Gender Inequality: The Role of Social & Cultural Factors in the Families of Gonbadekavous City

Professor Alireza Kaldi, University of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation sciences Associate Professor Mehrdad Navabakhsh, Islamic Azad University Dr Alireza Esmaeili, Faculty Member of Islamic Azad University, Branch of Azadshahr Correspondence to: Professor A. R. Kaldi, email: arkaldi@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT Introduction: Gender inequality is one of the social phenomena found in human societies through which men dominate women and in most cases men and even women, through socialization, accept their superior and inferior status. This research aims to study and identify the role of some social factors, including the instrumental role, functional role, and the ideology of patriarchy and cultural factors, such as gender socialization, educational role, and cultural capital on gender inequality among Iranian families. Method: The present research is mainly based on survey method. The major means of gathering data is questionnaire. The population of this research is comprised of the employees in the city of Gonbadekavous in the north of Iran. The sample population is 400. Results: The findings suggest that gender inequality evidently exists, and the most significant factors influencing gender inequality in Iranian families are gender socialization, functional role, patriarchy ideology, cultural capital, and educational role, respectively, which accounts for 97.5% of the dependant variable. Conclusion: Regarding the findings of this research, it seems that for decreasing gender inequality in the family, the civil law and the stereotyped beliefs of the society, especially men towards women, must be changed. Keywords: Gender inequality, family, gender socialization, instrumental role, functional role, patriarchy, cultural capital, educational role.

INTRODUCTION

Gender inequality is a kind of social segregation, i.e., division of positions, but any segregation is not equivalent to inequality. Therefore, segregation of men from women does not mean priority of one sex over the other, but at the same time, social segregation is an important step towards inequality. Gender inequality refers to the differences between men and women in receiving social and economic advantages which is often to the benefit of men at the expense of women, which means men take superiority over women. In different societies, gender involves certain social and cultural characteristics which give shape to inequality in facilities, privileges, and positions. "Gender inequality means inequality between men and women in accessing the existing resources" (1). Any kind of behavior, policy, language, and other actions that represent a fixed, comprehensive, and institutionalized view in regard to women as inferior beings, means gender inequality (2).

The issue of gender inequality is extremely intermingled with value disparities, because people define equality and inequality based on their social and economic status, as well as their beliefs and opinions.
Gender inequality includes "lack of rights of women to participate in political activities, equal wage of men and women for equal amount of work, unequal opportunities in access to educational facilities, lack of participation in the decision-making of the family, and inequality in civil rights" (3). Some people believe that the disparities between men and women are due to physical traits which it seems that in modern society it doesn't play a substantial role in gender inequality, instead, political, cultural, social, and economic traits seem to be decisive. "Feminist disparity approach insists on the sex which is a sheer biological subject, while feminist unequal approach looks at the matter as including psychological, social, and cultural components" (4). Gender inequality is theoretically indicative of the differences existing in the access of men and women to the opportunities and resources such as power, and the priority of men in the access to facilities and is practically evaluated in regard to indicators such as male-dominated society, dichotomous sexual nature of laws, and sexual priority of men over women in the social participation domain" (5).
In respect to gender inequality, feminism, functionalism, Marxism, and modernization theories voiced different opinions. Feminists have various interpretations in respect to gender inequality. Marxist feminists mainly take ownership and economy responsible for gender inequality. From radical feminists' point of view, inequality and oppression of men on women is caused by patriarchy which is itself resulted from division of labor in the family. Socialist feminists assume both patriarchy and capitalism as the source of oppression on women. Thus, gender inequality results from a patriarchical system and capitalist system, that is, a capitalist system along with a patriarchical system gave rise to the domination of men on women. Liberal feminists put a special importance on the amendment of laws for decreasing gender inequality, because laws have been mainly made in favor of men and to the detriment of women.

