Women in Middle Eastern Countries: Determining the Level of Religious Beliefs in Muslim Iranian Women

• In Event: Women's Rights within Islam: Emerging Cases from Egypt, Iran, and Turkey

Abstract

After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Islamists attacked ‘Iranian identity’, and tried to replace it with the ‘Islamic identity’. The purpose of this research is to find out the level of religious identity among a sample of Iranian women. Findings of my inquiry indicate that some Iranian women believe that an ideal woman must act according to the cultural and religious norms and traditions. Such women strongly internalize these values and have become a source of control and restriction over the activities of other women. On the other hand, many women attempts to become Westernized (modern) women, far from religious beliefs.

Presenter

• Mozhgan Malekan, University of Cincinnati