Changes conceptions of women`s public space in the Kurdish city

doi:10.1016/j.cities.2007.06.002
Cities, Vol. 24, No. 6, p. 410–421, 2007
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
0264-2751/$ - see front matter
www.elsevier.com/locate/cities
Changes conceptions of women’s
public space in the Kurdish city
Hooshmand Alizadeh
*
Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Kurdistan University,
Sanandaj, Iran
Received 24 April 2006; received in revised form 19 March 2007; accepted 18 June 2007
Available online 7 November 2007
Due to some ambiguities in defining the domain of public space in traditional Islamic cities
and gaps in the knowledge related to the Kurdish cities, this paper examines the conception
of the public domain in the Kurdish context. Drawing on points of similarities and differences
with Iranian and Islamic contexts, we delineate the intricacies of how Kurds conceptualised
the public domain, and specifically how females have experienced that domain, with regard
to the common view of ‘‘unsafeness’’. We also describe the role of women and their relationship to space outside of kinship ties. The paper concludes that the Kurdish context to some
extent is different from other Islamic and Iranian contexts, due to the status of Kurdish women
and the socio-political and environmental circumstances which marked that society. Therefore
these conditions led to a kind of soft boundary between the two realms of public and private
life and, thus, allowed the possibility of women’s negotiation with public domain more than in
other Islamic cultures. In Women’s social realm today, it became clear that the traditional way
of public gathering was gradually being kept on the periphery of the city to such an extent it
only remained appropriate among the poor and uneducated families, those who settled either
in the city’s traditional part or on the fringe.
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Kurdish city, public domain, women’s social realm, Islamic city, Sanandaj
Introduction
(1980, p. 5), in traditional Islamic culture, this would
include ‘‘the public garden, passages, streets, covered
streets such as bazaars and Suqs and other traditional
places of commerce, as well as places of the institutions of the society together with their urban contexts’’. In this definition, the public urban element
of squares (Maidân) was disregarded, although this
was the element recognised as the node and the focal
1
Regardless of some ambiguities in defining the domain of public places in Islamic cities, the latter can
be recognised as a zone ‘‘outside the boundaries of
individual or small group control, mediating between
private spaces and used for a variety of often overlapping functional and symbolic purposes’’ (Madanipour, 2003, pp. 112–113). In the words of Ardalan
*
Tel.: +98 9183722943; fax: +98 8716660073; e-mails: [email protected], [email protected].
1
For example, although in the model of Islamic city, the large courtyard of the Friday mosque forms the centre of the city and actual
focus of public gathering, it is only accessible to the Muslim population not other religions because of its special spiritual dimension. Or we
can look at the restriction of the public places for the Muslim women because they were recognised as unsafe places for them. The last idea
is the concern of most literature as they mainly emphasised the public spaces relating to the ruling class. In this scope, the women of ruling
class had no need to go out, even for the sake of buying because all their affairs were done by other people, especially by their servants.
They only participated in particular ceremonies. On the contrary, the women of other classes, especially the servants, had to go out for the
sake of work and shopping. Thus, they engaged with the public spaces of the city, especially the Bazaarché (small bazaar) within the
quarters. This is what most literature has ignored and conceptualised their views based on the life of the ruling class. From this point, ‘‘the
theory of urban form in traditional Islamic cultures’’ needs to devote particular effort on this concern. (Hakim, 1998).
410
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
point of socio-political2 and economic activities of
citizens. For this point, we can look to Kostof
(1992, p. 127), who believed that there is a well-defined sense of public space in Islamic cities. For
him, the main domain of public spaces can be divided
into ‘‘streets [covered streets, bazaar], squares
(Mayâdin), mosques, and cemeteries’’.
From one perspective, both definitions can be criticized as ignoring the tri-fold organisation of space
in Islamic cities, which distinguishes intermediary
spaces at levels between the two basic realms of public and private domains. This comprised the semipublic and semi-private spaces within the circulation
system of the streets, mainly those places which define the women’s social realm. Generally, through
combining points of both notions as mentioned, we
can illustrate the domain of public places of the Islamic cities as follows: Mayâdin, religious centres
(comprising Jumaa3 mosque, mosques in the quarters, the Takâyâ 4 and Mazars/shrines and cemeteries), streets, bazaars (both the main covered bazaar
and the open ones in the quarters), local institutions
and public gardens. Considering this point and that
most of the literature concerning Islamic cities has
dealt predominantly with the male’s domain and
lacks sufficient attention to the female domain, in
this research, the latter is highlighted in order to
examine the role of women in the social life of the
Kurdish/Iranian/Islamic city.
