Volume 21, Issue 83 (3-2022)
refahj 2022, 21(83): 129-165 |
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Sharifi E, Fathi S, Mohammadi M A, safiri K. (2022). A Qualitative Content Analysis of Cabinet Enactments with a Focus on Women over a Period of Twenty Years (1997 to 2017). refahj. 21(83), : 4
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URL: http://refahj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-3899-en.html
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Introduction: Non-discrimination and equality between men and women is one of the basic principles of human rights law. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights prohibit discrimination based on gender and guarantee equality between men and women in the exercise of their rights. The system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is based on Islamic jurisprudence and the ideals of justice, pays special attention to women’s issues. The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Supreme Leader consider understanding the value and human status of women and the effort to improve the quality of life of women in society as one of the most important tasks of the Islamic State. In this regard, and despite the emphasis on various aspects of women’s identity in society, after several decades and despite the establishment of institutions such as the Vice President for Women, the creation of employment ranks as advisers to ministers and general managers in women’s affairs, and efforts in order to revive women’s rights in various personal, family, social, cultural, and political dimensions, women have not yet reached the desired and worthy position. The review of the enactments of the Cbinet in the field of women has been neglected so far, and according to the researcher’s search, no coherent and methodical research study has been conducted so far. A review of the status of enactments can only be achieved by a thorough and accurate knowledge of the current situation. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the qualitative content of Cabinet enactments with a focus on women over a period of twenty years (1997 to 2017). Examining the status of the Cabinet enactments and legal contexts for the promotion of women’s rights and welfare by the ruling governments, by drawing the existing image and presenting the necessary strategies in legislation, will open a new horizon in order to achieve the ideals of the Islamic Revolution in the field of women and family.
Method: Based on the type of research and research questions, the method of inductive qualitative content analysis was used, and the research was analyzed and concluded by studying and analyzing the texts. The text unit of the documents, laws and enactments counted in the field of women was in the Cabinet enactments during the years 1997 to 2017. The most important sources were: the government information database, the National System of Laws and Regulations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the comprehensive software of laws and regulations of the country (Tablet of Right), and the book of efficiency of the Islamic Republic of Iran in women’s issues. Data coding and analysis was performed based on the three-step analysis method of Strauss and Corbin: open, axial and selective coding. MAXQDA2020 software was used to manage the data in the analysis. Kappa agreement coefficient was used to calculate the reliability. Accordingly, the codes related to the Cabinet enactments previously coded by the researcher were randomly selected and evaluated by two experts related to this field. The evaluation was conducted in two categories of agreed and disagreed; in this way, two columns of agreed (with the researcher) and disagreed (with the researcher) were considered and the percentage of the evaluators’ agreement for each item (code) was calculated in rows and the percentage of agreement between the evaluators about the classes in the columns was calculated. Finally, using the kappa agreement coefficient formula, the kappa value obtained was about 0.68, which indicates the acceptable validity and agreement between the coders and shows that the coding performed is sufficiently reliable. For the validity of the research, theories and review of studies and the technique of obtaining accurate parallel information and presenting data analysis and results to professors and experts and obtaining their opinions were used. The phrases were copied from the texts and expressed and validated by agreement between the professors and the collaborating experts.
Findings: After analyzing the data, three main themes and seven main categories were identified. The first theme was the strengthening of traditional roles of working women with categories (reduction of working hours in order to support the traditional role of women, legal guarantee of reduction of women’s working hours). The government is reducing working hours in order to strengthen the role of wife and mother in working women who have a disabled spouse or child, or a mother who is the head of the family or has a child under the age of six. It has also increased maternity leave with the aim of promoting breastfeeding and supporting parenting.
