Extended abstract

Background & Purpose

The coronavirus is still unknown to the world and has hidden dimensions and consequences that need to be addressed by survey and case study research. There are no studies on women's insecurity in the corona pandemic, or its results have not been published yet. Because of the broad consequences of this disease for different groups, especially women, in different parts of the country, and challenges and problems that deserve attention and reflection, there is a need for research in this area. For this reason, we choose one of the regions in the country (Neyriz city in Fars province) to  respond to the following questions:

1) What are the underlying reasons for women's Corona-related feelings of insecurity?; 2) What strategies do women use to deal with this feeling of insecurity?; 3) what are the consequences of women's Corona-related feelings of insecurity?; And 4) What are the dimensions of women's experience of insecurity?

Review of Literature

This study is more inspired by the theories of security analysts by the Copenhagen School, and undoubtedly, the most influential experts who addressed this variable are Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver. Buzan defines the starting point of security as subjective and based on the actors' decisions. He argued that security is known in the community because actors can refer to it and view some events as threats. Simply put, the levels of security or insecurity depend on individuals' perceptions and their security-related appraisals. Barry Buzan once quotes John Locke in saying that the primary purpose of human beings in giving authority to the government is to preserve their property. Property here means life, survival, freedom, political and intellectual security, and financial security.

Method

Current research is an applied study in terms of purpose. The methodology used in this research is qualitative with the grounded theory approach, which aims to explore the semantic implications of insecurity feelings in women during the Corona pandemic. In the present study, in-depth interviews were used to collect data. After transcribing the interviews, the data were analyzed using three open, axial, and selective coding steps. We conducted interviews in summer 2020 in the city of Neyriz, Fars province. All participants signed the informed consent form. Each interview lasts approximately an hour and is carried out in public places such as offices, shopping centers, parks, and streets. The sample size consisted of 26 women in Neyriz selected among the statistical population.

Results

Causal conditions

Causal conditions refer to events that lead to a feeling of insecurity in women. In this article, the causal conditions of women's insecurity can be considered as gender role socialization (women's restrictions, learned fear).

Context

Contextual conditions are a specific set of conditions that accumulate at a particular time and place to set the stage for forming a phenomenon. (Strauss and Corbin, 2012, 154). In other words, the contextual conditions provide the context for women to feel insecure. In the present study, these conditions are the lack of institutional policy-making (poverty) and social anxiety and panic (media advertising, cyberspace).

Interfering conditions

Interfering conditions are those that alleviate, aggravate, or modify causal conditions. Thus, being controlled (psychological insecurity, lack of freedom) can be mentioned as an Interfering condition that intensifies the feelings of insecurity in the women in our study.

Strategies

Strauss and Corbin stated that the goal of the strategies in grounded theory is to manage, deal with, and show sensitivity to the phenomenon. The present study suggested dual strategies. These strategies include helplessness or despair (accepting the situation, tolerance), women's vulnerability (social exclusion, economic inequality).

consequences

The actions and reactions that take place to deal with the phenomenon will have consequences. In the present study, the conditions that create a sense of insecurity in the Corona pandemic will lead to four consequences, which are:

Psychological burnout (depression, distress), social isolation (social insecurity, internal insecurity), internalization of fear (feeling of death), distrust (pessimism).

Conclusion

Security is one of the basic human needs, which is most important after physiological needs. Security has a relative nature, which means that it varies depending on the individuals' lifeworld and lived experience. The feeling of security is a very complex and multidimensional concept that ignoring it will have adverse consequences, and its absence causes fear and panic, mistrust and distress in society. People in the community should feel physically and mentally peace in the Corona pandemics in the country. Still, in the meantime, the women's feeling of total security is fundamental due to their crucial educational role in the family and society.

According to Barry Buzan and Ole Waever, who proposed that the starting point of security is subjective and based on the actors' decisions, women, based on their interpretation of Corona pandemics, view the situation as a significant threat and catastrophe to their individual and social life. They see their financial, psychological, and social security at risk, which these dimensions are clearly seen in the present study. Women's feelings of insecurity in the Corona pandemic were divided into four dimensions: feelings of insecurity (survival, financial, psychological, and social), and the results suggest that women have experienced feelings of insecurity in various areas.