Psychological-Cultural Empowerment of Women in the Virtual Space Context within the Framework of “the Third Woman Model”: A Phenomenological Research
Subject Areas : Psychology
Seyedeh Narges Salehi
1
,
Akram shooshtari
2
1 - Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Counseling, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Science, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran
Keywords: Psychological-cultural empowerment, Virtual space, The third model of women,
Abstract :
The purpose of this research was phenomenological analysis of the psychological-cultural empowerment of women in the virtual space context within the framework of the women third model. The statistical population of this research included Iranian women who actively used cyberspace and participated in some way in scientific, social, economic, cultural, and political processes in this space. The sample embraced 30 participants whom were selected via purposive sampling procedure. The research method was phenomenological and qualitative. Data were collected through in-depth and semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions. The interviews were examined using the Collizer phenomenological analysis method. Then, initial codes were extracted and finally 5 main categories and 16 subcategories were identified. The results of the study indicated that cyberspace had provided a platform for women to access reliable scientific, educational, and religious resources and online courses and gain a deeper understanding of their positions in Islamic society. The results also revealed that cyberspace, if used consciously, could become an effective tool for the psychological, cultural, scientific, social, and economic empowerment of women. Such space could be a suitable platform for the growth of various dimensions of a woman's personality, including spiritual, identity, scientific, cultural, social, and economic growth. In fact, with proper management and promotion of media literacy, threats in cyberspace would be turned into opportunities and women could be guided and supported on the path to realizing the third model of women, which is based on a combination of family commitment and effective social presence.
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