The theme of gender justice in Iranian women’s rights also has categories (gender justice in supporting women with guardianship problems, supporting the role of women in development, gender justice in the pattern of marriage and divorce of Iranian women). The government pays special attention to women heads of households. According to the Shari’a, which recognizes the duty of guardianship over men, the legislator has dealt with this issue regardless of social conditions and following traditional jurisprudence. The government’s commitment to women’s rights and the protection of women’s role in development is very general and is the sign of policy-making. The government has moved in the direction of gender justice by intervening in the situation of marriage and divorce of Iranian women and adjusting the previous conditions, and has sought to establish justice (meaning fairness) in the pattern of marriage and divorce of Iranian women.
The third theme is unequal rights of women with categories (unequal rights of women citizens, unpaid leave with the aim of citizenship of the husband). Granting Iranian citizenship to the children of an Iranian woman married to a foreign man, which has recently been approved by the parliament, has special conditions that do not apply to the citizenship of the children of an Iranian man married to a foreign woman. The most important of these conditions is to be 18 years old without a bad background. The granting of unpaid leave to working women seeking citizenship of their husbands is one of the cases in which the legislature has strengthened their traditional roles, regardless of the social status of women and without facilitating the social status of working women.
Discussion: Legislation on women in the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the last twenty years has been mainly aimed at strengthening traditional roles without guaranteeing the financial interests of women or their social, political or professional identity. Laws have been formulated retrospectively and therefore have not had the power to predict and consequently prevent problems for women. Cabinet laws have failed to facilitate the three traditional roles of women in the world: cooking, cleaning, and caring. In Iran, the comprehensive view of women, the family and development as a comprehensive program is lacking. Planning for women is not possible without their participation and benefiting from the presence and participation of men, and the small share of women in decision-making has left the necessary effort to solve the issues related to women. It is very important to train organizational managers and bring them together to facilitate and lead the society towards gender justice. The establishment of low-yield organizations has not led to major changes due to inconsistencies and the inadequacy of women. Therefore, creating equal opportunities does not necessarily lead to gender justice, and empowering women takes precedence over creating equal opportunities.
Ethical consideration
Authors’ contributions
All authors contributed in producing of the research
Funding
This article is an excerpt from Dr. Elham Sharifi’s dissertation
Conflict of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest
Acknowledgments
In this article, all rights relating to references are cited and resources are carefully listed
Introduction: Non-discrimination and equality between men and women is one of the basic principles of human rights law. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights prohibit discrimination based on gender and guarantee equality between men and women in the exercise of their rights. The system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is based on Islamic jurisprudence and the ideals of justice, pays special attention to women’s issues. The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Supreme Leader consider understanding the value and human status of women and the effort to improve the quality of life of women in society as one of the most important tasks of the Islamic State. In this regard, and despite the emphasis on various aspects of women’s identity in society, after several decades and despite the establishment of institutions such as the Vice President for Women, the creation of employment ranks as advisers to ministers and general managers in women’s affairs, and efforts in order to revive women’s rights in various personal, family, social, cultural, and political dimensions, women have not yet reached the desired and worthy position. The review of the enactments of the Cbinet in the field of women has been neglected so far, and according to the researcher’s search, no coherent and methodical research study has been conducted so far. A review of the status of enactments can only be achieved by a thorough and accurate knowledge of the current situation. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the qualitative content of Cabinet enactments with a focus on women over a period of twenty years (1997 to 2017). Examining the status of the Cabinet enactments and legal contexts for the promotion of women’s rights and welfare by the ruling governments, by drawing the existing image and presenting the necessary strategies in legislation, will open a new horizon in order to achieve the ideals of the Islamic Revolution in the field of women and family.