The Kurdish context lacks any specific literature
related to the main theme of this paper. Consequently, a comparison was adopted to draw and
make sense of the features of public life in that context. Also, due to the lack of evidence in the case
study selected for this research, the paper had to refer to those villages which still convey the past conditions of the city’s built form. The city of Sanandaj
was selected as one of the Kurdish cities located in
the mountain range of Zâgros (the birth place of
Kurdish culture) in the west of Iran to be examined
from an architectural point of view, emphasising
places of public gathering in the women’s social
realm. Its methodological inquiry is based on document analysis, interviews with local historians and
elderly residents, and a physical survey of existing
built form (taking photographs and analytical drawings). The information has been collected from two
periods of fieldwork, in 2003 and 2004.
General notions in the islamic world
In general, public space was recognised ‘‘unsafe’’ for
women in Islamic cities because of the concept of
2
‘The two revolutions that have shaped Iran’s modern history
were both performed in public spaces of the Bahârestân square in
front of the parliament in Tehran’ (Madanipour, 2003, p. 209).
3
Friday mosque.
4
Community centre used by Darawish, the members of Sufism
order, to performance of passion plays.
sex segregation and the demand for privacy (AbuLughod, 1983; Kostof, 1992; Madanipour, 1998).
And from this point, as discussed above, follows
the ‘‘tri-fold division of space’’ (rather than the more
western bi-fold) which was conceptualised in Islamic
cities in the form of private, semi-private/semi-public and public spaces (Abu-Lughod, 1983, p. 66).
Although, these concepts seem to be key factors in
the organisation of space and in the circulation system of the quarters, they do not mean that females
must be excluded from public spaces and that there
should be no evidence of their interaction within the
public realm. As explained, the root of this idea
dates back to the perspective used when studying Islamic cities. If one looks solely at the life of the ruling class or of the wealthy, one will find a rigid
structure of sex segregation – especially from outside
the kin group – as defined by distinct quarters of
men and women in the structure of their homes.
The wealthy Moslem of the past was able to ensure
this segregation under the title of the Nâ-mahram
and Mahram5 by confining all the womenfolk of his
household to the harem and installing eunuchs to
guard them (Khatib-Chahidi, 1981, p. 115). In this
part of the community, the females had no need to
go out and communicate within the world of public
spaces because everything was done for them by
other people, especially by their servants. As stated
by scholars (Khatib-Chahidi, 1981; Mazumdar and
Mazumdar, 2001, p. 307), ‘‘in wealthy families, the
daily shopping is done by servants’’. On the other
hand, if one turns one’s view to the lower strata of
the community, where most of the people live, the
women had to go out for shopping and to work in order to contribute to the income of their family. Based
on Thompson’s point of view (2003, p. 56), and in
contrast to the elite urban women who protected
their status by not appearing on the streets without
being veiled and guarded by large retinues, their
poorer female neighbours routinely worked at home
in cottage industries or outside as peddlers, bathhouse attendants, servants, and so on. For example,
Campanile (1818, quoted in Galletti, 2001, pp. 210–
211), who lived in Kurdistan from 1802 to 1815, explained that ‘‘the women’s work was not limited to
domestic chores’’. As he observed, ‘‘outside Mosul,
the women were selling beautiful pearls’’. Hence,
they had to interact within the public spaces of the
city, especially the centre of the quarters.
Considering the above points, if we accept this idea
that ‘‘public space is completely unsafe and must be
5
Mahram: People who are close, immediate family like brother,
sister, father, mother, uncle, aunt, grandparents. Mahram people
cannot marry each other (except husband and wife are married
and Mahram). Thus, it is ‘‘the legal term denoting a relationship
by blood, marriage or sexual union which makes marriage
between persons so related forbidden’’ (Khatib-Chahidi, 1981, p.
114). Nâ-mahram: Male and female who are not close family are
Nâ-mahram to each other.
411
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
eschewed by females’’ in the Islamic city (Abu-Lughod, 1983, p. 66), how can we understand the life of
the lower income households, and especially, how
could they survive? Note that the view above that
public space is unsafe for Muslim woman is in contrast
with the notion of Umma, the community of believers
and brotherhood in an Islamic community. There, all
men and women are brothers and sisters, especially
when Islamic religion was recognized as a force of
dynamic influence which provided the basis for social
cohesion (Saleh, 2001). The following underpins
Islamic teaching: ‘‘Believers are surely brothers. So
restore friendship among your brothers. Have fear
of Allah so that you may attain mercy’’ (Qur’an,
49:10 quoted in Memarian and Brown, 2003).
This is also important especially when the quarters
in the Islamic city are considered as ‘‘geographical
entities as well as homogeneous communities which
were closely knit’’. There, the notion of solidarity
was strengthened by family, clientage, common village origin, shared ethnic origin, religious adherence
and similar occupational ties (Madanipour, 1998, p.
237). This means a high degree of safety for female
socialisation across the spatial structure of the quarter. Another important point relates to the necessity
of the veil/He´jâb for Muslim women by the verses of
holy Quran6 which explains the possibility of women’s negotiation within the public spaces. In keeping with this point, researches on veiling conducted
in other urban contexts in both the Middle East
and Europe (Macleod, 1991; Watson, 1994; Secor,
2002) Lubeck and Britts (2001) suggested that veiling as practice protects women from harassment in
the streets, and thus, provides them urban mobility.
