Iranian Journal of Sociology

Abstract  
The study is conducted with the aim of studying the redefinition of religion in the everyday life experience of women in Tehran. For this purpose, qualitative approach and grounded theory method were used. Sampling was done in a targeted way and among the students born in the 50s and 60s of Islamic Azad Universities in Tehran. The data were analyzed at three levels of open, central and selective coding. The paradigm model resulting from the core categories also showed that the causal conditions for the phenomenon of redefinition of religion were the media's role in confronting religion, questioning personal experiences of religion, and the role of education in creating a new attitude towards religion. The results confirm that the religiosity of women has undergone many changes that it is necessary to pay attention to it in policy-making.
 

Abstract Suicide refers to a deliberate and conscious action of ending the person's life. The evidence suggested that the suicide rate is increasing in the contemporary world. This phenomenon is considered a social problem, a high-risk behavior, and a disease by sociologists, criminologists, psychologists, and physicialus. The present article attempted to investigate the failed suicide attempts of women in the city of Ilam using the grounded theory. The research population was the women Iranian who committed suicide. After doing twenty interviews, we reached theoretical saturation. To measure the research reliability, 3 techniques were used: analytical comparison, respondents' opinions, and experts' opinions. In the end, the main hypothesis was extracted by analyzing and coding the interviews. Findings revealed that the reasons for suicide were: tension in life, dysfunctional families, belief in change, belief in freedom, economic context, incomplete social-religious socialization, normative pressure, and normative contradiction with reality.

Abstract Widespread labor force participation is a prerequisite for sustainable development and welfare in society and gender unequal opportunities are structural barriers for women s economic participation. Therefore, the economic actions of the female who constitute half of the population are of significant. This article, using gender inequality theories and secondary data of the World Economic Forum and International Labour Organization, studies the effect of gender unequal opportunities on the female labor force participation. To test the research hypotheses, data from 143 countries all over the world in 2017 was analyzed. The research findings showed that there was a significant positive association between the female labor force participation and gender unequal opportunity
(r=0/508 and sig=0/000).Furthermore, linear regression analysis demonstrated that about 42% of women's economic participation rate is explained by economic, educational, and political dimensions of gender unequal opportunities. 
 
 

Abstract Violence against women at home and in society in all countries has always been perceived as a concern. Much research has been done, but because of their different methods and theories, no one has found a new path for the future studies. In this meta-analysis, after classifying the theories of 22 applied studies in this field, we distinguished the most used of them and their methods as well. With classifying the hypotheses, we realized that the theoretical relevance and theoretical model were hardly consistent and the sources, learning and feminist theories were the most useful ones in the hypothetical model. At the end with the use of statistical methods, the role of the three theories in explaining the hypotheses were examined our proposals were grouped based on the economic, educational and gender status.

Abstract The present article is a study on women’s perceptions and lived experiences of empowering and submissive acts in their everyday life, in Tehran, from a phenomenological, inductive and exploratory approach. The study has been aimed at discovering the situations and moments in which women feel empowered or submissive in their everyday life. We have applied grounded theory as a qualitative research method. Data were collected through interviews and participant observation. The population under study includes women between 20-60 years of age residing in Tehran. We have employed theoretical sampling method and interviewed 28 women as our sample. The research results indicate that the Iranian women are socialized in two different and paradoxical models: 'mother as a role model' and 'father as a role model'. Normally these negate each other during women’s life. The level of this contrast determines the source of power which a woman uses in each situation. Therefore, two sources of power can be distinguished what we call here the 'conspicuous power” and 'genuine power'. The 'genuine power' comes from the inside of a person not heeding whether a given exertion of power sounds empowering from outside. Whereas, conspicuous power is just a theater of resistance or power displayed for the external spectators. Both sources of power reproduce themselves in women’s individual and social life. 

Abstract The main purpose of this study was to analyze women's fear and feeling of insecurity in Mashhad city's urban spaces and recognize the effects of spatial, situational and personal factors on this feeling. To create the theoretical framework of the research, we combined the theories of urban spaces and feeling of security. We did a survey and gathered the data using a questionnaire. By the use of the multi-stage cluster sampling, we selected 4025 women from Mashhadi women community, aged 15 and above in 13 districts. The findings showed that 42 per cent of Mashhadi women felt this insecurity "less", while 33 per cent of them felt it "the most".
Plus, the regression analysis revealed the influential variables on women's feeling insecurity in Mashhad's urban spaces. These factors are listed in the order of importance: abnormal behaviors in the neighborhood, the existence of unsafe urban spaces, household's average income, violence experience in the neighborhood, not the wearing veil, place of residence, the existence of deviant spaces in the neighborhood, and light of alleys and streets. Furthermore, we might say that the performance of independent variables could be different in various women's age groups.
 
 

Abstract It is impossible to explain the treatment patterns from the medical sciences point of view alone. The selection of treatment method could be mostly influenced by the cultural and social variables. Due to the high importance of fertility in some countries, particularly in our traditional culture, the infertile people try to use different treatment methods to treat their infertility ranging from traditional methods to modern ones. This study was done in Mazandaran province by the use of a mixed method. Applying a theoretical sampling, we selected our sample and employed in-depth face-to-face interviews with 28 infertile women and afterward we transcribed them. Then, the categories such as pilgrimage, treatment prayer, the person whose prayer is granted, and prayer writer were extracted from the interviews. After that, we did a survey and interviewed with 95 customers of the infertility centers of Mazandaran province using a random sampling method. The findings of the survey revealed that treatment prayer (21%) and pilgrimage (16%) had highest frequencies while seeing the local practitioner and believing in magician (2%) had the lowest frequency. In the end, based on the factors such as education, age, infertility time, place of residence, and family's income, the possibility of choosing each treatment method was examined.