Consciousness of Gender inequality: A model for evaluating gender consciousness

Even though contemporary approaches have dwindled the class consciousness and class identity, but at the same time, they magnify the gender and its political aspects. The growth of women's consciousness and redefinition of gender identity is partly due to their social participation in public sphere and partly due to women's movements. Despite common belief, even those women who do not believe in women's movements, they show an active gender identity because of the high level of awareness provided by mass media and other sources. Some factors such as structural, demographical, women's experiences, ideological tendencies and attitude are the most responsible in shaping gender consciousness. A along with other factors ideological prejudgments, life conditions in childhood and adulthood, cultural and gender socialization, access to some resources such as education for women, women's authority in the family and society are considered to be the most important factors affecting gender identity and consciousness. Despite the fact that social attentiveness toward gender inequality has grown remarkably, but the reaction of the public, especially women is still uncertain. For instance, it is not clear how Iranian women with different background evaluate their position in the family and social hierarchy. This article tires to present a theoretical model and identify those factors which can affect the gender consciousness.