Kurdish society
Apart from the above discussion concerning women’s presence in the public spaces in the world of
Islam, there is a view that each context has a distinctive approach to that idea which makes it difficult to
put forward any generalisation for all the societies
within Islam. Even in one country, one may find different treatment of the subject which can be linked
to the socio-cultural and environmental circumstances developed within that society.
In a Kurdish society, the way women interact
within public spaces can be investigated in terms of
the people’s attitudes to privacy, the status of the
women and the socio-economic structure of the society. This context was recognised more liberal than
other contexts in surrounding nations related to
the women’s presence in the public realms out of
kin groups (Galletti, 2001). Nikitine (1987, p. 224)
stresses that, the Kurdish women usually socialised
6
And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be
modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is
apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms (Suré, ch. 24,
verses 30–31 quoted in Mazumdar and Mazumdar (2001, p. 306).
412
with men, to the extent that ‘‘they entertain the
guests in absence of their husband and they are quite
free and confident in their presence and do not cover
their face as do the other Muslim women’’. Similarly, ‘‘Kurds are the most liberal-minded in relation
to the status of the women among all Muslims’’
(Minorski quoted in Nikitine, 1987, p. 223) because
‘‘the women enjoy a respectful position not observed
among their Arab, Turk or Persian neighbours’’
(Kasraian et al., 1990, p. 20). In the light of the
above status, throughout Kurdish history, it is possible to find Kurdish woman reaching high positions
and becoming the political, in some cases even military, heads of tribes7; more importantly, at the
end of 19th century, a famous poet and historiographer8. In this context, it is possible to mention the
name of Adela Khânum of Halabja who occupied
the headship of the Jâf tribe of southern Kurdistan.
She was from the city of Sanandaj belonging to
theWazieri family, the main supporters of Ardalân
government. ‘‘Upon Usman Pasha’s death in 1909,
her husband, she remained firmly in control and
her authority went unchallenged until her death in
1924’’ (Bruinessen, 2001, p. 96).
In keeping with the status of Kurdish women described above, the use of the veil in the public domain can be compared with other Iranian cities.
There, in the non-Kurdish areas, the women usually
use a black veil in order to go outside the world of
the enclosed courtyard and enter the public realm
(Figure 1a). But here in Kurdish society in general,
the women are used to going out with vivid traditional dress or châdur as a response to the social
customs and the hospitable and intimate environment (Figure 1b). ‘‘In Sanandaj, unlike the rest of
Iran, a black Châdur is generally only worn for
mourning’’ (O’Shea, 1996, p. 148).
In line with these, we can claim that the perceptions of privacy in a Kurdish city is somewhat different from those of other Islamic cities as has been
pointed out by scholars (Abu-Lughod, 1983; Hakim,
1998; Madanipour, 1998; Al-Kodmany, 2000). Its
tension was not as strong as in the other Islamic cities, which had led to adopting more restrictions on
the presence of female in public spaces, and even
to defining more complicated ways of entering the
houses, and ultimately to the restriction of the
houses from being outward looking. This can be inscribed to the nature of Kurdish culture which had
evolved within the Zâgros Mountains. There, the
geo-physical setting and the rich colours of the land-
7
In this regard, there are many witnesses. The reader is referred
to the work of Nikitine (1987, pp. 228, 229); Bruinessen (2001, pp.
95–107).
8
As Vasilyeva (2000, 13) indicates, Mâh Sharaf-Khânoum
Kurdistani, who wrote the history of Ardalân’s family–also known
as the Kurdish poetess Mastura–was the only women-historiographer not only in Sennah/Sanandaj but in all the Near and
Middle East till the end of the 19th century.
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
Figure 1 Comparing two contexts from the perspective of the manner ofwomen’s presence in the public realm, sources: a)
from Sultanzadeh, 1994, b) by author August 2004. Photograph 1 was taken in, the city of Nain located on central plateau.
Photograph 2 was taken in the city of Sanandaj showing its principal route.
scape, with a long unstable history, gave rise to distinctive traditions and habits (Izady, 1992); these included a strong sense of neighbourliness and of
hospitality. ‘‘Hospitality is one of the finest features
in the Kurds’ character. It is, it is true, enjoined by
their religion, and the same custom prevails amongst
other Muhammadan areas. But the Kurd has carried
it to a fine art (Hay, 1921, p. 49).
