Societies in Persian literature

Societies in Persian literature

A Sociological Analysis of the Representation and Nature of Gender Interactions in Folktales: A Case Study of the Tales of Chehel Gisu Tala

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
afsane noori 1
abdolmajid mohagheghi 2
arman hedari 3
ali alizadeh 2
1 PhD student in Persian Language and Literature, Yasuj University, Yasuj, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Yasuj University, Yasuj, Iran
3 Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Yasuj University, Yasuj, Iran
10.30488/sipl.2026.574637.1168
Abstract
Folk tales mirror a society’s culture and power structures. By probing older tales, we gain a historical view of attitudes toward the roles of women and men and see how discriminatory beliefs have been transmitted to later generations through narrative and allegory. This study describes and analyzes how strategies of gendered oppression and resistance are represented in the Chehel Gisu Tala tales, using a qualitative approach and thematic analysis. The sentence served as the unit of analysis; the meanings of relevant propositions were identified, coded, and then analyzed systematically. An inductive, a posteriori analysis showed that the principal strategies of oppression represented in these tales include control over women’s bodies, ownership and objectification of women, economic exploitation, expulsion from the home, divorce, polygamy, making decisions on behalf of daughters, reproduction, forced marriage, humiliation, and neglect. In response, women display diverse strategies of resistance such as escape, silence, knowledge and discernment, initiative, alliance and solidarity, leaving the household, norm-breaking, and sulking. The duality of oppression and resistance indicates that women are neither completely victims nor totally free, but they create new meaning and identity in the same power relations.
Keywords
Gender Representation
Intergender Social Interactions
Folktales
Chehel Gisu Tala
Subjects
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