It is not to Run but to Win: Traditional-Religious Muslim Women’s Agency in Iran and Türkiye

Year 2025, Issue: 30, 59 - 81, 30.04.2025

Zainab Mesgartehrani , Abbas Varij Kazemi , Zahra Bakhtiari

https://doi.org/10.26650/iukad.2023.1255900

Abstract

Despite widespread assumptions about women’s agency in the Middle East that show the concept of agency as not typically useful to them and submission and obedience as characteristics typically used to describe these women, this study was able to show there is insufficient knowledge about the meanings of women’s agency for women living in conservative non-western regions, especially the Middle East. We gathered data from 50 lower-middle-class traditional-religious Muslim women in Ankaras and Tehran. We used a qualitative method, thematic analysis, and cognitive and semi-structured interviews. By emphasizing the quiet encroachment theory, the result shows that the encroachment of religious women in their everyday lives may be silent, hidden, and slow. Still, these women have been able to demonstrate their agency despite low education and economy. They don't act and think according to the traditional patterns of religiosity or social, cultural, and religious expectations. They create environments and resources for their freedom of action and fulfill their wishes outside. Women make decisions as active agents in the decision-making process after exiting their safe space and experiencing the joys of change.

Keywords

Agency, Muslim women, The Middle East, Iran, Türkiye

Koşmak Değil Kazanmak Önemlidir: İran ve Türkiye’de Geleneksel-Dindar Müslüman Kadınların Eylemliliği

Abstract

Orta Doğu’da kadınların eylemliliği ile ilgili olarak, genelde eylemlilik kavramının kadınlar için uygun olmadığını ve bu kadınları tanımlamak için genellikle boyun eğme ve itaat kavramlarının kullanıldığını gösteren yaygın varsayımlara rağmen, bu çalışma, batı dışında muhafazakâr bölgelerde, özellikle de Orta Doğu’da yaşayan kadınlar için kadınların eylemliliğinin anlamları hakkında yeterli bilgi olmadığını gösterebilmiştir. Ankara ve Tahran’daki 50 alt-orta sınıf geleneksel-dindar Müslüman kadından veri topladık. Nitel bir yöntem, tematik analiz, bilişsel ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmelerden yararlandık. Sonuçlar, sessiz ihlal teorisini vurgular bir şekilde, dindar kadınların gündelik hayatlarındaki ihlallerinin sessiz, gizli ve yavaş olabileceğini göstermektedir. Yine de bu kadınlar düşük düzeydeki eğitim ve ekonomik koşullarına rağmen eylemliliklerini gösterebilmektedirler. Geleneksel dindarlık kalıplarına ya da sosyal, kültürel ve dini beklentilere göre hareket etmemekte ve düşünmemektedirler. Eylem özgürlükleri için ortamlar ve kaynaklar yaratmakta ve isteklerini dışarıda gerçekleştirmektedirler. Kadınlar, güvenli alanlarından çıktıktan ve değişimin keyfini yaşadıktan sonra karar alma sürecinde aktif aktörler olarak karar vermektedirler.

Keywords

Eylemlilik, Müslüman Kadınlar, Orta Doğu, İran, Türkiye

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