Women Endowments of the Constitutional Functions until the End of the First Pahlavi, Case Study: Female Benefactor of Tehran

This study investigates the functions of endowments from the constitutional era to until the end of the first Pahlavi in Tehran. The dynamics of the waqf (endowment) during Islamic era led to the prosperity of culture and economy, and even the cultural spheres of society. After the Constitutional Revolution and the political and social changes of the Iranian society, Waqf has also evolved and has gained a new place in cultural and social relations. This research seeks to identify, in addition to identifying the functions of the women's endowments from the Constitutional period to the end of the first Pahlavi period, the features of the women's endowments of Tehran in this era, as well as (on the basis of existing documents) the areas included. In the process of this study, it was concluded that women were the main influential activists during social changes in the constitutional era and the first Pahlavi period and their endowments in the studied periods include significant differences, depending on the changes in attitudes, motivations of benefactors and social demands. In addition, it seems at least 20% of the endowment documents in the constitutional and Pahlavi era in Tehran were owned by women and at the same time, due to changes in the first Pahlavi era, female benefactors according to the social needs, gradually focused their attention on the social dimensions.