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Paper short abstract

This paper aims to investigate Iranian women’s small online home-based businesses as a response to the condition of inclusion and exclusion following the Islamic Revolution. In my research, I explore the link between women’s online entrepreneurship and their belated hopes in socio-economic mobility.

Paper long abstract

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the case of Iranian women’s small online home-based businesses as a response to the condition of inclusion and exclusion following the Islamic Revolution. While the rise of online entrepreneurship is considered as the result of the neoliberal economic restructuring, close anthropological attention to the phenomena points to a variety of value regimes that account for both the expansion of women’s online businesses and their struggles. This includes the link between women’s online entrepreneurship and their belated hopes in socio-economic mobility. To delve into women entrepreneurs’ aspirations for economic inclusion, I conducted a digital ethnography of Iranian women’s businesses on Instagram. I also participated in business-related conferences and classes, interviewed women, and observed them as they move from home to online spaces, dream-selling events, traditional market and other venues for fulfilling their aspirations. Adopting a gendered approach to understanding what women aspire to, and how they strive to create a plan of action to realize these aspirations, this paper aims to analyze women’s labor on social media as a form of gendered labor, shaped within the context of historically evolving ideologies of hope. Examining the various gender regimes that are affecting Iranian women’s entrepreneurial labor, this research seeks to discuss the ways women experience the specific arrangements between “public” and “private” patriarchy, as well as the work and welfare policies that include or exclude certain groups of women from chances for mobility.