Functionalists presume the difference between men and women an inherent issue which must not be changed (6); that seems illogical and irrational, although it is a bitter reality and undeniable. Functionalists see the dominance of men over women as something indispensable which provides balance, stability, and consistency in the family, because otherwise the family will fail to perform its proper functions.
Marxists argue that the main cause of gender inequality is the economy. In their view, economic inequality is the origin of gender inequality. Thus, men, with higher salary and earnings for the family, have the upper hand over the women, and the more the women are well off economically, the less will be the said inequality between men and women, and "when men would have the superior status that women have the inferior, and the present gender function patterns let men to preserve their political, social, and economic advantages, the dominant group benefits from the existing condition and is not willing to change it (7).
In the view of Marx, self-alienation makes women more suppressed, "the simplest configuration of alienation is indicative of the relation between the work which a woman does and the outer system which suppresses her, in a way that if she were to work harder, it will lead to the reinforcement of the system which suppresses her (8). Therefore, bipolarization of this world and division of labor between them, further gender inequality.

Thus, contrary to functionalism, Marxism opposes inequality. However, "the view of Marxism to the hierarchical structure of society is based on the class, and the class is also defined in relation to the means of production. Gender has nothing to do in this classification and this theory obviously disregards the hierarchical relationship between men and women inside the home as well as in the public. As such, feminism regards Marxism as a male-centered theory " (9).

Modernization and development set the ground for sexual division of labor. Modernization caused extended family to be replaced by nuclear family, the very fact that caused division of labor inside the family. Owing to their physical traits and procreation, women were driven toward housework, and men for the sake of production inclined to outdoor works. "In the process of modernization, the technological innovations reduced the biological imbalances between men and women and women found the opportunity to release themselves from housework and enter into job markets (10). Modernization and development, and nuclear family and technological innovations have undeniable effects on gender inequality in families.

In the view of Cott, home is the place of woman as housekeeper. Momsen, too, recognizes social biases as important in gender inequality. In the majority of research, demographic factors, such as race, ethnicity, age, and income were emphasized (11). In the research conducted by Huber & Spitze, "socio-economic elements, like occupational position, education, income, and age of couples had great impacts on the form of division of labor in the family (12). According to Gazso-Windle and McMullin, elements like economic, social, and demographic features of individuals have an impact on the manner of power sharing of spouses inside the family and affect the manner of their participation in home affairs (13).

Therefore, with the employment of women, their share in family decision-making increases (14), and the income of the head of household is effective in family decision-making. "With the increase in the income of the head of household, the power of men at home decreases (15), and in the villages, with the increase in the amount of land and livestock of women, their involvement in family decision-making increases (16). With relative increase in the family welfare, the role of women in family decision-making increases (17), and also the social status of the wife's family is effective on her family decision-making. Women living in nuclear families, due to enjoying more independence, have a better status in the family than women living in extended families, and as a result, their participation in family decision-making increases (15).

METHOD

The present research is mainly based on survey method, and the major means of gathering data is questionnaire. The statistical population of this research is comprised of the employees of the city of Gonbadekavous, northern city of Iran, in different sectors. The quantity of the sample population is 400, and the random sampling method was used. For establishing the reliability of the research tool, Cronbach's Alpha was used, which indicates the perpetuity of the research tool.
The present research aims to study and identify the role of functional, and ideological variables of patriarchy, gender socialization, the role of education and cultural capital on gender inequality among Iranian families. In other words, this research aims to investigate the role of certain social and cultural factors on gender inequality in the family. Therefore, this research seeks to answer the following questions:
1- What is the view of men and women to gender inequality in the family?
2- What are the major social and cultural factors effective on gender inequality in the family? 3- Which variable can explain the dependent variable better than other variables?

For answering these questions, the following hypotheses were proposed for evaluating the correlation and explaining the variables:

1- Instrumental role is effective on gender inequality in the family.
2- Functional role is effective on gender inequality in the family.
3- Patriarchic ideology is effective on gender inequality in the family.
4- Gender socialization is effective on gender inequality in the family.
5- Educational role is effective on gender inequality in the family.
6- Cultural capital is effective on gender inequality in the family.

