Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
PhD in Political Science (Political Sociology), Department of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
2
Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
3
Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
10.22080/sod.2026.30880.1035
Abstract
The victory of the 1979 Revolution in Iran established a novel political and ideological discourse that, by redefining social, cultural, and economic structures, reshaped the trajectory of development and institutional formation within a new semantic framework. One of the fundamental areas profoundly affected by this transformation was the status of women within the economy and production relations. This study aims to analyze the formation and reproduction of the "economic female subject" within the discourse of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Drawing on Michel Foucault's (power/knowledge) and Judith Butler's (gender performativity) theoretical frameworks within a post-structuralist approach, this research examines how the discourse and institutional structures of the Islamic Republic have shaped and constrained the economic female subject through the consolidation of gender norms and the reproduction of inequalities. Data analysis reveals that women's economic identity is the product of a complex interaction among ideological policies, rentier economy structures, and everyday resistances. The findings indicate that women's participation is construed less through individual merits and more within the context of ideological imperatives and power mechanisms. By offering a combined analytical framework, this study provides a deeper understanding of the interplay between discourse, institutions, and gender. It demonstrates that institutional changes without structural shifts in gender norms cannot lead to a sustainable improvement in women's economic status. Consequently, the economic female subject in Iran emerges as a fluid phenomenon existing in tension between discursive domination and the struggle for independent agency.
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