جامعه شناسی کاربردی (Mar 2021)
A Study of Role Changes and Happiness of Rural Women
Abstract
Introduction Women, as half of human society, have played different roles throughout history, taking advantage of different social and economic status. Like men, they performed various activities in society. Women work alongside men in society and take on important responsibilities. In the past, housewives cared about raising children. Today, however, women must be present in the social, political, cultural, and economic fields as active and creative people. Not so long ago, a rural woman interacted and communicated with family members by attending a family center, and therefore her life was satisfactory for her. Despite the traditional division of labor in the village, she played her roles well and there was no conflict between her roles. With the modernization of societies and the resulting changes, the role of women in the family changed. These changes caused a lot of emotional stress, including depression, lack of self-confidence, dissatisfaction with life, lack of happiness, etc., which threatened the physical and mental health of women. The present study investigates the evolution of the family, social, economic, political, and cultural roles of women in Joshagh village. This study aims to help women understand the concept of happiness. The consequences of changes in the role of women's happiness is another goal of this study. Materials and Methods Research data have been made available during five months of continuous living with rural women in Joshagh district. This has been achieved through techniques such as exploratory study, semi-organized interviews, focus group discussions, participatory observation, and direct observation. To do this, first, the available sampling method was taken from women. For this purpose, available people or volunteers were asked to participate in the research. Also, the snowball method contributed to the research in the next step. Finally, the findings of this study were the result of 31 interviews with 37 rural women. Individual and group interviews were analyzed in three analytical stages including open coding, axial coding, and selective or core coding by fundamental theory method. Discussion of Results and Conclusions Based on the results, the concept of happiness includes components such as women's gatherings, attending gatherings of friends, acquaintances, and relatives, attending religious ceremonies and places, women's work, and activities, happiness, lack of stress, worries, restlessness, anxiety, help and cooperation between women, enjoying the blessings of health, both mentally and physically, having a happy and strong spirit, enjoying life, and attending celebrations and joy. These components are strengthened by collective relations, social participation, and social trust between individuals. People’s interaction and communication with each other make people happy and that is why people enjoy being together. The results of the present study show that some of the interactions of rural women in their collective activities in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry have decreased. This decrease in interactions has reduced happiness. In other words, the changing role of women has reduced their traditional cooperation and collective participation. Women's gathering places have been gradually destroyed and no new place has been replaced. Many joyful ceremonies in the village have been forgotten and reduced to only a few religious and non-religious ceremonies throughout the year. This research shows that economic issues, the prevalence of luxury, etc. can be effective in reducing collective interactions. These have reduced women's happiness. First-generation women believed that despite the lack of facilities, women's cooperation created a happy mood. The group brought happiness to themselves and their peers by holding occasional gatherings such as walking the streets or attending religious ceremonies. Second-generation women understand both their mothers’ collective life and their daughters’ individualism. This generation is trying to get rid of everyday worries by using what they have learned, such as carpet weaving and so on. They also try to live happily by participating in partial and limited ceremonies in the village. The third-generation includes young girls who claim that the lack of facilities and equipment in their living space has caused them to lack happiness. Another reason for the lack of happiness can be related to the culture in the village, which does not allow them to move freely with their peers. Individualism is seen in this generation. However, this group tries to use their leisure time (such as meeting friends, traveling, attending religious ceremonies, etc.) to experience happiness with their peers.
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