The Conflict of Traditional and Modern Gender Identity and the Factors Affecting Them (Case Study on 24-34 years Old Women in Qazvin)

The present paper attempts to explain the gender identity conflicts and factors affecting them. The theoretical framework used in this research includes theories of sociologists such as Giddens, Jenkins, Castells, Durkheim, Erikson’s psychological approach, and the feminists’ theories. The research performed by survey study on 380 persons as samples prepared by using random sampling. In this study, we assessed the relation between social factors and conflict. The findings indicate that people who live in more modern conditions (further education, employment, more use of international media with greater welfare and income above 20 million Rials), experience less identity conflicts. But those who live in more traditional conditions (lower education, unemployment, less consumption of international media, and less welfare with income less than 4 million Rials) experience greater identity conflicts. Also, we observed that married women experience more identity conflicts than single ones. On the other hand, people who have more religious parents, experience more Identity conflicts and ones who have less religious parents experience less identity conflicts. Also, ethnicity does not have any influence on the identity conflicts. The interesting point is the opposite effect of local and international media on the identity: Using local media increase gender identity conflicts, and the increasing usage of international media, reduces identity conflicts, which is a devisable and discussable point.