https://www.jgfs.ir/ Gender and Family Studies en daily 1 Sat, 21 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0330 Sat, 21 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0330 https://www.jgfs.ir/article_237472.html   This study emphasizes the family as the smallest yet most fundamental unit of society—serving as the foundation of human dignity, emotional security, affection, mutual care, the legitimate fulfillment of emotional and sexual needs, reproduction, child-rearing, and intergenerational transmission of values. It underscores the critical role of laws and regulations in strengthening family resilience. However, certain existing legal provisions not only fail to support familial stability but may in fact contribute to its erosion.  This critique can be examined from four primary perspectives. The first one concerns the underlying assumptions guiding the codification of family laws, many of which are open to critical scrutiny. The most significant of these assumptions is the conceptualization of marriage as a commutative contract. In reality, marriage should not be regarded as a commutative or quasi-commutative agreement—akin to a transaction involving reciprocal exchange (such as mahr [dower] in return for sexual availability or marital obedience). Rather, the essential purposes of marriage are spiritual, emotional, and humanistic, grounded in affection (muwaddah) and mercy (rahmah), as emphasized in Islamic ethical teachings. This perspective is further reinforced by examining the defining characteristics of commutative contracts—such as economic purpose, the impersonal nature of the contracting parties, the requirement that the exchanged objects be clearly specified, and mutual liability for compensation—and demonstrating their incompatibility with the nature of the marriage contract. One significant consequence of framing marriage as a commutative agreement is the legal recognition of ḥaqq al-ḥabs (the wife’s right to withhold marital duties). This right permits a wife to refrain from fulfilling her spousal obligations until her full mahr is paid. The author critically examines this provision within the marriage contract, arguing that its application—particularly in the current socio-legal context, where substantial mahr amounts are commonly stipulated and may take years to settle—contributes to a declining inclination among men toward marriage and family formation. Under such conditions, the husband is obligated to pay both installments of the mahr and spousal maintenance (nafaqah), while being deprived of the fundamental benefits of marriage, particularly conjugal relations. This creates significant hardship for men at the outset of married life and opens the possibility of misuse of this legal right.The second critique addresses the Iranian legal system’s failure to acknowledge and respond to recent transformations in family structures. Iranian society has undergone significant shifts in familial patterns, including rising age at first marriage, growing tendencies toward singlehood, decreasing social stigma associated with divorce, and changing attitudes among women toward employment and financial independence. Despite these developments, family-related legislation has remained largely unchanged and lacks the necessary flexibility to accommodate evolving social realities. This legal rigidity has contributed to widespread hesitation toward permanent marriage and has even led to the emergence of informal cohabitation arrangements—such as so-called "white marriage" (ezdevāj-e sefid)—which currently lack legal recognition and protection. The author emphasizes the need for the design and codification of diverse marriage contracts, leveraging existing juristic mechanisms such as stipulations within the marriage agreement (shurūṭ fī al-‘aqd). Such an approach would allow couples to manage their marital arrangements according to their specific needs, values, and socioeconomic circumstances, enabling individuals to choose a marriage framework that aligns with their personal and familial aspirations.Third, the critique addresses the inflexibility of formal legal provisions and the failure to uphold justice in judicial claims within the family domain. Current laws often assume fixed financial entitlements for women—such as mahr—without considering the duration of the marital relationship or the wife’s actual contribution to the shared household. It is proposed that mahr be recalibrated based on the husband’s current financial capacity or calculated as a percentage of assets acquired during the marriage, ensuring greater equity while mitigating disincentives to marriage formation.Fourth, the article critiques the overreliance on judicial mechanisms in resolving familial disputes and the underutilization of non-judicial alternatives. Divorce rates—particularly mutual consent divorces and those initiated by women—have risen significantly in recent years. The root causes of familial conflict are identified not solely in legal violations, but in ignorance, incapacity and unwillingness conditions that often call for restorative rather than punitive responses. The author argues that many such disputes would be better addressed through non-adjudicative