Conducting field research on gender relations in a gender repressive state: a case study of gender research in Iran

Abstract

This paper reflects on the experience of conducting fieldwork and the gendering of research within the context of a gender repressive state. The Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently enacted discriminatory policies regarding gender relations since 1979. These regressive measures have made the state apprehensive and sensitive towards any research, especially when it is conducted by Iranian feminist scholars with Western institutional affiliations. One of the paradoxical elements of these discriminatory policies has been the increasing access of women to education, in particular to higher education. The main objective of this paper is to unravel dilemmas and obstacles that were encountered when conducting fieldwork within the context of a gender repressive state. The literature on research methodologies has neglected this significant phenomenon, leaving researchers without strategies with which to face and address numerous dilemmas and challenges. The paper discusses several obstacles that I faced in undertaking fieldwork in Iran and the gender relations that were involved and negotiated in the conduct of research. It also describes gender strategies that were used to overcome some of the dilemmas, and problematizes other ethical issues in relation to the production of knowledge, insider/outsider position, the flexibility of the researcher, and the reliability of data particularly as these relate to reflecting on the gendering of the research process. The paper aims thus to generate further discussion about research on gender in the context of a gender repressive state.

Keywords:

• research and repressive state
• qualitative research on women in Iran
• women and higher education in Iran
• conducting field research
• gender repressive state

Acknowledgement

This research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (410-2006-1426).

Notes

1. For example, Nozaki, Aranha, Fix Dominguez, and Nakajima (2009) argue that, “one of the most significant worldwide transformations in education over the past several decades has been the drastic increase in women’s access to colleges and universities” (p. 217).

2. Prior to the revolution the women’s question was mostly subsumed within the political and economic issues. The priority was set around changes in the structural condition before dealing with women's issues. This is especially true among the leftist group.

3. The Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution was formed in 1984 to replace the Cultural Revolution Headquarters. Following a decree by Imam Khomeini, the Council was responsible to take measures in planning for the cultural policies of universities on the basis of Islamic culture, selection of committed professors, and for other issues relevant to the Islamic Revolution.

4. The term is subject to controversy among Iranian feminists. It is generally used to refer to those feminist activists and scholars, including veiled women, who carry out their work toward women’s advancement and gender equality within an Islamic discursive framework (see Moghadam, 2002 for a discussion and summary of the controversy surrounding this term).