Gender in Contemporary Iran

Description

This book examines gender and the transformation of contemporary Iran, documenting the changes in women’s lives and challenging the idea that the revolution put back the clock for women. Bringing together the post-2001 field research of scholars who have worked in Iran to document and examine how different Iranian groups and classes are negotiating, resisting, and pressing for political and social change, the book shows how women have now become agents of social change rather than victims.

The original research provides an important basis for understanding social and political developments in a country that has been a focus of international attention for much of the last decade. The objective of this book is not to assess the contentious arguments over whether Iran may have a covert nuclear program, but rather to explore the complexity of a society that is portrayed in monolithic stereotypes in the international media.

Contents

Introduction Part 1: Legal Changes 1. Authority, Modernity and Gender: Relevant Legislation in Iran Louise Halper 2. Gendering Shi’ism in Post-revolutionary Iran Azadeh Kian Part 2: Gender and Culture 3. To Be or not to be Veiled in Iran Fariba Adelkhah 4. The Other Weblogistan: Gender and the Narrative of Liberation Online Niki Akhavan Part 3: Society and Politics 5. Iranian Women Pressing for Change: Agency versus Victimhood Azadeh Kian 6. Women, Higher Education and the Islamic Revolution in Iran Goli Reza Rashti 7. Young Iranians of Qum: Attitudes towards Family, Gender Relations, State and Religious Authority Farhad Khosrow Khavar Part 4: Engendering the Economy 8. An Understanding of the Changing Economic Role of Women in Iran Fatemeh Moghadam 9. Women’s Informal Employment Roksana Bahramitash and Shahla Kazemipur Conclusion

Author Bio

Roksana Bahramitash is Research Director at the Chair of Islam, Pluralism and Globalization in the Department of Theology at the University of Montreal, Canada.

Eric Hooglund is Professor of Muslim World Politics at Bates College in Maine, USA.

Related Subjects

1. Middle East Studies
2. Gender Studies
3. Middle East Society
4. Iranian Studies
5. Middle East Gender
6. Middle East Politics