means such as counseling, mediation (tahkīm), and arbitration. Resorting to formal courts, especially in emotionally sensitive and private family matters, frequently results in the public exposure of private affairs, emotional estrangement, and diminished prospects for reconciliation. Strengthening institutionalized mediation and arbitration bodies—consistent with Qur’anic injunctions can facilitate faster, more compassionate conflict resolution and reduce the harm caused by direct judicial intervention. In conclusion, the article underscores the urgent need for comprehensive review and reform of Iran’s family laws. Such reform should encompass: re-conceptualizing the nature of the marriage contract beyond transactional frameworks; revising provisions related to the wife’s right to withhold marital duties (ḥaqq al-ḥabs); aligning legislation with contemporary socio-cultural transformations in family life; and promoting non-judicial mechanisms for dispute resolution. The ultimate goal of these reforms is to enhance family resilience, protect the institution of the family from structural erosion, and mitigate the weakening effects of the current legal framework on familial stability. https://www.jgfs.ir/article_237473.html Over the past century, the family—amid the dynamics of modernity and the social and ethical transformations brought about by the expansion of modern demands and possibilities—has encountered numerous challenges. Indeed, the pervasive adoption of modern structures has redirected the trajectory of moral values that had long been institutionalized across societies, placing the family at a crossroads: either to acquiesce to the prevailing conditions or to resist global transformations in order to preserve the ethical values historically transmitted through generations within the familial framework. At this critical juncture, paying attention to religious thought centered on the active family offers alternatives and desirable pathways through the lens of family moral resistance—aimed at overcoming the current erosion of family ethics and safeguarding moral integrity for future generations. However, it must be emphasized that "resistance" at the core of this discourse is a complex and contested concept, not easily definable. In engaging with it, we confront a dense network of interrelated concepts and theoretical frameworks. "Resistance" generates significant ambiguity in both definition and application—not only because it belongs to the realm of abstract terminology with limited tangible manifestations, but also because nearly every intellectual current, paradigm, or even subjective interpretation tends to project its own objectives onto this term. Therefore, a precise articulation of the concepts, issues, priorities, objectives, and actors inherent in the idea of moral resistance must be formulated. To achieve this, an interpretive approach to the intellectual field active in this domain is required. Among qualitative research methodologies, phenomenology, grounded in the interpretive paradigm, has been identified as the most suitable method for capturing this conceptual configuration. This is because phenomenology is concerned with the description of how phenomena appear—that is, with rendering visible and describing the diverse ways in which a phenomenon manifests itself to different individuals. Ultimately, the outcome of this phenomenological study—conducted through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 15 intellectuals and scholars specializing in family affairs—is presented in the form of descriptive themes, each representing a distinct and particular understanding of the single phenomenon under investigation. Collectively, these descriptive themes constitute a comprehensive, multi-dimensional portrayal of the phenomenon of family resistance. Through this process, a fourfold typology of descriptive themes was developed, reflecting the varied and subjective conceptualizations of moral resistance held by Islamic intellectuals in the field of family studies:First Theme, Resistance Based on the Recognition of the “Coordinates of the Conflict Arena”:Resistance is contingent upon a clear understanding of the field in which it unfolds. The persistence of a threat-laden context emerges as a foundational condition shaping all other components and descriptive layers of resistance. A lack of awareness regarding the realities of human existence, coupled with the neglect of conflict as an inherent dimension of the material world, impedes the precise identification of the nature, power, structure, and agency of the threatening force. Without such insight, it becomes impossible to determine the actual needs of the field for the formulation of both theoretical and practical resistance strategies.Second Theme: Resistance Based on the Recognition of the “Coordinates of the Conflict Parties”: The internal horizon—the “coordinates of the conflicting parties”—reveals that an accurate conceptual framework of resistance requires a clear demarcation between the agent of transformation (the threat) and the agent of resistance (the threatened), as the two opposing actors in the conflict. Consequently, any action-oriented, instrumentally grounded analysis