Asian Women from Different Perspectives: A Collection of Articles

By Dr. Khadijeh Homay Salehi, Dr. Zahra Arzjani and Dr. Vida Rahiminezhad

With the entrance of women to different areas of academic, education, industry and even military forces, their status has changed in the society. That is why along with their maternal and motherhood roles, they have faced with social roles as well. These changes have persuaded scholars to start investigation over womens problem with scientific outlook by avoiding bias observation. They have examined difficulties of womens life through theoretical framework and prevent their move towards emancipation based on temporary belief. This book is the collection of eleven articles which have investigated Asian womens status from different perspectives in literature, sociology and Geography.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jul 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481795654

Dr. Khadijeh Homay Salehi

Dr. Zahra Arzjani is assistant professor in Zakaria Razi Student Research Center in Rey, Ministry of Education, and lecturer in Geography Department of Islamic Azad University—Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran. She has a Ph.D. degree in Economic Geography form Pune University in India. She has previously published another boo entitled Role of Sugar Factory in the Transformation of the Rural Economy. Email address: [e-mail] Dr. Vida Rahiminezhad is assistant professor in Research Institute for Education, and lecturer in English Department of Islamic Azad University—South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran. She has a Ph.D. degree in English Literature from Pune University in India. She has previously published two other books entitled , Cactus, It, She, and I, and A Study of Women's Empowerment in the Works of Manju Kapur and Anita Nair. Email address: [e-mail] Dr. Khadijeh Homay Salehi is assistant professor in Economic Department in Islamic Azad University—South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran. She has a Ph.D. degree in Geography in Iran.

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2013 Dr. Zahra Arzjani, Dr.

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Published by AuthorHouse 06/26/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-9564-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-9565-4 (e)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1:   Introduction

•   Introduction

Chapter 2:   Women in Literature

•   Introduction

•   Parvin, an Iranian Women Poet, Her Voice, and Her Masculine Language

•   A Comparison Study of General Proverbs Used by Iranian Women and Men

•   Introduction

•   A Study of Women’s Empowerment in the Works of Manju Kapur and Anita Nair

•   Reading of A Life Less Ordinary as a Testimonio

Chapter 3:   Women in Sociology

•   Introduction

•   Modernism among Girl Students of Tehran Universities

•   Introduction

•   Divorce in Iran and Western Countries

Chapter 4:   Women in Rural Areas

•   Introduction

•   Rural Women Participation in Sustainable Agriculture in Iran

•   Introduction

•   Role of Small Industrial Factories in the Rural Women Employment: Farmihan Rural District- Tafresh Small Province, Iran

•   Introduction

•   Iranian Rural Women and their Role in Tourism

•   The Effect of Professional and Technical Organization Trainings on Rural Women Occupation: Rural District Ghale-E-No–County Shahr-E-Rey, Iran

•   Introduction

•   Women Role in Economic Management of Rural Families: Bagheran County in Birjand, in Southern Khorasan Province, Iran

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Zahra Arzjani is assistant professor in Zakaria Razi Student Research Center in Rey, Ministry of Education, and lecturer in Geography Department of Islamic Azad University—Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran. She has a Ph.D. degree in Economic Geography from Pune University in India. She has previously published another book entitled Role of Sugar Factory in the Transformation of the Rural Economy.

Email address: [e-mail]

Dr. Vida Rahiminezhad is assistant professor in Research Institute for Education, and lecturer in English Department of Islamic Azad University—South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran. She has a Ph.D. degree in English Literature from Pune University in India. She has previously published two other books entitled, Cactus, It, She, and I, and A Study of Women’s Empowerment in the Works of Manju Kapur and Anita Nair.

Email address: [e-mail]

Dr. Khadijeh Homay Salehi is assistant professor in Economic Department in Islamic Azad University—South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran. She has a Ph.D. degree in Geography in Iran.

ASIAN WOMEN FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

a collection of articles

To you

&

To us

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

During the last few decades, scholars interested women’s issue in different disciplines. Therefore a lot of researches have done over women’s life in these decades. Studies of women historically started in the west. French revolution with the ideas of equality spread all over the western countries and the result was the emergence of women’s emancipation movement. The suffragette movement, the necessity of supporting family financially during world wars is among those factors that sent women out of home. And at the same time the attitudes of society towards women did not change and that was why women considered themselves as second citizens as Simon de Beauvoir brought this issue out in her book The Second Sex.

Being out of home and no change in the attitudes of society towards women, they started investigation over their own condition and observing their own life from various aspects of sociology, anthropology, economics, psychology, literary, tourism, geography, and so on.

Women such as Margaret Mead, Gunnar Myrdal, and Mary Wollstonecraft in suffragette movement and intellectuals Virginia Wools brought awareness to women, and this awareness appeared in discourses to overcome women’s problems.

