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The Virtual Sphere and the Women's Movement in Post-Reform Iran

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The Virtual Sphere and the Women's Movement in Post-Reform Iran The Virtual Sphere and the Women’s Movement in Post-Reform Iran Sedigheh Karimi Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Asia institute The University of Melbourne March 2018 1 Abstract The rapid development of Internet and communication technologies raises the question of what role these media and communication interfaces play in social and political movements and development in individual countries. Although activities in cyberspace, including blogging, participation in social networks and other facilities provided by the Internet for its users are a new phenomenon, they have profound effects on social and political relations in the communities involved. In the information era, Internet is an important part of social movements in democratic societies and local communities. When the government blocks other ways to mobilization, Internet may bring like-minded people together and help them to find support for action. Internet has provided a new space for social movements and the effect of the virtual activities of the users on the actions and, often on the lack of social movements is of high importance. Meanwhile, the Iranian women’s movement, like other social movements in contemporary Iran, realizes the impact and position of cyberspace and has made use of it. Many activists, for whom other ways for expressing their demands have been blocked, have entered this space and taken advantage of it for expressing their opinions and communicating information to other people. In fact, the dominant socio-political forces and the atmosphere of repression, and fear have led many Iranian women to use the virtual space to campaign for women’s empowerment and equal rights. They have realized that the Internet may inform the outside world of the movement’s goals and activities and facilitate maintaining contact with other members of the movement. In fact, the open space that provides a platform for sharing information and has given the chance to the Iranian women’s rights activists to perform their activities in a space with a decentralized structure where there is less pressure than there is in the real world. Campaigns formed following the cyberspace market boom indicate that cyberspace has indeed ushered in a new era in the history of the Iranian women’s movement. The present study provides an analysis of the role of the Internet in the activities of the women’s movement and explores the extent to which cyberspace has been assisting the women’s movement in achieving its objectives. The thesis investigates whether there has been successful interaction between cyberspace and the Iranian women’s social movement resulting from a 2 dynamic adaptation between functions of social and political groups in the real world and the virtual world. It also examines how factors such as social participation, increasing awareness, changing beliefs, traditional views of women and social mobility have been affected by the application of the Internet, and whether cyberspace has been able to make women’s voices heard in Iran’s patriarchal society. 3 Declaration This is to certify that: The thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface, Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, The thesis is fewer than 100 000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices Signature Date 4 Acknowledgment This study gave me the opportunity to meet fifty women activists inside Iran who willingly told me their life stories, sharing with me their personal experiences and beliefs, their passion and resilience, their hopes and joys, as well as their concerns and frustrations. I owe these women my deepest gratitude. This study would not have been possible without their contributions. I also feel humbled by the conversations I have had with these dedicated, persistent and strong women as the sacrifices they made to provide a better future for all Iranian women were limitless. They hope that their resilience and commitment to the Iranian society may overcome ignorance and hostility and eventually lead to the recognition and appreciation of all Iranian people. I would also like to show my gratitude to a number of people who offered their support in different ways during these PhD years. In particular, I wish to thank my supervisors Dr. Muhammad Kamal for sharing his pearls of wisdom with me during the course of this research and Dr. Christina Mayer for her support and constructive comments. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family, my lovely kids Sara and Sina for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this thesis and my life in general. 5 Table of Contents Title page……………………………………………………………………………………………….….………… 1 Abstract …………………………………………………………………..…………………………………….…... 2 Declaration …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Acknowledgements …………………………………….…….……………………..………………………… 5 Table of contents ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6 List of tables and illustrations ……………………….………………………………………………..….. 9 Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Background ..………………………………………………..……………………………..……………… 10 1.2 Research questions …………………………………………….…………………….……………...... 16 1.3 Objectives ……………………………………………………………………………………………..……. 17 1.4 Significance and contribution …………………………………….…………………………….…. 18 1.5 Limitations …………………………………………………………………….……………………………. 20 1.6 Theoretical framework …………………………………………………………………………….…. 21 1.7 Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………….………..... 24 1.8 Definition of terms ………………………………………………………………………….………….. 25 1.9 Thesis outline ……………………………………………………………………………….…………..… 27 Chapter Two: Literature Review 2.1 The Internet and Political movements …………………………………………………….….. 30 2.2 The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Internet …………………..…………………….…... 37 2.3 The Iranian women’s movement and the Internet …………………………………….… 43 2.4 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………….….… 47 Chapter Three: Rouhani’s Equity Government: A new period of reform in Iran? 3.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………….…………….… 50 3.2 Definition of reform and reformism in the Iranian context ………………….…...… 50 6 3.3 Political parties in Iran …………………………………………………………………………….…. 54 3.4 Socio-Political environment in the Reformist Period …………………………………… 58 3.5 Women during the Reformist period ………………………………………………….………. 64 3.6 The Ahmadinejad Government ………………………………………………………….……….. 71 3.7 Socio-Political environment in the Post-Reform Period …………………….………… 71 3.8 Women under the Conservative Government ……………………………….……………. 74 3.9 Socio-Political environment under the Equity Government …………………………. 79 3.10 Women under the Rouhani Government ……………..………………………………….. 81 3.11 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 84 Chapter Four: The state of female activities In Iran 4.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 86 4.2 Charles Tilly's Theory of Resources ………………………………………………………..…... 87 4.3 The Mobilization Model ……………………………………………………………..………………. 88 4.3.1 The First Section of the Mobilization Model ……………….………………………… 88 4.3.1.1 Interests ………………………………………….…………………………………………….. 89 4.3.1.2 Organization ………………………………………………….………………………………. 99 4.3.1.3 Mobilization ………………………….……………………………….……………………. 110 4.3.2 The Second Section of the Mobilization Model ………………………….…..…… 116 4.3.2.1 Collective Action ……………………………….…………………………………….…… 116 4.3.2.2 Power ………………………………………………………………….………………….…… 120 4.3.2.3 Repression and Facilitation …………………………….…………….……………… 129 4.3.2.4 Opportunity and Threat …………..……………………….……………………….… 132 4.4 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 137 Chapter 5: Discussion 5.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 139 7 5.2 Findings ………………………………………………………………….………………………………… 139 5.3 Conclusion ……………………………………………..………………………………………………… 153 Chapter Six: Conclusion Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 154 Bibliography Books & Journals ………….………………………………………………………………………………… 164 Websites …………………………………………………………………………………..………………….... 174 8 List of Tables and Illustrations Diagram adapted from Charles Tilly ……….………………………………………………..………. 23 Table 1: Educational level of the interviewees ………………………………………….……..140 Table 2: Findings related to the opinions of the interviewees about women’s status in Iran ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….……. 140 Table 3: Relationship between education and the opinion of interviewees ……. 141 Table 4: Reasons proposed to explain women’s status in Iranian society ……….. 142 Table 5: Relationship between education and the reasons proposed to explain women's status in Iranian society ……………………………………………………………………. 143 Table 6: The impact of economic, legal, physiological and cultural factors on the situation of women from the interviewees perspective ………………………………….. 144 Table 7: Findings related to the evaluation of the relationship between the Iranian women’s movement and feminism from the interviewees' perspective ………….. 145 Table 8: Comparative assessment of men and women from the interviewees perspective …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 147 Table 9: Findings related to the relationship between the Internet and Iranian women’s movement from the interviewees' perspective ……………………….…….…. 149 Table 10: Findings related to the solution of women’s problems in Iran from the interviewees' perspective …………………………………….…………………………………………. 152 9 Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Background In the twenty-first century, the virtual sphere has played a crucial role in social activities. The growth
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