Women in private and public sphere: Analyzing the social position of Naseri women in the travelogues of Gertrude Bell and Dieulafoy

This research explores the social status of women from the perspective of two elite female orientalists: Bell and Dieulafoy, who travelled to different cities of Iran during the late Qajar era. The main goal is to give importance to the female point of view in the narrative of the situation on the one hand and to report on the life of women in the public and private spheres, which, compared to the point of view of male tourists, contains significant data due to the limitations of men’s communication. The research method is qualitative and based on data analysis of travelogues as documents.
Gender segregation is based on gender role. In the private sphere, marriage at a young age and arranged marriage based on kinship system relationships, marriage for the pyramid of power, the inner life of women of the upper classes in the city, as well as the expectations of the role of women in the nomadic communities are significant categories. Regarding the areas of women's lives in the public sphere, hijab, ritual aspects of women's presence, travel and a few women's jobs have been introduced. Beauty and intelligence are the main attributes of women. Here, an Orientalist stereotype based on the traditional image of a victim woman against a pleasure-seeking man is not seen, and they rarely deal with women's inferiority positions. By mentioning details, both give a considerable view of the characteristics of women's lifestyles.