Tahqiqāt-e Tārikh-e Ejtemā’i (Social History Studies)

Modernizing the space and changing the lifestyle of working class women: A case study of the houses of Oil industry in Abadan in the First Pahlavi era

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Somayeh Sadat Shafiei 1
Elnaz Amirzade 2

1 Associate Professor, Institute of Social Sciences, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran

2 PhD student in Architecture, Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University of Qazvin, Qazvin, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.30465/shc.2025.50713.2598
Abstract
Colonial urbanism, based on the idea of social engineering of space with oil exploration and exploitation, was implemented by Britain in the oil-rich areas of the south and with the arrival of internal and foreign immigrants; it created a type of urbanization with a distinctive culture and spatial structure. The separation of the residential space and the architecture of the organizational houses of Abadan, which was in accordance with The question is, what consequences did the transformation of physical space have for working class, who were more numerous than other middle and high level employees? The aim is to study the social changes experienced by women in the central roles of mothers and wives in accordance with the new spatial arrangement -as an indicator of regional development. The research is based on qualitative method and in terms of methodology it is based on document analysis.

The findings show that the new urban development based on the desirable colonial order by ignoring the indigenous values and inducing the corresponding lifestyle, challenged the culture and common gender relations. The new settlement as a whole did not recognize the values with which women were socialized in the field of maintaining privacy and also the main role of women in the gathering of family members, and with the lack of spatial flexibility, the reduced scale of the building, eliminating the intermediate space, challenges of the social position of these women, who were now confined to the house.

Keywords

Women
family
architecture
Urban planning
oil Industry

Subjects

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  • Receive Date 14 December 2024
  • Revise Date 13 May 2025
  • Accept Date 14 May 2025

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