Instagram as a Means of Empowering Iranian Women by Focusing on Home-based Businesses

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Fatemeh Mahdipour

Abstract

The focus of this study was to examine how Instagram can affect the empowerment of Iranian women by providing a platform for them to run their home-based businesses (HBBs). The data were collected through sixteen semi-structured interviews with Iranian women who ran their HBBs on Instagram, and Kabeer's empowerment framework was applied to the analysis. The results show that women's empowerment can be improved by running an HBB on Instagram. Participants in this study could achieve greater agency, facilitate access to resources, and improve their achievements by running their HBBs on Instagram. However, all the barriers to women's empowerment could not be overcome by using Instagram.

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