فصلنامه مطالعات راهبردی زنان
پیاپی 29 (پاییز 1384)

Postmodern feminism is among the most recent feminist approaches formed under the influence of postmodern principles. Emphasizing the principle of difference among human beings, especially among women, and men and women, doubting the grand narratives and the a priori assumptions of truth, and denying the epistemological and metaphysical foundations of the modernist identity, this trend maintains that one cannot define woman in a particular way and consider a fixed socio-cultural structure for her. However, radical and liberal feminist trends have criticized this approach. After introducing the postmodern feminism and explaining its principles and the interaction between feminism and postmodernism, the present paper elaborates on the contradictions and interactions between the two and finally presents the viewpoints of some postmodern feminists such as Luce Irigaray and Natasha Walters.

In the 21st century, when French feminism appeared in scientific circles, Simone de Beauvoir, too, discussed the conditions of women and oppression against them based on existentialist views. There different views toward him: his followers consider him as one whose theories had a significant role in flowering the young generation and their research projects; on the other hand, some deny him and his being a feminist. His critics maintain that his two famous theories, i.e. “sexual inequality” and “other”, are no longer scientifically valid and fail to present solutions for women’s problems. The noteworthy point is that although feminism was once theoretically and practically under the influence of Simone de Beauvoir, but nowadays his famous statement that “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” is completely denied and replaced by the statement “I am a woman, why shouldn’t you be?”. And finally, new feminism not only does not see man as superior but also considers him as useless. This paper is to study his family life, his psychological, personal and scientific characteristics, and his contribution to the development of feminist theory.

Social participation, provision of economic support for family expenses, and the insufficiency of husbands’ salary for satisfying the needs of the family are the reasons behind the necessity of women’s employment. In these circumstances, what can reduce working problems and support families is appropriateness of work conditions for workers and employees. International Labor Organization has adopted various provisions for women’s employment, though the conditions of employed women are still far from suitable. Thus, many women in the Western countries have sacrificed the joy of wifehood and motherhood and in developing countries women are suffering from a dual life. Since Islamic countries have similar economic and family situations, the laws of the employment of women in these countries have been studied, evaluated, and compared to women employment laws of Iran. Finally, legal vacuums have been identified and appropriate suggestions in line with other laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been proposed.

During the past 150 years, there has been a widespread concentration on women studies in the Islamic world. To understand the different stages of the development of these studies, the present paper presents a primary classification of all the Islamic studies, with an emphasis on twentieth century writers, in the field of women’s issues. These studies are basically classified under the two rubrics of fundamentalist and intellectualist approaches. The fundamentalist approach, being under the influence of the thoughts of modernist islamic scholars, is itself divided into the no-salafi and the ‘edjtihādi [jurisprudential] approaches. The no-salafis, like Seyyed Ghotb, tried to solve women’s problems by resorting to kitāb [Koran] and the heritage of the predecessors [salaf], while the ‘edjtihādis, like Morteza Motahhari, Shams-addin, and Fazlollah, in addition to emphasizing the texts [nosus], considered credibility for reason, as well. The intellectualist approach will be presented in the next issue of the quarterly.

Feminist movement started in the early 19th century in the West and especially in the United States whereby, in reaction to the authoritarian behavior of Western men who drank alcohol and assaulted their family members, women established special institutions to protect themselves. Subsequently, these institutions became more integrated and, supported by academic centers, their views and experiences formed a philosophy which established different relationships with different ideologies. Liberal, radical, Marxist, and more recently, postmodern feminism are among the various approaches to feminism which have more ideological orientations than merely feminine tendencies. Feminist approaches to marriage and family, too, instead of being influenced by the philosophy behind women’s nature and their spiritual and moral inclinations, are under in impact of the ideologies related to the analysis of the concept.

The execution of the strategies in the Beijing Document and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) resulted in socio-cultural changes in Iran in recent years. For instance, one can refer to the legal teachings, the establishment and untrammeled expansion of NGOs and their enhancement according to feminist approaches. These cases are major steps toward the globalization of Western ideas in the country. Some of the goals and agenda behind the NGOs in Iran are explained in this paper and, finally, suggestions are proposed to organize the NGOs.

Khāghāni is among the few poets who, in the fictitious world of poetry, presents to his readers and critics some noteworthy and real information about his attitude towards women, especially in his family domain. In order to introduce another piece of the valuable Persian literature dealing with women, the present paper is to take this information out of his not much simple poems for analysis. Thus, the paper elaborates on the status of women in family, society, history, and religion as reflected in Khāghāni’s poetry.