Experience of Female Workers in the Informal Sector of the Iranian Economy (Case Study of Informal Female Workers in Tehran Province)

Informal employment is one of the most important sectors in Iran's economy, which is strongly associated with social exclusion; when women enter the labor market, informal employment is the most important option for them. The aim of the present study is to understand the mechanisms of deprivation of informal employment and how workers get out of this situation. The research method is of qualitative type using the grounded theory method. The study population is informal female workers in Tehran province who have been selected through a targeted sampling of 32 people to participate. The data collection technique is an in-depth and semi-structured interview. The theoretical coding method has been used to analyze the data. The research findings show that informal employment is a survival-type mechanism in which Women with empty capital and experience of power shortages in the legal, economic, social, and psychological quadrants (Inadequacy of formalization empowerment) enter this area, stay in it or leave it, On the other hand, workers in the informalization cycle are in one of the stages of forecasting, awareness, activism, regression, and liberation. According to the research, the empowerment model of formalization is one of the mechanisms that help workers in the formalization process and more access to the social protection floor.