or proposal must be preceded by the identification of the environment and the key actors within this conceptual network.Third Theme: Resistance Based on the Recognition of the “Coordinates of Resistance Itself”:From the perspective of intellectuals in the family domain, engaging with the transformative dimensions of modernity and the public sphere in which these transformations occur leads to the structural articulation of a conceptual network of resistance. Achieving this structure depends on defining new coordinates of resistance—from theory to practice—based on the insights gathered in the previous layers, including the precise mapping of the conflict arena, the identities of the conflicting parties, and the nature of the threat.Fourth Theme: Resistance Based on the Recognition of “Actions and Instruments”: Western rationality has strategically employed the interactive relationship among three elements—theory, practice (action), and instrument—to maximize the expansion of modern thought. Within this paradigm, the stability and clarity of the theoretical framework depend on precision and strength in both the domain of action and the tools of implementation, ensuring the operationalization of ideas and the extension of influence. The phenomenon of resistance, if it fails to simultaneously engage all three components and overlooks the mechanisms of translating ideas into practice, will lose its effectiveness, reach, and constructive capacity.Ultimately, a unifying cognitive horizon—identified throughout the study under the theme of "comprehensiveness"—emerges as the most significant common ground between religious and specialized discourses on resistance in the family domain. This horizon indicates that resistance within the family sphere is not isolated but unfolds through the broader recognition and operationalization of resistance within the larger context of human existence. Given that modernity, operating through the Western civilizational logic of "totalizing ambition" and "grand-scale expansion" (see Kachouiyan, 1399), has systematically extended its reach into both public and private spheres, resistance must necessarily adopt a civilizational reorientation—one that is comprehensive and all-encompassing. Only through such a holistic approach can the values and functions of religious and indigenous societies be preserved and sustained. https://www.jgfs.ir/article_237474.html Generation Z is a creative, independent, disruptive and self-aware generation that seeks to achieve high social and economic positions with minimal effort and cost. This generation is under pressure from two sides: on the one hand, pressure from society to preserve and transmit values and traditions, and on the other hand, pressure from the media to break away from traditions and adapt to the requirements of modern technologies and choose a new type of ethics and values in line with the ideals of the modern world, which is known as "ideal values" in their virtual ecosystem. Acceptance of norms, traditions and official values by power structures is not something that convinces Generation Z and calls them to follow. This can be both hopeful and alarming. It is hopeful in that this generation is indifferent to what is dictated to them as culture in the modern world and the capitalist system, and seeks to break structures and create new contexts. It is also dangerous in that digital life and new media create values and norms for them, and religion and traditions do not play a meaningful role in their lives. Therefore, examining the moral subjectivity of this generation, who are considered users of the digital world and live in this space, will be effective in understanding and making the final judgment and designing a moral model for them. In order to properly confront Generation Z, it is necessary to enter their world, reach a  deeper understanding of them, and design educational indicators appropriate to them. Until a correct and deep understanding of this generation is not achieved, it will be fruitless to prescribe for them. With the assumption that in the path of education, there can be fixed educational principles and different educational models; Therefore, different moral education models can be used compared to the moral education models of previous generations. The moral subject of generation z means the understanding and awareness of this generation regarding itself as a subject regarding moral issues and in the field of practice. In other words, morality is considered in the system of awareness of the actor. The criterion here is the understanding, awareness and tendencies of the actor. Therefore, the moral subject of generation z is studied with an emphasis on the concept of self-awareness of the subject, self-presentation and rethinking of the subject.This research aims to understand the moral propositions of generation z in the first step, and deals with the moral cognitions of generation z with an exploratory and inductive approach so that in the next steps it can be achieved to design an efficient program for their future. For this purpose, a semi-structured in-depth interview was conducted with 23 members of the early generation z using a phenomenological approach and