Analysis of the Issue of Women and Their Education with Emphasis on the Shokufeh Newspaper (The Second Women's Newspaper)

Abstract

The present article aims to examine the discourse of the Shokufeh newspaper as the second women's experience in the field of journalism, emphasizing the elevation of women's status in the post-Constitutional Revolution period, and the issue of education as a tool for entering the social arena. Women had already shown active participation in the pre-Constitutional era, particularly in the Tobacco Protest and the establishment of the National Bank. Therefore, the main research question of the present study is based on what ideal and demand the writers of the Shokufeh newspaper chose as their main discourse, considering the changes in the social living conditions of women in the post-Constitutional period. Additionally, within the framework of their society, what causes and factors did they consider as obstacles to their flourishing status and as deterrents? Based on the examination of the remaining issues of the Shokufeh newspaper, employing the content analysis method, the hypothesis of the present article is formulated that the Shokufeh newspaper, like most women's newspapers of this period, advocates for women's entry into the social arena within the religious discourse of Islam and does not tend towards creating religious opposition. The findings of the research indicate that the writers of this newspaper, by repeating equality, freedom, social rights equality, and women's entry into the social arena, highlighted these themes in society while considering a portion of women and the patriarchal or customary society as the main obstacles to achieving these goals.