PATHWAYS TO WOMENS’ EMPOWERMENT IN NORTHERN IRAN
Open Access
- Author:
- Aghazamani, Yeganeh
- Graduate Program:
- Recreation, Park and Tourism Management
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 09, 2018
- Committee Members:
- Deborah L. Kerstetter, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Deborah L. Kerstetter, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Peter Allison, Committee Member
Peter Newman, Committee Member
Linda A. Wray, Outside Member - Keywords:
- Tourism
Women
Empowerment
Iran - Abstract:
- Women’s empowerment, which is the focus of the United Nation’s fifth Sustainable Development Goal, has been a concern of the global community for several years. While empowerment is defined and measured in various ways, scholars believe that a context-based definition is required to measure empowerment in developing countries due to their different cultural, political, and economic circumstances (Tosun, 2002; Tucker & Boonabaana, 2012). This is particularly true when it comes to measuring women’s empowerment resulting from development such as tourism. The role of tourism development on perceptions of women’s roles and responsibilities has been influential to the extent that communities no longer expect women to focus only on reproduction, they, too, can work outside the home, take on leadership responsibilities, and more (Khani, 2012). To explore the intersection between women’s empowerment and tourism development, this study focused on the experiences of local women in one tourism destination—Ramsar province in Northern Iran. The research question I answered was: What are women’s perspectives on empowerment? In answering this question I uncovered women’s perspectives on empowerment and the degree to which tourism development may have affected their perspective. Using a qualitative approach, I uncovered 10 themes pertaining to women’s perspective on empowerment. The themes included having a formal job or an informal activity (e.g., raising vegetables for family use), and being good-tempered, risk taking, brave, and responsible. They also included being a game changer who influences others iv and efficiently doing their job and achieving their goals; challenging norms (e.g., selecting their preferred hejab); being trusted and involved in philanthropic activities; being financially (e.g., having income) and intellectually (e.g., making decisions and expressing ideas) independent; taking care of their family (e.g., support husband, children, and family members) and managing their house (e.g., cleaning, cooking, managing household finance) at the same time; being sociable and able to interact with people from different cultures; being educated and/or informed about societal issues; making progress through nurturing successful children and contributing financially and non-financially to the survival of their family; and having faith in God and being hopeful that God will help them when they are in need. One-half of the women believed they were empowered. The other women, who identified as “somewhat empowered” or “not empowered,” believed their limited or non-existent empowerment was due to their inability to reach their goals, find a job, balance their work life and home life, and/or because of their limited work experience. Hence, the results indicated that empowerment is not a zero-sum concept. There is a spectrum for empowerment that includes empowered, somewhat empowered, and not empowered, all of which present differently in terms of what constitutes empowerment. In addition, the study provided evidence of “leveled empowerment,” suggesting that a woman can feel empowered and not empowered at the same time. These perceptions have their roots in a woman’s own expectations and priorities. These findings are in contrast with templates offered in the literature, which propose two categories of empowerment—empowered v and disempowered (e.g., Boley, Ayscue, Maruyama, & Woosnam, 2017; Panta & Thapa, 2017; Scheyvens, 1999). Through applying an inductive approach, which is unlike most deductive studies conducted with women in Iran, this study contributed to the literature by uncovering 10 themes associated with empowerment, 2 of which (i.e., behavioral characteristics and faith) are new to the literature. While the new themes may be context dependent, they do challenge existing notions of empowerment and reinforce the need to continue to study empowerment using an inductive approach.