content analysis method, using a purposeful sampling method.The research findings depict the moral subjects of Generation Z in the form of four main categories: “reflective ethics”, “identity confusion”, “perception of one’s generation as a revolutionary subject in ethics”, “preference for family”.Generation Z has diverse and sometimes contradictory areas in their lives. Since they are digital users and virtual life overshadows their real life, they develop new values and ideals to achieve a better quality of life than their previous generation. Generation Z is a generation that looks at everything in a reflective way; they even have a reflective view of their own ethics and identity and can redefine themselves based on a new perspective and organize their actions differently. Rethinking identity means criticizing the individual’s consciousness. That is, putting beliefs under the microscope. In order to conform to the accepted patterns in the media and peer group, Generation Z criticizes the morals of their parents' generation and tries to rethink and reconstruct the thoughts and morals of their parents' generation. https://www.jgfs.ir/article_237477.html Preserving bodily privacy is one of the foundational principles of ethics in medical sciences and a key pillar in delivering humane and dignified healthcare services. This concept not only pertains to physical aspects such as bodily coverage and personal space, but also includes respect for individual autonomy, informed consent, and the preservation of human dignity. In healthcare systems, observing bodily privacy plays a crucial role in fostering trust between patients and medical staff, reducing anxiety, and enhancing the quality of medical care. In the cultural and social context of Iran—where religious, ethical, and customary values strongly influence social interactions—bodily privacy holds particular sensitivity and significance. Many Iranian women, especially during hospitalization and surgical procedures, face challenges arising from the conflict between medical requirements and cultural expectations regarding privacy. Accordingly, this study was conducted using a qualitative approach to examine the lived experiences of women regarding violations of bodily privacy in Iranian hospitals. By exploring their personal and concrete experiences, the study aims to reveal hidden dimensions of this issue and provide a foundation for policy reform and the advancement of professional ethics. This study employed a qualitative research method with a phenomenological approach. The participants included 13 married women, aged 25 to 60, residing in Tehran, who had experienced hospitalization and surgery within the past five years. Participants were selected purposefully, based on inclusion criteria. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis showed that women’s experiences of bodily privacy violations in hospitals are multifaceted and complex. Inappropriate behaviors by some healthcare staff—such as disregard for verbal and behavioral boundaries, unauthorized entry into patient rooms, and neglect of patients’ bodily coverage and physical condition—were identified as significant human factors. Additionally, hospital infrastructure—such as shared rooms, lack of curtains or proper partitions, and insufficient facilities for maintaining privacy—were recognized as physical factors that exacerbate these violations. On the other hand, some patients accepted these violations due to fear of being denied medical services, lack of awareness of their rights, or normalization of privacy breaches. Nevertheless, some participants adopted strategies to confront these violations, including direct protest, requesting behavioral changes from staff, and using positive self-talk to reduce anxiety. Suggestions for external guarantees of bodily privacy included professional ethics training for healthcare personnel, development of operational guidelines, and continuous monitoring of patient rights compliance. The results of this study indicate that bodily privacy violations in hospitals are a serious and multilayered issue influenced by both human and structural factors. The lived experiences of hospitalized women reveal that such violations not only lead to feelings of shame, anxiety, and mistrust, but can also negatively affect the treatment and recovery process. Therefore, educating healthcare staff in professional ethics, raising patients’ awareness of their rights, and improving the physical infrastructure of medical facilities are essential measures for preserving human dignity and enhancing the quality of medical care. This study can serve as a basis for developing policies and practical programs in the field of medical ethics and patient rights. https://www.jgfs.ir/article_237480.html The reign of Pahlavi I marks one of the most significant, impactful, and challenging historical turning points for Iranian society. During the reign of Reza Khan, the state's top-down modernization program was implemented under the direction of the king and his close associates. One of the earliest steps towards modernizing society and imitating Western countries was the reform of men's and women's clothing, for which Reza Khan issued numerous