Migrant and Native Married Women in the Iranian City of Isfahan

Abstract

The subject is 165 married women and the comparison of two groups among them: 63 migrants and 102 city natives. Virtually the same in average age (about 26) and average number of years married (11), the migrant and native groups are similar in most of the patterns of behavior studied, as suggested by average age at marriage (15.5 and 14.3 years), number of pregnancies (5.5 and 4.9), and number of living children (3.6 and 3.3). Types of household composition are similar, as are frequencies of contact with relatives generally. Differences between the two groups are: smaller proportion of natives illiterate (46.5% vs. 68.3%), native preference for somewhat fewer children and fewer natives not having practiced contraception, and more native emphasis on education for elementary-school-age daughters. These differences may indicate urban influences and incipient culture change. However, the differences are slight. We attribute the predominant similarities to the migrant women's move, mostly with their husbands, from a domestic, female-secluded, sexsegregated rural environment to a protected domestic environment in the city, similar to the one they left and to that of the city-native women.