These points somewhat reduced the tension between the two realms, the strict boundary between
the public and private domains. For more details of
the above points, the following discussions are concerned with both the general, that is the women’s presence in public domain in the Islamic world, especially
the lower social layer of community, and the specific
Kurdish views, which examine the city of Sanandaj.
they would be in contact with many people to do
their daily business, especially when on their way
home they had to go to the quarter’s Bazaarche´
(small bazaar) for shopping. One of the interviewees
from the Jawr-âwâ quarter Abdulhamid Hairatsajâdi10 a local historian and son of a leading Ulamâ, clearly explained the circumstances within
which the women lived in this quarter.
The city of Sanandaj, Jawr-âwâ quarter
In the city of Sanandaj, female interaction within the
public spaces of the city can be recognised by considering the social structure of the two quarters of
Jawr-âwâ9 and Qatar-chyân. The inhabitants of the
Jawr-âwâ quarter were mostly servants of the ruling
class and other wealthy people. These included both
males and females. It follows then the females had to
go beyond the boundaries of their families, passing
through many streets to reach their places of
employment. On the way, and when returning home,
10
Interviewed 29.08.2004, he was one of the local researchers
over 70 years old. His father was recognised as the founder of
education system in the city of Sanandaj. As one of the notables,
his house was close to the quarter of ruling class.
11
Zheer-mâla is a particular concept used in Kurdish language of
Surani (especially the dialect of Sanandaji/Ardalâni). A similar
concept was not found in Farsi language. For this reason, it is
difficult to give a proper idea of the concept in English. It is
usually used to describe poorer people who live in the house of
wealthy people. It is unlike the concept of a servant because these
people usually have a separate house within the main house. They
are not paid any money but they might share in the meals of the
host. The men and women can have a regular job outside the
house working for others but they have to keep the house clean
and help the host in doing some of their business. The full
meaning of this concept implies a family living with the main
family but close to the entrance door. It means a kind of shared
life within which the host has supervision over the poorer family.
9
One of the old four quarters of the city which contained poor
people, namely the quarter of Khan’s servant.
‘‘I remember the period when we were living in our
house in the Jawr-âwâ quarter. As my father was
one of the Ulamâ and teachers, we had rather a grand
house. Apart from the main structure, it contained
four areas at the front called Zheermâlaa separate
small house for a poor family11 in the southeast
413
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
corner of the courtyard, a stable and a charcoal store
in the south, and Sar-tanour a bakery to the southwest of the house. For your information, those last
three parts resemble an extension of the house
towards the south. The structure of main part of
the house comprised three parts with two corridors
in between. Two or three times a week, two women
usually came to our house from the quarter to bake
bread in the bakery. As baking bread has a long process of preparation, especially kneading the dough,
one of the women had to come in the early morning
after fajr (daybreak)’’.
The words of the interviewee to some extent clarify the circumstances of both the wealthy people and
the commoners with respect to the presence of women in outdoor spaces. Most important, the working
rhythms of commoner women explain their presence
early in the morning in the public spaces of the thoroughfares and even in the houses of other people,
for the sake of their families’ income.
The Qatâr-chyân quarter
In the quarter of Qatâr-chyân, as the quarter of muleteers, the circumstance was slightly different from
the quarter of Jawr-âwâ because here the adult male
had to leave his family for long periods in order to
transport products from the region to other cities.
Hence, the adult female was responsible for many
of the affairs of the house, and more important,
for going out and visiting the public spaces of the
quarter to shop. This situation was discussed with
the interviewees (local historians and elderly residents of the quarter); it is worth looking at their
views in the following quotations that are consistent
with the concept of strong social coherence among
Kurdish society.
‘‘On the occasion of journey to other cities (mostly
Hamadân, Zanjân, Rasht . . .), those people in charge
of transportation affairs usually put their family
under the care of one of the neighbours. The neighbour looked after them as his relatives. He usually
supplied their monthly shopping from the main
bazaar apart from the unexpected items (daily and
weekly needs) which were bought by the adult female
of the house from the closest Bazaarche´ (Sheikh
brahim12)’’.
From the points mentioned, the notion of the
unsafeness of public spaces for women’s presence
in Islamic cities can be recognised as a narrow view
which was only based on the life of wealthy people
and which ignored the challenges of life of the other
layers of the community. That is why we can contest
this idea, especially in relation to the public spaces
within the structure of the quarters.
12
Interviewed (17.09.2004).
414
Public places in the realm of women’s presence
The reviews above clarified some views related to
the possibility of women interacting within the domain of public spaces where men outside of the
kin group would also be present. As well as these
spaces, however, there are other places which are
only used by women within the neighbourhood and
even across the city. They are Hammâm, cemeteries,
shrines and tombs of saints, spring (Kâni) and doorstep (Bar-mâl). Of the gathering places, two of the
places – the Kâni and the Bar-mâl – were somewhat
peculiar to the Kurdish context and were the locations of the greatest part of women’s social interaction. The importance of the first, Kâni, in women’s
social life can be compared with the function of
Dewâ-khân (guest house) and Qahve-khane´ (coffeehouse) in male society13.
