The Cultural and Social Presence of Women in Local Activities and Organizations: Toward a Model of Women’s Activism in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Women’s participation and agency have been the foundation and execution of at least half of the cultural and social initiatives that have emerged in Iranian society subsequent to the Islamic Revolution. However, there has been a dearth of scholarly research that has concentrated on the position and role of women, with a particular emphasis on cultural and social activities, in the process of shaping and advancing the discourse of the Islamic Revolution. Subsequently, this article endeavors to address the question of how women's cultural and social activism is demonstrated in local and national activities and organizations in Iran, and whether it is feasible to establish a model that elucidates this activism through revolutionary approaches. In order to address this question and extract a model, fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with active and successful women who are engaged in the establishment and management of local cultural organizations and activities throughout the country. Consequently, the grounded theory method was employed to identify and analyze the roles of women in these activities and forms of activism, as well as the relevant conditions and contexts, causal factors, strategies and approaches that women adopted, and the consequences and impacts of these forms of women’s activism on the local and indigenous ecosystem. Ultimately, a paradigm-based model was developed. This model conceptualizes women’s activism as a methodical, problem-solving approach that is rooted in the lived experiences of women, divinely inspired, empowering, simple, and local, obedient to guardianship (Velayat), educational and religious, family-oriented, and methodical in its feminine form.