The Historical Trend of Women’s Employment in the Context of Pre- and Post- Islamic Revolution Discourses

As the foundation for making a living as well as a context to demonstrate human creativity and capabilities, job and employment have not been free from the effects of gender, age, and class throughout history. The boundaries of these social variables’ impacts are determined by the dominant discourse in each period in the historical trend and in a certain social-cultural texture through exercising existent social powers.By choosing discourse theory and analysis based on Laclau and Murphy, the present research explores the history of women employment and its effects on individual and social lives of Iranian women and families. The present research is based on historical documents and data from different periods of Iran history: pre-modern, Qajar colonial economy, Pahlavi, and Islamic Revolution.The results show that in the discourse of Islamic Revolution - with “equality and non-similarity of rights for men and women” being its central signifier – a semantic system of signifiers, such as chastity and hijab, segregation by gender in professions and workplaces, and expectation for women to be at home, has been formed. Emphasis on a healthy and safe workplace along with simultaneous and tensionless playing of wife and mother’s role have made women employment in Iranian post-revolution period distinctive and better in comparison with Pahlavi Period and before.