The Role of Urban Transformations in the Emergence of Challenges to the Religious Life of Women in Iran

With the advent of modernity in Iran, the concept of "city" in its contemporary sense was born and has undergone numerous transformations since then. As these transformations have posed challenges in the physical structure of the city in terms of housing, urban facilities, and transportation, this research, adopting a thematic approach, aims to explore these challenges and their resolution by social policymakers, urban planners, and religious scholars. Using a descriptive-analytical method and relying on available data from documentary sources, the study delves into the question of how urban transformations have influenced the emergence of challenges to the religious life of women in Iran. Thus, after examining urban transformations in the Qajar, Pahlavi, and post-revolutionary periods, it elucidates the challenges that have arisen as a result of these transformations and have affected the religious lives of women. The findings reveal that housing transformations have created challenges such as hindering the internalization of the hijab requirement, depriving women of the capacity for religious literacy through domestic gatherings, and more. Transformations in urban facilities have led to challenges such as the demand for women's presence in public spaces as a feminist demand, the reinforcement of consumerism, and so on. Changes in transportation have brought about challenges such as an increase in women's inclination to travel at night in the city.