RESULTS

In this research, 400 employees in the city of Gonbedekavous were studied, out of which 36% were employed in the cultural sector, 37.8% in the service sector, and 26.3% in the agricultural sector. A majority of them are under 42 years of age, that is, 24% of respondents are between 22 to 32 years of age, and 48% were between 33 to 42 years of age, who are accountable for 72% of the statistical population. Therefore, it can be said that the people under the study are mainly young with higher education degrees. According to the statistics, 32 percent of respondents have high school diploma and below, and 68 percent have university degrees. Regarding the different ethnic groups who live in the city, the research society, too, involves different ethnic groups.

In this research, 39.5% of the respondents are Fars and 40.5% are Turkeman, which is totally accountable for 80% of the sample population, and 10.5% are Turks, 8% are comprised of Sistani migrants, and 1.8% are from other ethnic groups.

For evaluation of gender inequality as a dependent variable, indicators of trust to wife, cooking of husband, consulting with wife, the role of wife in creating balance in family, freedom of occupation, housecleaning, wife's assertiveness, showing respect to wife, doing laundry, and caring for children, which were devised by the researcher, have been used for the survey. According to the results, gender inequality grade of 30, was considered zero, and accordingly, grades above 30 represented less inequality, and below 30 represented more inequality at home, and 6% of respondents had a moderate view to gender inequality in the family, the grades of 61% of respondents were below zero and grades of 33% of them were above zero which is indicative of gender inequality in the family in favor of men, because, with the increase of grades below zero, gender inequality against women increases.

Table 1: Distribution of respondents in terms of gender inequality in the family

The instrumental role of this research was measured with indictors of main source of income, person responsible for expenses, open atmosphere, case of consultation, and election of parliament member, the main source of family income lies with men, because 64.5% knew men as the main source of family income and 4.3% knew women, and the responsibility of family expenses in 63.8% of cases lies with men, while the role of women is 8%, therefore, although men are assumed to be the main source of the family income, the responsibility for expenses is often attributed to other members of the family, especially women. In creating an open atmosphere at home, 38% ascribed this role to men, and 12.8% ascribed it to women, 27% mentioned men and 15.3% mentioned women as the basis for consultation that men play a more significant role in consultation.

The results of correlation test indicate that their relation with gender inequality as a dependent variable is on the probability of 99% meaningfulness and the significance level of the instrumental role variable is 0.000.

Table 2: The role of key variables on gender inequality in the family

With regard to the results of Table 2, the amount of R2 or the specified coefficient equals to 0.117 which indicates that 11.7 percent of changes of dependent variable is explained by instrumental role variable. Calculation of one-sided variance or ANOVA, too, shows the meaningfulness of regression and linear relation, because the calculated significance level equals to 0.00.

The functional role in this research was measured with the indicators of functional necessity, accord and stability, sharing of duties and principal management. The functional role, as one of social variables, is measured by four indicators. Respecting the necessity of men's management, 6.8% know women responsible for this duty and 54.8%, also, know the management at home as a necessity for men and women. Most of the respondents know men as the principal head of the household, because 55.8% suggested men and 9.3% suggested women as the principal decision-maker of the family, and non-important decisions are usually made by women, and important decisions are made by men. With regard to the role of management in the stability of family, 15.5% proposed men as decisive in family stability, respecting sharing of duties, too, 17.8% chose the option of women and 12.5% chose the option of men.

The results of correlation test suggest the relation between functional necessity, accord and stability, sharing of duties, on the probability of 99% and the principal management on the probability of 95% with gender inequality as a dependent variable meaningfulness, and the significance level of the most of the functional role indicators is 0.00, which shows the high correlation of instrumental role variable with gender inequality in the family.

