Discursire Approach to Women's participation in the Islamic Revolution

The issue of women’s participation in social-political arenas is among important issues of social sciences studies. The issue gains more importance when it is studied within a revolutionary context. The participation of Iranian women in the course of the revolution gained them the designation of Revolution of Islamic Covers (chadurs). The main question of the present paper is: How the discourse of Islamic Revolution، contrary to its previous two discourses، i. e.، the traditional and modernization discourses، could win the participation of women in social-political arenas? The main objective of the present paper is to delve into the issue through discourse analysis method. Hence، the traditional، modernization and Islamic Revolution discourses are studied at two levels، i. e.، inter- and intra-discourse levels. The main hypothesis of the present paper is that the two first discourses at inter-discourse level faced discontinuation in their articulation and adopted the strategy of rejection and exclusion towards others، while at intra-discourse level they became incapable of preserving the former advocates and attracting new supporters. On the other hand، the synthetic nature of the articulation of Islamic Revolution’s discourse at the inter-discourse level and adoption of a critical and positive approach towards others based on cultural، social and political requirements of the society at intra-discourse level defined a new meaning and political and social identity for the Iranian women. This redefinition in its turn encouraged a large number of women to join the current of struggle against the government، who chose a traditional symbol، i. e.، hijab as their struggle of symbol.