Geography and Regional Planning

Geography and Regional Planning

Regulating women's social participation in sustainable regional development with emphasis on chaste living and the role of the family in the Iranian legal system

Authors
1 Department of Jurisprudence and Fundamentals of Islamic Law, Qo.C., Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran.
2 Department of Islamic Studies, Qo.C., Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran.
10.22034/jgeoq.2026.588915.4489
Abstract
The social presence of women in Islamic society is not a one-dimensional issue limited to employment or holding political positions, but rather to their scientific, cultural, educational, media, service, civil, and non-governmental managerial roles in the public sphere. The main challenge in this regard is not to prove the principle of women's presence in society nor to accept their irregular presence, but to explain a jurisprudential and legal criterion that can combine women's social participation, chaste life, family role, human dignity, and the real needs of Islamic society. This research, using a descriptive-analytical method and relying on the verses of the Quran, the principles of Imami jurisprudence, jurisprudential rules, the Constitution, the Charter of Women's Rights and Responsibilities, general family policies, and related laws, examines the principles and realms of women's social participation in the Iranian legal system. The findings of the research show that Imami jurisprudence does not consider women's social presence inherently prohibited, but rather regulates it with criteria such as chastity, maintaining privacy, not being corrupt, not harming the family, observing dignity, and the existence of rational expediency. Also, the Iranian legal system, despite some conceptual ambiguities in terms such as family interests, Islamic standards, chastity, and public morality, has the necessary capacity to identify women's social participation in the form of a family-centered and chaste model. Accordingly, the desired model is neither absolute homelessness for women nor unrestricted social presence, but rather chaste, dignity-centered, privacy-centered, family-building, and need-centered social participation.
Keywords