Table 3: The role of functional variable on gender inequality in the family

With regard to the results of Table 3, the specified coefficient (R2) equals to 0.112 which indicates that 11.2 percent of changes of dependent variable is explained by functional role variable. Calculation of ANOVA, too, shows its meaningfulness with the level of 0.000.
In this research, gender was measured by such indicators as happiness from the birth of girl, expectation through boys, independence of girl, encouragement of boys to control emotions, extent of attention to girls, and supervision over boys. Undoubtedly, indicators of gender is one of factors affecting gender inequality in the family. For understanding the role of this variable, 6 indicators of happiness from birth, expectation, independence, emotion control, attention, and supervision were used. According to statistical data, 72.8% of respondents expressed that they are happy by the birth of boys and the remaining 27.3%, too, by the birth of girls, and that their expectation from boys is more than girls. Data suggests that 74.3% of the respondents have more expectations from boys and 25.7% have more expectations from girls. With regard to the variable of giving independence to children, 90% of respondents said that boys must be given independence, and the remaining 10%, too, insisted on giving independence to girls and often encouraged girls to control their emotions. According to the statistics, 37.3% encouraged boys, and 62.8% of respondents encouraged girls to control their emotions and, also, respondents paid more attention to boys than girls, since, 70% of them paid more attention to boys and 30% paid attention to girls, and vice versa, exercised more supervision over boys, in such a way that, according to the statistics, 42% exercised more supervision over boys, and 58%, too, exercised more supervision over girls.


Table 4: The role of gender variable on gender inequality in the family

The results of correlation test suggest the relation between gender and the dependent variable meaningful. With regard to the results of Table 4, the amount of R2 or the specified coefficient equals to 0.166, which indicates that 16.6 percent of changes of dependent variable is explained by gender variable. Calculation of ANOVA, too, shows the meaningfulness of regression and linear relation, because the significance level equals to 0.00.

In this research, the idea of patriarchy was measured with such indicators as family customs and tradition, social values, emotional function, family law, and inherent view.



Table 5: The role of patriarchy variable on gender inequality in the family

The results of correlation test suggest that their relation with gender inequality as a dependent variable is meaningful on the probability of 99%. The calculated significance level is 0.00, which shows the high correlation of patriarchy variable with gender inequality in the family.

With regard to the results of Table 5, the amount of R2 or the specified coefficient equals to 0.107, which indicates that 10.7 percent of changes of dependent variable is explained by patriarchy variable. One-sided variance, too, shows the meaningfulness of regression and linear relation, with the significance level of 0.000.

In this research, educational role was measured with indicators of women's personality in movies and TV programs, education system, and textbooks. Educational role, as a key cultural variable, is evaluated with four indicators. According to this study, 3% of respondents believe that movies display an over-weakened personality of women, and 7.8% expressed it very much, 8.3% very little, and 9.5% very little, and 42.3% of answers were expressed in moderate level. Also, women enjoy the same status in TV series as in movies, in such a way that 32.5% of respondents stated that underestimation of women's personality in TV series is high, 7% very high, and, on the contrary, 7% stated it very little and 12.5% little, and 40.8%, too, stated in moderate level. Education system and textbooks play a significant role in underestimating women. Statistical data suggests that 35.5% of respondents know the role of education system in underestimation of women high and 10.8% know it extremely high, and for textbooks these figures stand at 29% and 6%, respectively. 7.5% of respondents knew the education system in underestimation of women very little and 15.8% knew it little blamable, and 30.5%, too, knew the failure of education system in a moderate level. But, 10% knew textbooks very little and 20% knew it little blamable, and 35%, too, put a moderate blame on textbooks for underestimation of women.



Table 6: The role of educational role variable on gender inequality in the family

The results of correlation test indicate that the relation between educational role and gender inequality as a dependent variable is on the probability of 99% meaningfulness and the significance level of the variable is 0.000.

