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Female Empowerment in I ran: The Voice of I ranian U niversity Students
Author(s) -
Fereidouni Somayeh,
Mehran Golmar,
Mansourian Yasdan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
higher education quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.976
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1468-2273
pISSN - 0951-5224
DOI - 10.1111/hequ.12079
Subject(s) - empowerment , meaning (existential) , narrative , autonomy , qualitative research , power (physics) , sociology , psychology , political science , economics , social science , economic growth , linguistics , philosophy , physics , law , quantum mechanics , psychotherapist
In line with global trends, the rate of I ranian female students' enrolment in higher education has increased. However, some policy makers have been concerned about this and without considering the female voice, they have implemented strategies to balance the labour market, which has led to a decrease in female students in certain majors. The results of an empirical study showed that going to university is the primary route to empowerment for girls in I ran. The study into the meaning of empowerment adopted a qualitative approach using unstructured in‐depth interviews with 80 I ranian female university students from seven provinces of I ran. The narrative responses were analysed using content analysis and grounded theory. The results of this study led to develop a new theory called ‘ F emale E mpowerment through H igher E ducation’, which has several key constituents of female empowerment including: social presence, the power to make decision, autonomy, education and building up a new value framework.