Gender As a Challenge to Social Capital Studies in Iran

Social capital and its main components such as participation and social trust have become critical in social and numerous studies have been done on this subject, but the main point to consider is that a few studies have been paid to inequalities, especially gender inequalities. Studies have shown that the importance of social capital, access to and use of it is different for men and women. So the social capital inequality provides little opportunity for women to improve their status and participate in the process of development. Therefore, in this study by using the systematic review of the research and the meta-analysis method, studies on social capital and gender have been reviewed. Findings have shown that gender neutrality dominates on social capital research, a few studies have been focused on gender and social capital then women have been neglected in this era; this issue is important because gender blindness increases inequality and gender discrimination between men and women and it also reflected in the management structure of society, government policy-making and access to political resources. Thus, women as half of the population have been neglected and have less social capital than men. Gender neutrality in the study of social capital with a dominant quantitative method indicates that the role of women in development by providing strong social networks, participation, trust, and other components of social capital has been neglected.