With regard to the results of Table 6, the amount of R2 or the specified coefficient equals to 0.049 which indicates that 4.9 percent of changes of dependent variable is explained by educational role variable. Calculation of ANOVA, too, shows its meaningfulness with meaningful level of 0.001.
In this research, cultural capital was measured with indicators of respondents' education, women's education, education of wife's family, and unequal marriage. Cultural capital, as a key cultural variable, is evaluated with four indicators. The first indicator is education. Statistical data indicates that most respondents knew the education of men higher than other family members. In other words, 50.5% of respondents indicated the education of men higher than other family members, 16% indicated the education of women higher than other family members, and 28% indicated the education of both men and women, and in 5.5% of cases, other family members enjoyed higher educational level than respondents. The education of 8% of respondents relative to their mates was very lower, 12% lower, 37% equal, 41% higher, and 9.3% very higher. Respecting the wife's family education, too, in 50.3% of cases, brothers enjoyed the highest level of education, next were sisters with 27.3%, fathers with 9.8%, and mothers with 4% occupied the next ranks, and in 8.8%, too, other family members enjoyed higher educational level than the rest. The educational level of women's families in 53.3% of cases is equal to that of men's family, which indicates that families are not of outstanding cultural disparity, and educational level of wife's family in 20.8% was higher, 7.8% very higher, and in 1.8 very lower, and in 16.5% of cases was lower, as compared with educational level of men's families. In 58.8% of cases, families described themselves similar in terms of cultural, social, and economic status, which is roughly comprised of two thirds of sample society, and 25.8% of respondents stated women's families of higher status and 6% stated it very higher, and on the contrary, 1.8% very lower and 7.8% lower. Therefore, statistics suggest that respondents usually live with families of equal or superior status, and rarely enter into conjugal life with inferior families. That is, 31.8% of individuals married with individuals of superior status and 9.6% conjugated with individuals of inferior status.

The results of correlation test indicate that their relation with gender inequality as a dependent variable is on the probability of 99% meaningfulness.

With regard to the results of Table 7, the amount of R2 or the specified coefficient equals to 0.061 which indicates that 6.1 percent of changes of dependent variable is explained by cultural capital variable. Calculation of ANOVA, too, shows its meaningfulness with meaningful level of 0.000.

Table 7: The role of cultural capital on gender inequality in the family

So, the variables of instrumental role, gender socialization, functional role, patriarchy ideology, cultural capital and educational role showed a meaningful relation on the level of 99% with the dependent variable, and were effective on it. The role of social factors the variables of instrumental role, gender socialization, functional role and the role of cultural factors through the variables of Patriarchy ideology, educational role, cultural capital on gender inequality in the family were directly measured. Table 8 indicates that the amount of R2 or the specified coefficient of the studied variables is equal to 0.612 which shows that 61.2% of changes of dependant variable can be explained by the said variables and the role of gender socialization with R2 or the specified coefficient of 0.166, is most influential, and the variables of instrumental role, functional role, patriarchy ideology, cultural capital, and educational role with coefficients of 0.117, 0.112, 0.107, 0.061, and 0.049, respectively, occupy the next places, so, the role of social variables are more than cultural variables, because, according to statistics, the role of social variables in explaining dependent variable is 39.5% and the role of cultural variables is 21.7% in this regard.



Table 8: The independent variables on gender inequality in the family


For indirect evaluation of independent variables on the dependent variable, beta coefficient was used. In the first phase, the direct effects of independent variables on the dependent variable were measured by beta coefficient, the results of which show that beta coefficients of patriarchy ideology and instrumental role with 0.255 and 0.218, respectively, had the greatest effect on the dependent variable, and the variables of functional role with 0.141, cultural capital with 0.123, gender with 0.078, and educational role with 0.060 occupy the next places. In the second phase, the indirect effects of gender on gender inequality were measured which according to Table 9, its beta coefficient stands at -0.004, and in the aggregate, the direct and indirect effects of the variable of gender on the dependent variable register 0.074, which indicate that 7.4% of the dependent variable can be explained by gender. In the third phase, the indirect effects of the instrumental role on gender inequality were measured which according to Table 9, its beta coefficient stands at 0.043, and in the aggregate, the direct and indirect effects of the variable of instrumental role register 0.261 which indicate that 26.1% of the dependent variable can be explained by the instrumental role.

