Women’s Perceived Understanding of Issues in the Domain of Family: A Case Study of Women in Fasa, Iran
Journal Title: Strategic Research on Social Problems in Iran - Year 2021, Vol 10, Issue 1
Abstract
Introduction: Nowadays, families face a spectrum of social harms and issues that influence their lives significantly and require to be identified. For this purpose, the current study aimed at analyzing women’s perceived understanding of family harms and hearing their accounts of family issues and harms. That is because women in many cases gain a deeper understanding of the issues and challenges in the family life and the changes occurring there since they play a pivotal role within families and establish interactions and relations with other members of the family. On the other hand, the informal social networks where women are members and their social bonds to women’s groups make it possible for them to share their daily experiences and accumulate a plethora of women’s experiences and interpretations of issues in daily lives, particularly regarding the family life. In many cases, such experiences involve interpretations that can be valuable in understanding family harms and social issues. Materials and Methods: The current study was conducted using a qualitative and phenomenological methodology. The data were collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews with 17 women (aged 18-65 years old) in Fasa, which had been selected according to the purposive sampling technique. The semi-structured interview refers to a flexible interview in which questions are designed based on the main questions of a particular study. In the current study, the research questions were formulated based on the following major questions: - How do the participants understand and describe issues in the domain of family? - What are the most important issues for women according to the participants? - How do women face family issues? How do the female participants classify and categorize family issues? - Which factors are mentioned by the female participants as the background factors in the emergence of social issues? Each participant who took part in the study was completely aware of the process of research and interviews. To obtain their consent, the research study including its goals, questions, the manner of participating, and the process of interviews was explained to all of the participants. In the current study, the Colaizzi’s method was used for data analysis. Thus, the audio files obtained from each interview session were transcribed and coded in a textual format. The extraction of concepts aimed to collect the participants’ significant statements related to the topic of the study and special care was taken so that these statements can be collected with similar valuation and free from repetition and overlap. After the first stage was over, themes and categories were extracted by comparing and merging or eliminating early concepts, and the process of data analysis was conducted. Discussion of Results and Conclusions: Based on the results of the study, two types of harms in the form of “content harms” and “structural harms” were identified and classified. Content harms, which mostly deal with the relationships inside a family and between family members, include three major categories in the form of “the formation of solitude chrysalis and individualized worlds”, “generalized parenting and increasing child-centeredness”, and “constant disagreements and conflicts in the family”. In addition, the second type that refers to external aspects of a family named “structural harms” has been classified in the form of three major categories. These categories include “changes in family values and beliefs as the changes and developments in the family institutions”, “the spillover of social harms to families”, and “challenges related to social welfare”. Altogether, it seems that harms and issues within the family include a wide spectrum of social issues. Though these harms have been classified in the current study into two groups called content and structural harms, many of them are so complicated and intertwined that it seems they originate from one another and create a cycle of harm and social issues. They can be interpreted and assigned meaning based on their cultural environments and backgrounds, and the reduction and prevention of such harms require that those backgrounds be taken into consideration.
Authors and Affiliations
Zahra Mirhosseini * Assistant Professor, Department of Women and Family Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran z. mirhosseini@alzahra. ac. ir Zahra Koohpeyma Ronizi MA in Women’s Studies, Department of Women and Family Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran z66koohpeyma@gmail. com
Keywords
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- EP ID EP704969
- DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.22108/srspi.2021.124148.1586
- Views 70
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