The increase of women’s number in educational organization and the spread of women’s opportunity to work specially middle-class women are another factors that arise women awareness of their own conations and this why their life status has changed and women became an individual interesting subject of study and in most of disciplines women are considered as an individual with her own mind.

Women have entered market and engaged high-paid work and achieve the feelings of self-confidence along with the sense of dissatisfactory by facing the treatment that society has given them.

Asia spreads from India to Japan and Soviet Union to Indonesia and more than half of world’s population is in it. John Naisbit (1997)¹ said that during 50 years, Asia turned to a powerful continent. Its poor population reduced to 180 million from 400. World Bank announced that such improve during human history was unbelievable in history.

Asia is in the threshold of huge progress and it will become a superior region in the world.

In recent decades, Asian women stepped into 21th century as powerful forces which is the result of education and their awareness. They have produces effective roles along with men in economic and political areas (Naisbit, 1997). And that is why there is a necessity to adopt with the current facts and take into consideration women’s status.

Moreover, what in the last decades draws scholars’ attention is the term sustainability. Sustainability unable to achieve its goals without considering all social groups, especially women included half of population of the world. This group as the result of its effective role on children, youth, and men is the most important group.

The achievement of societies towards development does not come true unless the condition of women and men is equality considered. In other words not only literacy, health, and inhabitation are the essential needs of all people in the society but also the equal distributions of them among are necessary, as well. If in any society the rate of literacy, health and nutritional indicators income, and employment increases and at the same time the distribution would not be considered equally among two groups of men and women, such society cannot achieve the goal of improvement.

As the major impact of women’s role in the progress of society, scholars have started investigation over women’s problem with scientific outlook by avoiding bias observation. Scholars based on their theoretical framework examine difficulties of women’s life and prevent their move towards emancipation based on temporary belief.

With the entrance of women to different areas such as academic, education, industry and even military forces, their status has changed in the society. That is why along with their maternal and motherhood roles, they have faced with social roles as well. But still the importance of women’s roles in domestic work has not recognized though it has various positive socio-economic effects for families. Therefore women’s responsibilities inside home have not reduced and household tasks have not been divided between husbands and wives equally. It is remarkable to note that women’s cooperation in society is increasing day by day while still their household tasks are not divided equally.

In this regard the empowerment of women has essential role in women’s cooperation in different areas. Empowerment of women is a social, economic, cultural, and political process which enables them to express their needs and concerns; and actively participate in decision making process to meet each one of them.

This book included three other chapters entitled Women in Literature, Women in Sociology, and Women in Rural areas. First chapter contains four articles that two of them talks about the perspective of women in Indian literature and the other two refers to women in Persian literature. The second chapter discus about women in the light of sociological point of view and includes two articles and the last chapter examines the impact of women’s roles in rural areas that include five articles.

Dr. Vida Rahiminezhad

CHAPTER 2

WOMEN

IN LITERATURE

Introduction

Women’s roles in literature has evolved throughout history and had lead women to achieve empowerment. Modern literature has served as a mean for women to work on their individuality, achieve independent roles, and their empowerment. Women’s writers have come to the fore front and portrayed a vast area of ethnic and cultural perspectives of women. The special voice of female is a common theme in a large amount of literary works that can provide a separated identity for each one of women’s characters in literature. The roles of independent women in literature provide examples for other female and male readers as well and give a space to critics for short comings of the society. In other word the emergence of independent women writers all over the world especially in Asia which is the concern of this book has allowed for a new evolution of the role women in literature.

This chapter includes four articles—two of them refer to women’s role in Persian literature and the other two consider Indian literature.

Parvin, an Iranian Women Poet, Her Voice, and Her Masculine Language

Vida Rahiminezhad²

Abstract

Parvin Etesami is the most famous women poets in the history of Iranian poetry since her day.There is no other woman who has shown the same creativity in her poem before her.Parvin lived in a time when many upheavals were taking place not only in Iran but in the whole world—socially and politically. Her language appears masculine since she read her works in the presence of famous poets such as Malkeoshoar, Bahar, and Dehkhoda, all of whom were men. Having attended in Masculine sessions, Parvin lost her soft female language as Farkhzad (2001) noted.

She lived in the constitutional movement period - as a result of which she distanced herself from poems which were considered as ‘court poems’, and in her traditional style, in the privacy of her femaleness, started putting out her advices and views through her poems.

Key words: Parvin Etesami, masculine language, advice, feminine phase.

Introduction

Parvin Etesami (1906-1941) is without doubt the most famous of women poets in the history of Iranian poetry since her day. No other female poet of her period or before that has shown the same creativity and enthusiasm as we find in her poetry. Parvin started her career at the age of nine. She studied English at an American high school in Iran and graduated in1934. Parvin was exposed to Persian literature and Arabic literature by her father. Her marriage lasted only two months and she was divorced within 9 months. She died at the age of 35.

Parvin lived in a time when many upheavals were taking place