How Iranian Women View Freedom
| dc.contributor.author | Khozoie, Shaheen Khadijeh | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-04-23T02:54:32Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-04-23T02:54:32Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2004 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This cultural-specific research phenomenologically explored what Iranian women understood the concept of freedom to be. Eight Iranian women, born and raised in Iran, and having lived in the United States for 10 years or more, were interviewed. The researcher sought to explore the women's concept of freedom, as this concept may be understood with the advantage of a bicultural experience. Lengthy individual interviews were conducted that brought forth rich information pertaining to women's personal and professional lives. Six complex questions guided the interview process and produced participant responses that spanned their childhood years in Iran and their married and professional years in Iran. Further, most of the women had lived in Iran both before and after the 1978-9 Revolution, bringing even richer detail to their discussions of a personal sense of freedom, especially in view of the political environment. Convergent and divergent themes emerged from the database. From these themes, the overarching question of the study, What is the meaning of freedom for Iranian women? is answered relationally. When they were asked, ~what is necessary for women in society to have total freedom?" The participants appreciated the power of education as critical to knowing freedom and maneuvering in a world that may require them to demand their human rights. They also revealed the importance of the political environment, the social constrictions of gender inequality in society, and the need for financial and religious independence as part of the complete freedom they may attain. The women additionally described personal freedom as the ability to set life goals and accomplish them without hindrance and to question social norms that inhibit the degree of freedom they incorporate into their life experiences. The predominant divergent theme was motherhood. They explained that complete freedom would provide the opportunity for them to be better mothers. Other divergent themes referred to gender relationships, such as freedom for boys and girls to relate with one another in public, sexual harassment, and gender equality in sports. All of the participant agreed that living in the United States allowed them much greater freedom, and they felt they were able to be whatever they wanted to be in life. All of the participants stated that they did not want to gain personal freedom if it came at the expense of the freedom of another. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11803/3291 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher.institution | John F. Kennedy University (JFKU) | |
| dc.title | How Iranian Women View Freedom | |
| dc.type | Dissertation | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Psychology | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | John F. Kennedy University (JFKU) | |
| thesis.degree.level | Doctoral | |
| thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Psychology |