Method: Based on the type of research and research questions, the method of inductive qualitative content analysis was used, and the research was analyzed and concluded by studying and analyzing the texts. The text unit of the documents, laws and enactments counted in the field of women was in the Cabinet enactments during the years 1997 to 2017. The most important sources were: the government information database, the National System of Laws and Regulations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the comprehensive software of laws and regulations of the country (Tablet of Right), and the book of efficiency of the Islamic Republic of Iran in women’s issues. Data coding and analysis was performed based on the three-step analysis method of Strauss and Corbin: open, axial and selective coding. MAXQDA2020 software was used to manage the data in the analysis. Kappa agreement coefficient was used to calculate the reliability. Accordingly, the codes related to the Cabinet enactments previously coded by the researcher were randomly selected and evaluated by two experts related to this field. The evaluation was conducted in two categories of agreed and disagreed; in this way, two columns of agreed (with the researcher) and disagreed (with the researcher) were considered and the percentage of the evaluators’ agreement for each item (code) was calculated in rows and the percentage of agreement between the evaluators about the classes in the columns was calculated. Finally, using the kappa agreement coefficient formula, the kappa value obtained was about 0.68, which indicates the acceptable validity and agreement between the coders and shows that the coding performed is sufficiently reliable. For the validity of the research, theories and review of studies and the technique of obtaining accurate parallel information and presenting data analysis and results to professors and experts and obtaining their opinions were used. The phrases were copied from the texts and expressed and validated by agreement between the professors and the collaborating experts.
Findings: After analyzing the data, three main themes and seven main categories were identified. The first theme was the strengthening of traditional roles of working women with categories (reduction of working hours in order to support the traditional role of women, legal guarantee of reduction of women’s working hours). The government is reducing working hours in order to strengthen the role of wife and mother in working women who have a disabled spouse or child, or a mother who is the head of the family or has a child under the age of six. It has also increased maternity leave with the aim of promoting breastfeeding and supporting parenting.
The theme of gender justice in Iranian women’s rights also has categories (gender justice in supporting women with guardianship problems, supporting the role of women in development, gender justice in the pattern of marriage and divorce of Iranian women). The government pays special attention to women heads of households. According to the Shari’a, which recognizes the duty of guardianship over men, the legislator has dealt with this issue regardless of social conditions and following traditional jurisprudence. The government’s commitment to women’s rights and the protection of women’s role in development is very general and is the sign of policy-making. The government has moved in the direction of gender justice by intervening in the situation of marriage and divorce of Iranian women and adjusting the previous conditions, and has sought to establish justice (meaning fairness) in the pattern of marriage and divorce of Iranian women.
The third theme is unequal rights of women with categories (unequal rights of women citizens, unpaid leave with the aim of citizenship of the husband). Granting Iranian citizenship to the children of an Iranian woman married to a foreign man, which has recently been approved by the parliament, has special conditions that do not apply to the citizenship of the children of an Iranian man married to a foreign woman. The most important of these conditions is to be 18 years old without a bad background. The granting of unpaid leave to working women seeking citizenship of their husbands is one of the cases in which the legislature has strengthened their traditional roles, regardless of the social status of women and without facilitating the social status of working women.
Discussion: Legislation on women in the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the last twenty years has been mainly aimed at strengthening traditional roles without guaranteeing the financial interests of women or their social, political or professional identity. Laws have been formulated retrospectively and therefore have not had the power to predict and consequently prevent problems for women. Cabinet laws have failed to facilitate the three traditional roles of women in the world: cooking, cleaning, and caring. In Iran, the comprehensive view of women, the family and development as a comprehensive program is lacking. Planning for women is not possible without their participation and benefiting from the presence and participation of men, and the small share of women in decision-making has left the necessary effort to solve the issues related to women. It is very important to train organizational managers and bring them together to facilitate and lead the society towards gender justice. The establishment of low-yield organizations has not led to major changes due to inconsistencies and the inadequacy of women. Therefore, creating equal opportunities does not necessarily lead to gender justice, and empowering women takes precedence over creating equal opportunities.
Ethical consideration
Authors’ contributions
All authors contributed in producing of the research
Funding
This article is an excerpt from Dr. Elham Sharifi’s dissertation
Conflict of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest
Acknowledgments
In this article, all rights relating to references are cited and resources are carefully listed
Type of Study: orginal |
Received: 2021/05/28 | Accepted: 2021/10/20 | Published: 2022/03/16
Received: 2021/05/28 | Accepted: 2021/10/20 | Published: 2022/03/16
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