The Kâni is where individuals usually filled pitchers and carried them on their shoulders to supply
drinking water for their families or for others as a
way of earning money. Due to the daily need for
water drinking, it can be recognised as a frequent
gathering place for women and the one that had a
major role in their socialisation. Its importance in
the life of Kurdish women was such that Marufi14 refers to it as Kabul-akhbâr, the news centre or the
place for knowledge exchange. He goes on to say
that fetching water was a pretext for them to visit
kâni to have the chance of meeting others. Barth
(1953, 106) found the water-hole, ‘‘where water for
the house is fetched, and clothes washed and beaten’’, as the main place of female aggregations
where gossip is exchanged: ‘‘apart from collecting
water for our family, it was really fun to go there
and meet other women from different parts of the
quarter and, more importantly, have access to information which the men did not have’’ (Droudgar)15.
Ayazi (1992, pp. 420–423) writes that in the past,
there were three sources of water supply in Sanandaj: Qanât – subterranean canals, which supplied
the needs of public places; mosques, Hammâm,
and Takya, the houses of nobles and some of the
wealthy people, and the well which was used by
other people, mostly commoners. The well water
was usually used for washing dishes and clothes, irrigation and similar purposes. From this point and the
health risks from using well water for drinking, and
due to the location of the city in the intermountain
basin, springs were another source of water mostly
used to supply the daily drinking needs of the people. Considering this need, the city and its close surrounding area contained more than 25 springs. Of
this number, the quarter of Qatâr-chyân had four
13
For more information concerning those two places of public
gathering in men’s social life, the reader is referred to author’s
article (Alizadeh, 2006).
14
Interviewed 22.10.2004.
15
Interviewed 11.08.2004.
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
springs mostly, in the valley close to the place of the
Qula Mosque.
As most of the city springs were destroyed by the
physical development of the city, just signs of their
sites remained (Figure 2). Their function as a gathering place for women and their influence on the circulation system of the quarter, especially the routes of
journeys to and from them, must be traced from evidence available in the settlements in rural areas.
There, drinking water for the people is still supplied
by springs. To do this, the experiences of the researcher were helpful as he lived in one the villages
in Kurdistan called Qalâ-kouna during his primary
school years.
The experiences mentioned were in a small village
to the far north of Sanandaj, which contained
approximately 500 people. The village’s drinking
water was supplied by a single spring in the south
of the village, where it was connected to a subterranean canal at the end of the settlement. As household affairs were mostly the responsibility of the
women, the drinking water was supplied by them
from that spring. For this reason, they frequently
had to visit the spring during the day. The peak time
for these visits was evening when the men were coming back from outdoor work on farms. The important point is that in the evening it was the turn of
young women to take the pitchers to the spring. Culturally, the evening gathering is linked to the processes of mate selection because its time coincided
with the time off taken by the young men from their
daily work. So, because of that, the site of the spring
was also the gathering place for young men. While
they remained at a distance from the spring, the
young women were on the lower part of the slope
where they gathered close to the mouth of the spring
(Figure 3). Thus the one site served as two gathering
places. In addition, the route of the journey to the
spring had been preserved despite of the recent
physical development of the village.
Generally speaking, the above custom was of such
importance that there are many folk songs and much
music relating to the course of a young woman’s
journey from her house to the spring carrying a
pitcher of water and a young man, who desires a
sip of water from the pitcher:
It is evening time again, so picks up the jug madam,
While the spring’s walk way is waiting for your
appearance (poet: Ahmad Hardi).
Similar notions can be found in other Islamic
countries, especially in the Middle East. But the
point of difference is in the way women are present
in the public spaces, on the way to and from the
spring and even their gathering close to the water
source, especially as it was out of the kin group.
For example, Hansen (1968, p. 85) describes the following practices around washing places in a Shiite
village in Bahrain:
The washing places were sufficiently protected by
means of a low semi-circular wall, or by the natural
rise of the ground, for the women to work by the
water without being obliged to veil themselves. Furthermore, neither men nor youths appeared in the
vicinity of the washing place. On the other hand,
the women were very careful to be veiled on their
way to and from the washing place.
Figure 2 The remaining location of Kanipeera (one of the quarter’s springs) in the circulation system of the quarter.
Source: Author, August 2004.
415
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
Figure 3 Kani as the main place of women’s socialisation. Source: Author, August 2004. The trip to the Kani and gathering
close to the water source is one of the pleasant social activities for Kurdish women so much so that it still takes place in
many villages.
In contrast, in the Kurdish villages and even in the
past life of the city, the signs of protection were not
in evidence for women present at the Kâni. Furthermore, on their way to and from the washing place,
they were not obliged to use veils (Châdur).
Although, the above account may not completely
match the function of springs in the city, it can be
recognised as partial knowledge concerning this element, especially its role in mediating women’s gathering places. This because there was a deeply rooted
link between the villages and the city, and even the
whole city outside the city walls (Vasilyeva, 2000).
