SFU SOC 2024 TALK

Simon Fraser University

School for International Studies

Nazanin Shahrokni

Ordering the City: Gender, Religion & the Spatial Politics of Control

gender segregation and veiling as two key policies upholding the state’s Islamic character

Provider

Protector

Prohibitor

Different Faces of the State

2000s

1980s

CASE STUDIES

GENDER SEGREGATION across SPACE & TIME

THE MOTHERS' PARADISE

THE MOTHERS' PARADISE: STAFF

1980s war-making=state-making women's outdoor exercise framed as a problem and thus prohobited

1900s the free market era women's outdoor exercise framed as a solution to the problem of "western cultural invasion" and thus coordinated

Facilities in mixed park

2000- social & political liberalization women's outdoor exercise framed as a solution to public health problems and thus exclusive exercise spaces were provided

"Spatial Justice"

"Wuthering Heights"

With respect to mothers’ constructive position, their role in the growth of society, their emotional and educational centrality within the family, and their effective role in the process of human cultivation and reduction of social pathologies, and with the aim of boosting their mental and physical capabilities, directing their leisure time, and providing them with appropriate opportunities for healthy entertainment in Tehran, the municipality is obliged to provide and allocate proper spaces in the existing parks. Furthermore, it will design and establish exclusive spaces in Tehran to be called “Mothers’ Parks.” (Tehran City Council, October 5, 2004)

The expansion of apartment living and the increase in the frequency of everyday frictions and tensions and the lack of sports spaces have led to irreparable consequences, such as limited movement capabilities and heightened physical—and consequently mental and emotional—disorders, especially for women. These problems are two hundred times more for mothers because they have to deal with pregnancy complications, childcare problems, and housework duties. The mothers’ parks, by creating natural spaces and providing proper facilities and offering entertaining programs, could offer a venue for a variety of sports activities which suit different age cohorts within the target population. (Tehran City Council, 2004)

Summary of the Argument

Global Entanglement & Influences

Increased Public Presence of Women

Unanticipated Policy Outcomes

SHIFTS IN POLICY PROCESS CONTEXT

Stretching into the everyday

Providing Women Only Parks

Coordinating Outdoor Exercise

Prohibiting Outdoor Exercise

Provision

Coordination

Prohibition

"Women, Vanguards of Self Care"

“Live Healthy, Live Longer”

Women's Health Week

Women in & Out of Place

The exigencies of domestic and international political, economic, & bureaucratic circumstances on occasions require the state not to rigidly police gender boundaries...

The terms inclusion and exclusion do not readily convey the complexity and multiplicity of experiences, gratifications, and predicaments of being in and out of place...

Flexible Sexism

Differential Exclusion/Inclusion

Thank you!

Nazanin Shahrokni, School for International Studies, SFU

In Search of a Blueprint

"It’s not like there was a manual about Islamization of the bus space. We did what we thought was right, what we were told was right. Did we make mistakes along the way? Yes, we did. It was all an experiment. We were creating the manual as we went." - Valiollah Chahpoor, Former director of the Bus Company of Tehran, 2009

Localization

Scaling Down

Securitization

Scaling Up

Privatization

Outsourcing

Accommodative Strategies