Table 9: Beta coefficients of independent variables on dependent variable

In the fourth phase, the indirect effects of functional role on gender inequality were measured, which according to Table 9, its beta coefficient stands at 0.060, and in the aggregate, the direct and indirect effects of the variable of functional role on the dependent variable register 0.201 which indicate that 20.1% of the dependent variable can be explained by functional role. In the fifth phase, the indirect effects of educational role on gender inequality were measured, which according to Table 9, its beta coefficient stands at 0.001, and in the aggregate, the direct and indirect effects of the variable of educational role on the dependent variable register 0.061 which indicate that 6.1% of the dependent variable can be explained by educational role. The variables of patriarchy ideology and cultural capital were not indirectly effective on the dependent variable, so, their direct effects are 0.255 and 0.123 respectively, that is, the role of patriarchy ideology in the explanation of the dependent variable is 25.5% and this figure for cultural capital stands at 12.3%.

Diagram 1- Direct and indirect effect of independent variables on dependent variable

Finally, beta coefficient of the direct effects of the variables of instrumental role, functional role, gender, patriarchy ideology, educational role, and cultural capital is 0.875 and their indirect effects are 0.100, which indicates that 10% of the dependent variable was indirectly and 87.5% was directly influenced by dependent variables, that instrumental role with beta coefficient of 0.261 has the highest share after which patriarchy ideology with beta coefficient of 0.255, and variables of functional role, cultural capital, and gender with beta coefficients of 0.201, 0.123, and 0.074, respectively, occupy the next places and the least effect goes to educational role with beta coefficient of 0.061. So, in general, direct and indirect effects with beta coefficients are equal to 0.975 which indicates that 97.5% of the dependent variable is explained by the studied variables. In other words, 97.5% of the aggregate changes of the dependent variable can be explained by the above analytical diagram


Table 10: Aggregate direct and indirect effects of independent variables on dependent variable

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CONCLUSION

Despite efforts of international organizations, including Convention of Non-Discrimination against Women, gender inequality in the family is an undeniable reality in the developing society, and this research aims to identify the role of factors effective on it, and the minimum condition required for improving their status.

The comparison of respondents' grades in the ten indicators of gender inequality in the family indicates the existence of gender inequality in the family in favor of men.

For explanation of gender inequality, a theoretical model was used through which the role of social factors was measured by the variables of instrumental role, functional role, gender, and the role of cultural factors was measured by the variables of patriarchy ideology, educational role, and cultural capital on gender inequality in the family directly, that the role of social factors is 39.5% and the role of cultural factors stands at 21.7%. For the indirect measurement of social and cultural factors, too, the theoretical model of the research was used, that the direct role of social and cultural variables with the use of beta coefficients is 87.5% and their indirect role is 10%, which, in general, 97.5% of dependent variable is the result of direct and indirect effects of independent variables.

The results of the present study are consistent with some theoretical approaches, especially functionalism, and with results of some domestic and foreign studies, as well. In the theory of functionalism, instrumental role, functional role, gender, patriarchy ideology, educational role, and cultural capital were cited as effective factors on gender inequality, which is consistent with the studies conducted by Talcot Parsons, Durkheim, Davis and Moore, Edgel, Huber and Spitze. Therefore, the Functional approach plays an important role in explaining the dependent variable.

Regarding the findings of this research, it seems that for decreasing gender inequality in the family, the civil law and the stereotyped beliefs of the society, especially men, towards women must be changed; arrangements for the study of women in the higher education level must be made; unequal marriage must be reduced; as to cultural programs, including movies and textbooks, serious efforts must be made to pay equal attention to women with men; also, employment and improvement of economic condition of women can be helpful in their independence and advancement of their role in the family.

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