Concerning the city of Sanandaj, Ayazi (1992, p.
423), in his account, points to the water carriers, women, who were professional in this work and paid
monthly. Moreover, Rangavary16, in his tape recorded account, explains that the springs were
crowded while women were debating with each
other and collecting the drinking water. This are
convincing evidence of women’s presence in public
space – even without the veil – and a significant
point opposing the view of the unsafeness of public
space for females.
Door-step (Bar-mâl)
A further place of women’s social interaction is
recognised by their presence on the threshold or
door-step (Bar-mâl). It was the place that was usually frequented by women each morning after finishing their duties at home (Marufi17). It means that
after 10 o’clock, when the man left the house, the
arena of the public domain, is was appropriate for
women to socialise with their neighbours. While
she is dealing with Tashi and wool (wool-spinning/
Tashi-re´si), preparing the fine threads for rugs, her
children play freely around her (Figure 4).
As explained, the women in the poorer families
had to work alongside the men in order to contribute
to the income of their families. From this point and
the possibility of keeping sheep in the city, especially
in the Qatâr-chyân quarter, working with the wool of
the sheep was a common activity among these families. The nature of the manual wool-spinning meant it
was usually done outside of the home in the open
spaces in front of the entrance door because some
parts of it necessitated the help of other women.
More importantly, being outside helped them to minimize any health problems related to their lungs and
to keep the house clean. Thus, by doing this, they increased the income of their families either by selling
wool directly or indirectly by using it to weave rugs
for sale at the local market. This also gave them an
opportunity to socialise with each other.
Based on local opinions, from the interviewees,
there are two different views of the women gathering in front of the house. In the view of those that
relate themselves to wealthy and Ulamâ families,
this form of gathering took place mostly in the house
or in the corridor area just behind the entrance door
which contained the Sar-tanour, the bakery (Hairatsajadi18; Mujtahedi19; Sadeq-wazeri20) (Figure 5).
The Sar-tanour, according to their view, was an
important place for women to gather. While some
were baking bread, others gathered around and
talked with each other. For these higher status women, due to both the amount of space in the house
and the values and lifestyle that they regarded as
proper for themselves, women’s sitting in the Bar-
18
16
17
Tape recorded interview in 1999.
Interviewed 20.10.2004.
416
19
20
Interviewed 28.05.2004.
Interviewed 23.08.2004.
Interviewed 13.08.2004.
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
Figure 4
The Bar-mal concept and its role as an important place of women’s gathering. Source: Author August 2003–4.
mal was not seen as appropriate. It was regarded as a
custom more suited to the realm of a commoners’
life, as nowadays it is also practiced by them in many
parts of the city: ‘‘I have never sat in the bar-mâl because it was not considered as good behaviour in my
family. I usually socialise with other women in the
house’’ (Sadeq-wazeri).
For other interviewees (Marufi21, Sheikh Abrahim22), sitting in the Bar-mal was a custom among
the women of the neighbourhood where they would
spend their leisure times and even do some household work – as noted, mostly wool-spinning.
I remember that my mother usually spent her leisure
time talking with the neighbours in front of the
house, especially when my father left the house for
his daily business. Most importantly, when he came
back, they ended the meeting in respect for my father.
This respect was not just for my father, it was mostly
for elderly people due to the modest behaviour of
women in the quarter.
21
22
Interviewed 20.10.2004.
Interviewed 17.09.2004.
From the above section, it can be seen that the life
of the women in the Kurdish city is not confined solely to the private domain. But their religion, as a
way of life, and their cultural background, rooted
in circumstances of the place and history, provided
them with important social roles. These enabled
them to go out of the house and, even cross the
boundary of their neighbourhood to visit the springs
and sacred places.
Women’s social realm today
As the above sections dealt mostly with past conditions of women’s social realm, this part concerns
the impacts of modernisation regarding this realm
in the Kurdish city.
With the wave of modernisation in Middle East
countries, the Kurdish context was more vulnerable
to following the new paradigm of social life, due to
the aforementioned socio-political background.
Along with the feminist wind of modernisation from
the west, the first Kurdish women’s organization,
‘‘Society for the Advancement of Kurdish Women’’,
was founded in 1919 in Istanbul, earlier than their
Turkish, Arab or Persian sisters (Mojab, 1997, p.
417
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
Figure 5 The Sar-tanour close to the entrance door in the houses of wealthy and Ulama families. Source: Author, August
2004.
69). The organization aimed at ‘‘enlightening Kurdish women with modern thinking and promoting
fundamental social reforms in the life of the family,’’
(text reproduced in Tahir Sharif, 1989, p. 23 quoted
in Mojab (1997)). This means that ‘‘Kurdish initiatives for changing gender relations preceded the
state sponsored reforms in Turkey (late 1920s) and
Iran (1930)’’ (Mojab, 1997, p. 69).
