The Representation of the Ideal Woman in the Šokūfeh Magazine: A Comparative Study of the Role of Women in the Pre-constitutional and Constitutional Periods

With the emergence and spread of political parties and newspapers in the wake of the constitutionalrevolution, various articles were published with the aim of social reform. The women's question was oneof the most important topics of the articles, so much so that some newspapers focused exclusively on thissubject. As one of the women’s magazines, Šokūfeh criticized the position of women in Iranian society,but at the same time tried to improve their status and role. In this article, the role of women in pre-constitutional Iran will be examined and the characteristics of the ideal woman from the perspective ofŠokūfeh will be described using the method of qualitative content analysis. In addition, the article aims toshow the status of women in pre-constitutional Iran and the impact of social and cultural changes after theconstitutional revolution on the portrayal of the ideal woman in the press, especially in Šokūfeh. Theresults show that the ideal Iranian woman had to be educated and have a critical view of things. Inaddition, she had to engage in social activities such as promoting women's literacy, avoiding blindimitation of consumer culture and acquiring domestic skills such as caring for her husband, cooking,sewing and child rearing in a theoretical and practical sense. The ideal Iranian woman had to be qualifiedin all the qualities that made her a more effective activist in the social, political, economic and domesticspheres, including appearance, moral and educational qualities.