Beyond cultural stereotypes: Educated mothers’ experiences of work and welfare in Iran

Abstract

The tensions and pressures that mothers experience when they have to make decisions about combining the care of children with entry into the labour market are by now well established. Much of the research in this area, however, has focused on Europe or North America. In this article, the focus is on a society where women’s employment and its relationship to childcare has seldom been explored: Iran. Iran has often been presented as a state that is not particularly women-friendly and as distinctly different from the seemingly more pluralistic and egalitarian states of Western Europe. The argument here is that mothers’ employment in Iran should not be viewed through clichés of religion and patriarchy, rather that it is significantly affected, as in other countries, by care structures, the general acceptance of leaving one’s children to a caregiver, the availability of employment opportunities and the general policy environment.