The cultural role of Iranian women in the field of sacred defense from the perspective of photographers based on soft power

The purpose of this article is to identify the role of women in war photography in the field of soft power. The research method is qualitative and content analysis. The statistical population was photographers and experts in the field of war and 907 photographs of women in war. Data collection tools were done in the form of exploratory and semi-structured interviews. The extracted data were analyzed based on determining the frequency and in three aspects of representation variables, representation of concepts in photography and segregation of women's cultural role and by coding basic concepts organizing concepts and comprehensive concepts. Findings showed that the "cultural role of women" from the operational and executive aspects in four components cultural representations, manifestation of political-socio-cultural partnerships, motivational and effective in social interactions, empowerment and lifestyle production are considered.The results confirm that the cultural role of women in the escort of warriors, mourning and burial of martyrs, attending the shrines of martyrs and living in war zones, respectively, are among the highest subjects of representation of photographers during the war and welcoming freedmen to attend the shrine. Martyrs and the care of the families of martyrs and captives are effective indicators after the war. Strengthening the cultural role of women through visual arts should be a necessity of cultural policy. Because these images can be effective as an effective tool in strengthening the soft power of the country in the face of the policies of the domination system and the emergence of national security.