The Women`s Perception of Gender Roles in Rasht: A Generational Study

Abstract

Iranian women have faced substantial socio-economic changes in the last decades, which provided opportunities to change gender beliefs and production of new generations of women. The aim of the present study is to examine the different attitudes of women towards gender roles, based on Mannheim and Giddens` theory. A survey method was used and data was gathered based on a researcher-made questionnaire. The statistical population was all women older than 18 years living in Rasht City, among them 384 were selected by the stratified and random sampling methods. According to the findings, respondents were divided into three generations: the war and revolution generation, the post-war generation, and the generation of nuclear events. The results indicate the difference between the attitudes of different generations and even by controlling the structural and demographic factors, it was found that the women of the post-war generation affected by cognitive areas, had the most modern attitudes towards gender roles. According to Mannheim`s generational approach, there is a significant relationship between the generational experience and the attitudes of generations.