Women’s Social Role in the Statement of the Second Phase of the Islamic Revolution: Examining Ayatollah Khamenei’sViews

The issue of women's playing their appropriate role in society has been one of the most challenging issues in different societies. In Iranian society, too, extremist and traditional attitudes and views on this issue have created some problems. Accordingly, this study aims to identify and outline Ayatollah Khamenei's views on the social role of women, which pave the way for Iranian women to play their social role. In fact, this study seeks to answer this question: What is women’s social role in the statement of the Second Phase of the Revolution with an emphasis on Ayatollah Khamenei’s statements? To answer this question, the statement of the Second Phase of the Revolution and his statements from 1990 to 2021 were examined through qualitative content analysis method. Then, 5 categories regarding women’s social roles— their role in science and research, in moral and social education, in employment, in political activities, and etc. — were extracted and the conclusions were separately presented in each section. The findings showed that he encourages women to acquire knowledge and struggle skills and even consider educated and self-sacrificing women as the pride of the Islamic society. Regarding women’s role in social education, Ayattollah Khamenei not only admires this role, but he also considers it as the highest role of women. However, he accepts women's employment and their political activities as long as they are compatible with women's nature and do not harm their family role. Finally, his strategy is to combine family and social roles, which requires developing an Islamic-Iranian lifestyle modeled on  Hazrat Zahra’s (AS).