" Study, work, but don t forget your chastity": Young Iranian women's perception of feminine norms

People’s understanding of their social world has a significant impact on their behavior. Their perceptions of their role in society and social expectations of them, are an important part of this understanding. This study investigates young -18 to 25 year old- women’s perception of femininity and social expectations related to it. Forty-five female students from Fars, Turk, and Kurd ethnicities participated in this study. Seven focus group, each consisting of 6-8 participants, discussed femininity, social expectations from women, and their experiences of femininity. Content analysis of focus group's discussions revealed 8 themes in young women’s perception of feminine norms. The most important of these themes were success-directedness especially in education on one hand and chastity on the other hand. More than 35% of participants mentioned educational achievement and 23% believed chastity as an important social expectations. Findings revealed that there were notable similarities between young Iranian women’s perception of feminine norms with those of young women from other cultures. On the other hand, norms such as chastity, religiousness, and respect for elders were among themes that distinguish our findings from western studies’ results.