Women’s Social Agency: Explaining the Conceptual Model in the Thought of Ayatollah Khamenei

Atabaki, Mahboubeh; Rahimi Sajasi, Davood; Akhoondi, Mojtaba

doi:10.22059/jstmt.2026.407786.1850

Women’s Social Agency: Explaining the Conceptual Model in the Thought of Ayatollah Khamenei

Document Type : Research Article / Original Article

Authors

Mahboubeh Atabaki ¹

Davood Rahimi Sajasi ²

Mojtaba Akhoondi ³

¹ M.A. in Social Knowledge of Muslims, Department of Social Sciences, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

² Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

³ Al-Mustafa Al-Alamiya Society

10.22059/jstmt.2026.407786.1850

Abstract

This research aims to bridge a critical gap in the literature by developing a grounded theory regarding the social agency of women within the intellectual framework of Ayatollah Khamenei. Employing a systematic Grounded Theory approach through the processes of open, axial, and selective coding, the study analyzes all public statements and pronouncements by the Supreme Leader concerning women from 1989 to 2025 (1368–1404 SH). The findings are synthesized into a paradigmatic model in which the central phenomenon is identified as the ‘Identity- and Family-Centric Social Agency of the Muslim Woman.’ This phenomenon is shaped by various causal conditions, including religious and revolutionary obligations, national developmental imperatives, and the mandate for identity-building, all of which are situated within the context of the Islamic value system and revolutionary discourse. Furthermore, the model accounts for intervening factors such as the influence of dominant Western feminist discourses, societal misinterpretations, and inconsistent executive policies. Key strategies identified in response to these dynamics include the protection of religious identity, intelligent management of multiple roles, engagement in spheres aligned with innate nature and societal needs, collective revolutionary agency, and ideological resistance. These strategies yield multidimensional outcomes at the individual, familial, social, and civilizational levels. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that Ayatollah Khamenei’s perspective constitutes a coherent and pragmatic ideological system that is capable of offering a robust alternative civilizational model beyond mere description.

Keywords

Ayatollah Khamenei

Family-Centricity

Grounded Theory

Islamic Social Thought

Third Model of Woman

Women's Social Agency

Subjects

Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers

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