economic, political and gender dynamics, Edited by: Karshenas, M. and Moghadam, M.190–221. New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Morgan, K. J. 2006. Working mothers and the welfare state: Religion and the politics of work-family policies in Western Europe and the United States, Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Moynihan, D. P. 1973. The politics of a guaranteed income: The Nixon administration and the family assistance plan, New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Nadi. (1983). “The Debates of Islamic Parliament.” (in Persian). Library, Museum, and Document Centre of Iran Parliament. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.ical.ir.Google Scholar
Nashat, G. (2003). Women in Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Iran. In Nashat, G. & Beck, L. (Eds.), Women in Iran from the Rise of Islam to 1800 (pp. 11–47). Urbana: University of Illinois.Google Scholar
Orloff, A. S. 1993. Gender and the social rights of citizenship: The comparative analysis of gender relations and welfare states. American Sociological Review, 58 (3): 303–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Padamsee, J. T. 2009. Culture in connection: Re-contextualizing ideational processes in the analysis of policy development. Social Politics, 16 (4): 413–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paidar, P. 1995. Women and political process in twentieth century Iran, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Parsons, C. 2007. How to map arguments in political science, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Poya, M. 1999. Women, work and Islamism: Ideology and resistance in Iran, London: Zed.Google Scholar
Razavi, S. 2006. Islamic politics, human rights and women's claims for equality in Iran. Third World Quarterly, 27 (7): 1223–1237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Razavi, S. and Hassim, S. 2006. Gender and social policy in a global context: Uncovering the gendered structure of “the social”, Edited by: Razavi, S. and Hassim, S.Basingstoke: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rostami Povey, E. 2001. Feminist contestations of institutional domains in Iran. Feminist Review,: 44–72.Google Scholar
Sedghi, H. 2007. Women and politics in Iran, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shadloo, A. 2000. Parties and political factions in Iran, Tehran: Gostareh. (in Persian)Google Scholar
Steensland, B. (2008). The failed welfare revolution: America's struggle over guaranteed income policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
State Welfare Organization of Iran. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.behzisti.irGoogle Scholar
Taghizadeh, M. and Artidar, T. 2007. Female guardians in the mirror of law (in Persian), Tehran: Sureh Mehr.Google Scholar
Taleghani, A. 1981. “The Debates of Islamic Parliament.” (in Persian) Library, Museum, and Document Centre of Iran Parliament. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.ical.irGoogle Scholar
Van Kersbergen, K. 1995. Social capitalism: A study of christian democracy and the welfare state, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
World Bank. World Databank. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://databank.worldbank.orgGoogle Scholar