In the first epic of modernisation (the periods of
Reza Shah and Kemal Ataturk), this paradigm affected more the life of notables, who had usually
occupied middle parts of the city and were more in
connection with the central government. Due to restricted boundaries between two realms of public
and private domains within the houses of this social
class, as two completely separated and gendered arenas, a new life style and the demands of modernisation could not match with such intricate pattern of
the settlements. For this reason, they mostly moved
or migrated to the city’s suburb (more desirable part
of the city) or larger cities such as Tehran. Their
houses either remained unused, or occupied and altered by those people who migrated to the city after
the land reform23. These people usually first experience the life of the city on the fringe as a transitional
social space, where they accessed cheap land or
informal housing and the same socio-cultural background (Fanni, 2006), and then moved to the traditional part of the city. Due to their close
relationship with the monarchic state and the stateinitiated modernisation reform, the women of notable families characterised themselves with new
rights in both private and public domains. They became active in the new public places and even went
to universities.
The new constructed settlements in the suburb
were formed in line with the imposed pattern of
23
A significant land reform was part of Muhammad Rezad
Shah’s the so-called white revolution of 1963.
418
housing borrowed from the wave of modernisation.
Apart from occupying the desirable lands, the city
heights were also levelled for a grid pattern of streets
and, contrary to their traditional houses, a new layout of the houses constructed with a direct link to
the streets. As explained, this was in line with the formal decision making that had been taken by state.
Meanwhile, the other parts of the city remained traditional and women still confined themselves to the
aforementioned places of public gathering. Apart
from the traditional way of life and the class character of Pahlavi’s pro-women reforms, being poor was
the main reason that few women from this background could go to the new established legally-codified spaces; universities and administrative centres.
But in the following years, under the Mohammed
Reza Shah (the second Pahlavi), more women found
chances of learning and, thus, became engaged in
those created arenas. Kakhn-e Javanan (palace of
the youth) was a new public place of gathering for
youth socialisation regardless of social class. This
was constructed in the city suburb, close to the new
housing patterns initiated by the wave of modernisation. This was not all, because they were replaced
with new comers from rural areas. Therefore, the traditional way of life, particularly the concepts of doorstep/Bar-mâl and Kâni were sustained both on the
margins and in the traditional part of the city.
The Kurdish women of Iran, along with their men,
participated actively in the anti-monarchy revolution
of 1978–1979. Apart from a few years after revolution, Kurdish women, similar to other Iranian women, had to veil. Contrary to the previous period
(Pahlavi), which enforced unveiling of women in public places, the black veil became a precondition of
their presence in governmental organizations and
the veil in general for any public domain controlled
by revolutionary guards. In the Kurdish context, this
was the first time that formal rules and laws enforced
the black veil and codified the presence of women in
public places. Thus, veiling has become part of the
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
creation and symbolic representation of status of
inclusion and exclusion. But this was more concerning those employed or in connection with official
organizations. Contrary to the other women of Iranian cities, who used to wear the dark Hejab like
those of their ancestors, the other Kurdish women
with traditional background still confined themselves
to traditional Kurdish dress made of obvious colours
and did not cover their faces in the public realms. This
is more due to moderate tendencies of most Kurds toward religion. They usually communicated with public realms of the neighbourhood for the purpose of
shopping and even went to the main bazaar to supply
other family needs. Although the place of Kâni no
longer acted as a supported place of public gathering
for women in the traditional part of the city – due to
socio-physical changes happened in the process of
urbanization – the doorstep/Bar-mâl remained unchanged and was an active place of gathering for
unemployed women, to such an extent that two
seating platforms (Khâjé-nesheen) on the sides of
the entrance part of the doorway in the houses of
notables (Figure 4c), which were the main domain
in the past life of the city, were transformed into a
female domain. In addition to this, they also organised some part of their social life within the house.
From these, any wedding was an important gathering.
Depending on the status of the owner, it was either
organised within the spaces of the home or on some
parts of the adjacent street. The later became a popular way of organizing wedding ceremonies among
poor family, and some parts of the street were reserved for that ceremony. To save the social event
from revolutionary guards, the arena of such mixed
public gathering were usually transformed into enclosed space by temporary curtains held on both sides
of the street.