decrees. The "Unveiling" project was among the most critical cultural transformations pursued by his administration. Despite the government's determination to enforce it and the violent approach of officials toward those who disobeyed, it faced strong reactions from various social actors in Iran. Reza Khan's unveiling project was officially initiated in December 1935. According to this policy, Iranian women and girls, for whom hijab was an integral part of their cultural and religious identity, were required to remove their veils. Naturally, Iranian women and families, adhering to their Islamic and national value-normative system, resisted this planned cultural reform initiated by the ruling apparatus and intellectual elites. They insisted on their principles and sought to preserve their historical and religious traditions. The resistance against this project was not uniform; rather, it manifested in various forms, which can be classified into three categories. The first type was passive resistance, characterized by withdrawal from confrontation. The main strategies of this group included migration and seclusion. Some Iranian families, unable to actively resist a law supported by the state, chose to emigrate to neighboring countries such as Iraq to evade the implementation of Reza Shah’s decree. Similarly, some Iranian women and girls, acknowledging social constraints, withdrew from public life, embraced seclusion, and remained steadfast in observing their religious values and norms.The second type of resistance was political resistance, which encompassed a range of reactions, including political protests, clashes with police officers, and filing petitions to legal authorities such as the parliament and the prime minister. However, the third type of resistance, which is the focus of this study, was cultural resistance by social actors who sought to preserve religious traditions against Reza Khan’s wave of modernization in contemporary Iranian history. A significant portion of women, families, and the clergies were among the influential social forces in this resistance. Indeed, from a historical perspective, it is important to note that although the majority of Iranian families, women, and the clergies opposed the Unveiling project, there were also women, families, and religious figures who did not object to this transformation and aligned themselves with the shift from Iranian cultural traditions to Western cultural norms.A historical examination of the unveiling project reveals various forms of resistance by Iranian women and families in the context of everyday life. To safeguard their religious beliefs without overtly confronting Reza Khan’s oppressive structure, Iranian women and girls employed personal creativity and individual agency. For instance, they designed long garments and hats that fully covered their hair as an alternative to the chador or wore wigs to maintain their religious dress code. Another example of resistance in everyday life context by Iranian families involved making changes in their use of public bathing facilities. Some families whose homes were near a bathhouse facilitated access for their neighbors by allowing them to pass through rooftops, while wealthier families began constructing private bathhouses within their homes. In some cases, men in the neighborhood acted as lookouts along the route to the bathhouse, ensuring that women with hijab could safely access public bathhouse without fear of harassment by government officials (Jamshidiyha & Najafian Razavi, 2011, p. 46). Defiance of Reza Khan’s unveiling decree was not limited to ordinary women. Even the wives and daughters of government employees applied strategies such as feigning illness or traveling to avoid attending mixed-gender celebrations where Islamic dress codes were not observed. John Fiske, in Understanding Popular Culture, identifies various resistance strategies against dominant structures, including evasion as a means of escaping social and disciplinary controls, sidestepping restrictions, avoiding entrapment, and circumventing the regulations imposed by ruling authorities (Shafiei, 2014, p. 161).Although the ruling structure holds considerable power in such confrontations, opposing actors and agents are not entirely powerless or passive. Michel de Certeau, a prominent theorist of everyday life, in his analytical approach to conflict and resistance in daily life, contrasts the dominant, rigid, and structured forces of power with the weaker yet creative, adaptable, and agile actors. These actors possess significant capacities to counter the strategies of the powerful and continuously outmaneuver the dominant structure through tactical resistance (Shafiei, 2014, p. 157).The concept of resistance is both prevalent and complex in the fields of political sociology and cultural studies. Andy Bennett, in his seminal work Culture and Everyday Life, introduces subcultures as forms of resistance against the rising tide of modernity and globalization in the contemporary world. He discusses groups that adopt alternative and distinct lifestyles, actively rejecting and negating the fundamental beliefs, customs, and cultural practices that define modern and contemporary societies (Bennett, 2007, p. 255).This study seeks to present a theoretical framework based on a historical-analytical narrative, utilizing official documents and reports from the police forces (Shahrbani) and the Ministry of Interior Affairs. It examines the backgrounds, characteristics, processes, and strategies of the resistance movements led by social forces defending religious and cultural traditions in Iran, particularly families and the clergies, against the Unveiling project. It appears that one of the most crucial elements of Iranian cultural resistance was the everyday resistance expressed through creative strategies against the coercive power of the ruling apparatus. A review of this historical period demonstrates that resistance did not always manifest in explicitly political movements or within the framework of social movements. Rather, it often emerged within the ordinary, daily lives of the people, shaping a unique and enduring form of defiance. https://www.jgfs.ir/article_237482.html This study aims to analyze and compare the understanding and lived experience of peace and security within two dominant family models in Iran: the traditional and the modern. Family, as the primary institution of socialization and value transmission in any society, also serves as the foundational structure for the reproduction of both collective and individual identity. Therefore, examining how peace and security are realized within the family—particularly in the Iranian context, which simultaneously grapples with rapid modernization and the persistence of historical traditions—carries heightened significance. In this study, theoretical perspectives from prominent scholars such as Anthony Giddens on the transformation of intimacy, Johan Galtung on positive and negative peace, and Salvador Minuchin on structural family patterns have been applied. Additionally, insights from Iranian intellectuals—including Taqi Azad Armaki, Bagher Sarokhani, and Seyyed Javad Tabatabaei—have been incorporated to localize and contextualize the conceptual framework. This theoretical integration yielded five key analytical dimensions: power structure, gender roles, communication styles, cultural values, and psychological security, which together form the conceptual framework of the study. The research methodology is based on secondary data analysis, drawing on national surveys and published domestic studies to examine and compare the two family models. Findings indicate that the traditional Iranian family,The research methodology is based on secondary data analysis, drawing on national surveys and published domestic studies to examine and compare the two family models. Findings indicate that the traditional Iranian family, grounded in patriarchal authority, relatively fixed and inflexible gender roles, hierarchical relationships based on obedience, and collectivist cultural values, has achieved a certain level of institutional stability and broad social support. In this model, peace is often defined as external, conditional, and normatively anchored—meaning family members acquiesce to an imposed order and unwritten consensus in order to preserve familial cohesion and the legitimacy of the family institution.In contrast, the modern Iranian family—characterized by a decline in hierarchical authority, a shift toward gender equality, greater flexibility in role distribution, and enhanced dialogue and interaction among members—has shaped a new model of familial life. This family model emphasizes individualistic values, personal growth, and autonomy, while simultaneously striving to preserve deep emotional bonds. As a result, peace in this model assumes a dynamic, internal, and mutually consensual nature—one that relies less on structural authority and more on trust, negotiation, and open communication.Nevertheless, each of these two family models faces distinct challenges. While the traditional family benefits from high levels of cohesion and broad social support, it often leads to the suppression of individuality, restrictions on women’s agency, and the neglect of members’ psychological needs. On the other hand, despite its achievements in promoting gender equality and improving the quality of emotional relationships, the modern family is vulnerable to excessive individualism, weakened social solidarity, and fragility in the face of economic and cultural crises.The analysis ultimately indicates that neither the traditional nor the modern family model, in isolation, is fully capable of ensuring comprehensive familial peace and security. Therefore, the study concludes by emphasizing the need to redefine the concepts of family peace and security within Iran’s indigenous socio-cultural context. This redefinition should be grounded in three foundational pillars: first: gender justice and the equitable redistribution of power within the family; second: genuine participation of all members in family decision-making processes; and third, the strengthening of communication and dialogue-oriented skills that can simultaneously address collective cohesion and individual needs. Designing supportive policies based on these principles can facilitate a transition toward a more balanced and resilient family model.