نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Over the past two decades, the Arbaeen pilgrimage has evolved from a traditional Shi‘i devotional practice into the largest annual religious gathering worldwide, constituting a vast arena of religious-social action. Central to this ritual is an expansive, voluntary network of religious charity (khayr-e dini), which provides food, accommodation, healthcare, and cultural services without expectation of return. Within this context, the participation of Iranian and Iraqi women—both as pilgrims and as service providers—has gained prominence and highlights the need for comparative sociological analysis. This qualitative and ethnographic study gathered data through semi-structured interviews with mawkib organizers and participant observation. Findings show that in the Iranian sphere, mawkibs combine personal ties with organizational networks, enabling women to move beyond traditional roles. They engage in cultural management, coordinate women’s units, and sometimes assume full administrative responsibility. Their
participation as both a reproduction of social capital and an entry into the religious public sphere. In Iraq, mawkibs are largely familial and tribal, with women primarily engaged in conventional tasks such as food preparation and childcare. Iranian women have partially redefined gendered divisions of labor, whereas Iraqi women remain within traditional frameworks. Despite these differences, both groups interpret their involvement as religious charity that reinforces social cohesion and identity. Yet Iranian women face constraints—financial dependency, male-dominated structures, and negative attitudes toward managerial roles—making their participation simultaneously a devotional act and a site of claim-making and reconfiguration of women’s roles in the religious public sphere.
کلیدواژهها English
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