In the succeeding years, especially with the wave of
urbanization during and after war with Iraq as a result
of a ‘‘high income gap between economic sectors and
the unavailability of work to rural dwellers’’ (Fanni,
2006, p. 5), the city was expanded and its traditional
part was gradually transformed in line with the demands of urbanization, due to the fact that they cannot stand against the forces of the time. This, along
with the socio-economic reforms that happened after
the war, especially during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami24, who propounded the socio-economic
role of women, dictated that new public spaces along
24
The impact of this reform on women has been profound:
‘‘bolstering the self-confidence in women and introducing them to
their social rights; increasing women’s participation in political,
social, economic, and public administration at regional and central
government levels; improving the quality and quantity of women’s
NGOs; improving women’s education; improving women’s health
and decreasing the number of deaths; changing negative perspectives about women; enlarging budgets for women’s participation;
assisting single mothers with governmental loans and mortgages,
among other, more general impacts’’ (Haghighatjoo, 2006, p. 3).
the main streets became the major place of socialisation, mainly among the younger generation, from different social classes and cultural backgrounds. Within
these years, the traditional way of women’s socialisation remained unchanged, particularly for those who
migrated from rural areas, uneducated and elderly
women who settled either in traditional parts or the
fringe of the city. The exception was the wedding ceremony. This became detached from the house
through organizing some places of gathering in the
city suburb, due to the fact that the changes in the life
style and people’s attitudes to modernity no longer
accept the presence of such crowded ceremony within
the neighbourhood. For educated women, the social
arena was more expanded to the extent that in the
first election of the city council, a woman was selected
as one of the city representatives.
This appropriation of the new public places affected more the concept of neighbourliness and its
spatial dimension. The traditional places of public
gathering, which were contextualised in connection
with the aforementioned sense of community, were
no longer in line with the life style of new generations. They mostly moved to the city’s suburb in
search of new housing patterns. This led to decline
and deterioration of the city’s traditional part, in benefit of the suburb as it accommodated most modern
facilities and amenities. For this reason, one can only
observe that the elderly and uneducated poor families still use those traditional public places. More
importantly, the new housing pattern of suburbs do
not support the traditional way of socialisation
(mainly the doorstep) because of the layout of
streets, which changed the movement pattern from
pedestrian to vehicular traffic, and the demand of
new generations, who gained new public places and
whose members are struggling for more beyond the
realm of their neighbourhood. The elderly of those
migrated families to the suburb are suffering from
the lack of traditional public places as the neighbourhood lacks any appropriate places of gathering close
to the houses, thus, they have to stay at home.
Conclusion
Within this paper, which comprised two parts, first
the traditional women’s social realm has been characterised in general by mentioning some notion
of privacy in Kurdish culture concerning the status
of women and socio-environmental circumstances.
As a result, unlike other Islamic cities, the tension
between the two realms, the strict boundary between the public and private domains, was somewhat reduced in respect to women’s presence in
public spaces across the quarter. The primary relationships occurred within the neighbourhood
‘‘where there [was] very little privacy and anonymity’’ (Rapoport, 1977, p. 297) due to the homogeneity of the inhabitants and strong sense of
neighbourliness among them (Figure 6).
419
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
The widely held notion concerning the restrictions
on women’s presence in the public domain of Islamic city was examined in two quarters of the city.
It was made clear that this notion had more to do
with the life of the rich and notables, while the commoners, who comprised the greater part of the urban
population, negotiated with the public domain because of the nature of their life. Apart from examining the nature of life within the two quarters and
some particular notions concerning the status of
Kurdish women, five gathering places for women
were identified. Of those gathering places, two (Kâni
and Bar-mâl) were highlighted due to their deep
rooted connection with Kurdish habits and
traditions.
The second part dealt with modern era, especially
the wave of modernisation and its impacts on the women’s social realm. Apart from some points of differences, Kurdish women confronted the same struggle,
as other Iranian women did after Revolution, to conquer more public places. It became clear that the traditional way of public gathering was gradually being
kept on the periphery of the city to such an extent it
only remained appropriate among the poor and
uneducated families, those who settled either in the
city’s traditional part or on the fringe. Apart from
gaining some primary rights in access to more public
places beyond the boundary of their neighbourhood,
the new established housing pattern was also against
the traditional places of public gathering, due to the
Figure 6 The hierarchical movement from the bazaar to the cluster houses as the main domain of women’s social life: (1)
the bazaar complexes mainly in the domain of men’s social life, (2) the Bazaarche as the shared domain, (3) cluster houses
which contained the elements of Maidânché, spring and possibility of gathering by the door-step (Bar-mâl) is mainly the
domain of women’s social interaction. Source: Author, August 2004.
420
Changes conceptions of women’s public space in the Kurdish city: H Alizadeh
street pattern and lack of appropriate places of public
gathering.
From the above points and to link the results with
the future development of the city (reconciling the
tradition with modernity), the designers can emphasise the concepts of the Maidânche´ within the cluster
houses and Bar-mâl as a buffer zones between private and public domains. These, on the one hand,
can help to enhance the experiential qualities of
space in the circulation system of the settlements
and, on the other hand, to strength the sense of
neighbourliness and social relations among the
inhabitants. These concepts entail ‘‘face-to-face contact, proximity and a reciprocal relationship consistent with the concept of nearness which brings
about neighbourhood’’, which increases opportunity
for potential meetings (Kearns and Parkinson, 2001,
p. 2104; Williams, 2005).
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