Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

Gender Dynamics in Contemporary Iran:Socio-Demographic Perspective

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 - 4:15pm to 6:00pm

Location:
Jerome Richfield 221
Cost:
Free

Yaghoob ForoutanThis seminar focuses on gender dynamics in Iran from a social and demographic perspective. This context has witnessed a wide range of socio-cultural and demographic changes over the past decades: more than a half-century of the Western-oriented Pahlavi monarchy, the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the post-revolutionary modernization period commencing with the First Five-Years Development Plan (1989-1993), and the occurrence of socio-cultural opportunities and challenges in more recent years. Moreover, the state policies related to women’s fertility have also witnessed substantial swings over the time.

Accordingly, this context serves as an interesting human and social laboratory to examine the patterns and determinants associated with gender and women’s status. In order to approach properly these key research objectives, this discussion employs varying datasets. This includes the analysis of censuses data (1956-2011), content analysis of educational resources representing the Islamic state’s views toward gender, and a recently-conducted and nationally-representative survey indicating social attitudes towards women and gender.

Yaghoob Foroutan holds PhD from Demography & Sociology Program, The Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia. He completed Post-Doctoral Fellowship at The University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand (2010-2013), where he now holds a position as Research Associate.

Dr. Foroutan is Assistant Professor at The University of Mazandaran in Iran. He also holds a position as Adjunct Research Fellow at The Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Foroutan is Chair of the Scientific Group on Demography of Asian Migrants and Diasporas, Asian Population Association. He serves as a Committee Member of the Society for Scientific Study of Religion, the United States of America. He also serves as Editorial Board Member of International Journal of Social Science Studies, and Today Social Science.

From a socio-demographic perspective, Dr. Foroutan’s extensive publications also include gender and women’s status in the context of religion and migration including "Women's Employment, Religion and Multiculturalism: Socio-demographic Emphasis" in Journal of Population Research (2008), a chapter on “Gender and Religion:The Status of Women in the Muslim World” in the book entitled The World's Religions: Continuities and Transformations (Routledge Publication, 2009), "Migration and Gender Roles: Typical Work Pattern of the MENA Women” in International Migration Review (2009), “Gender Representation in School-textbooks of Iran: The Place of Languages” in Current Sociology (2012), and a book-chapter entitled “Misunderstood Population?: Methodological Debate on Demography of Muslims in the West” in Yearbook of International Religious Demography (Brill, 2015). Further details available at: https://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/UWISG/associates/yaghoob-foroutan