Document Type : Research/Original/Regular

Authors

• Taha Ashayeri ¹
• Ali Ghanbari ²
• Davoud Zahrani ³

¹ University of Mohaghegh Ardabili,Ardabil, Iran

² faculty member of university of Isfahan,Isfahan,Iran

³ human sciences and humanities,Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Context a purpose: Social order is a basis for development and keeping the social order. It relaxing, social life, making social capital, and the existence of confidence is related to social security. Security is different according to the gender and there are various sources that affect the security feeling of women. So, this study aims to answer the question that which factors affect women's security and how much explained it.
Method: the method is a quantitative meta-analysis. The aim of this paper is to integrate, standardize and review systemically conducted studies in a specific field of research. The study population is during 2006 to 2021 is 70 studies in which 40 samples of research documents were selected in order to combine and identify their impact. Findings: Analytical findings of the study indicate that media resources (0.308), control resources (0.387), social capital (0.249), environmental factors (0.217), psychological factors (0.232), identity factors (0.112), selective lifestyle (0.169) and class factors (0.184), crime factors (0.141), had a significant effect on women's feeling of security and totally explained 28% of the changes.

Highlights

Security is an important element and an inherent need of human societies. Society is composed of a family system (women and men) that continuously contributes to social life. In this system, both genders play an important role. For this reason, paying attention to women's security is one of the social issues of Iranian society (Mir Mohammadtabar et al., 2015).

Depending on the type of political and cultural system of societies, the sense of security between men and women is different. Due to biological and psychological reasons (Modiri, 2015), women feel more insecure than men, and most victims of crimes are men, and women experience more insecurity and fear of crime. The experience and perception of crime have become a gender issue (Ashayeri, 2017). This has reduced the level of social participation of women (Shakuri Asl, 2015). The existence of trust, family support, and a social support system plays an important role in women's sense of security in the urban environment. Women who have a high level of cultural capital consider themselves safe from insecurity (Kavanaugh, 2014). Increasing the level of women's education, exposure to unethical behavior also decreases (Brilli, & Marco, 2014). Many news about sexual harassment of women are announced in public places; That is, women are physically less able to defend themselves, and there is a growing tendency in women to remember their early life experiences and their fear of other life situations (Bamanian, 2017). This causes a decrease in the presence of women in local, cultural, and social institutions (Qaderzadeh & Khazaei, 2013), which itself leads to victimization ,and increasing their vulnerability (Loukaitou-Sideris, 2005 & Day, Stump & Carreon, 2003).

Statistics in the country show that the sense of security among citizens is relatively low. The results of a national study of eight Iranian metropolises (Tehran, Hamedan, Urmia, Shiraz, Kerman, Yazd, Isfahan, and Mashhad) show that 81% of city residents feel insecure. Other results also show that 52% of people have a high feeling of social security, 27% have a moderate feeling and 21% have a feeling of social insecurity (Bakhsandeh Rahmati et al., 2019). Meanwhile, women are more affected by the social situation than men due to the patriarchal structure of society, social norms, physical structure,e, and psychological defense mechanisms. The current research, by studying 40 research works (survey) about the period from 1385 to 1400, aims to investigate the most important factors affecting the sense of social security of women in Iranian society.

Main question: What are the sources and factors affecting women's sense of security?

Method

The current research is a meta-analysis (quantitative). Meta-analysis is the synthesis, integration, and homogenization of studies conducted in a specific field. A technique is a statistic used for a systematic review that quantitatively combines the results of a large number of studies to determine the average effect of a particular technique.

The statistical population of the present study is all the research conducted in Iran in the years 1385 to 1400 on the topic of women's security, which has been registered in the scientific databases of academic Jihad sid, Noormags specialized journals database, and Magiran publications database. Among more than 70 research studies on "women's social security" were identified and finally 40 research documents were selected according to quantitative meta-analysis criteria (correlation coefficient, sample size, significance level, research quality, validity and reliability of research, survey). After the initial classification of studies, etymology, and their description, finally, research variables that have been repeated more than 2 times in studies were entered into CMA2 to determine the effect size and its correlation coefficient.

Results

Results show that:

Table 1. Research effect size

1. There is a significant relationship between the media and women's sense of security (Effect size = .308). Mass media and the amount of its use had a significant effect on women's sense of security and could explain .360% of it. The more women use media, the more their sense of security is affected and reduced.
2. There is a significant relationship between social capital and women's sense of security (Effect size = .249). Social trust is a variable that affects women's sense of security, the value of this effect is .323. The wider the social trust and its radius in today's modern society, the greater the women's sense of security and vice versa. Institutional trust is the level of women's trust and certainty in government, executive, and organizational institutions.
3. There is a significant relationship between environmental factors and women's sense of security (Effect size = .217).
4. There is a significant relationship between psychological factors and women's sense of security (Effect size = .323). The feeling of inferiority of women in society due to the patriarchal nature of society and work environments plays an important role in the job security of women and affects their sense of security at the social level to the same extent.
5. There is a significant relationship between the chosen lifestyle and women's sense of security (Effect size = .169). Women who have a religious lifestyle will gain a greater sense of security due to the commonality of religious rituals, having religious relations with informal and formal institutions, as well as gaining spiritual peace and removing mental anxiety.
6. There is a significant relationship between crime factors and women's sense of security (Effect size = .141). The level of women's perception of the existence of crime and insecurity in the environment and society and their perception of the state of feeling of security and risk factors increases their fear and insecurity.
7. 7. There is a significant relationship between control factors and women's sense of security (Effect size = .387). Satisfaction with the police in society makes women feel more relaxed and secure in the social environment.

Discussion and conclusion

Security is one of the main foundations of community formation, and women are also considered important human capital in the continuity and stability of this community. The social vulnerability of women includes the level of physiological and social vulnerability that affects their sense of security. Accordingly, if women have less ability to protect and control themselves, they will experience more insecurity. In any society, women are more likely than men to fear normal trends.

Based on the results of this research, the following suggestions are presented:

- Existence of mobile police stations in high-traffic areas and increased lighting of urban neighborhoods and streets;

-Strengthening women's self-esteem and self-confidence and self-defense training to increase strength in dealing with crimes;

- Teaching social mechanisms to deal with crimes and how to deal with victims;

- Increasing the presence of women in civil activities and recruiting them in community law enforcement programs;

-Establishing a special court and police station for women and increasing their ability to defend their rights;

- Identifying urban crime hotspots, removing blind spots on public roads, and urban design with social monitoring and surveillance;

- Increasing women's social capital and using them in social and non-governmental institutions;

- Strengthening women's social participation and increasing their interaction with the police and law enforcement agencies;

- Formation of specialized working groups for women in security-administrative institutions and using their role and participation in community security.

Ethical considerations

Compliance with research ethics: Mentioning the exact sources of the published source was based on the conditions of the consent of the magazines and books used in this research, which was used as a secondary analysis.

Funding: There is no financial support for this study.

Authors’ Contribution: The first author was in charge of studying and preparing the draft of the article, and the second and third authors were in charge of data analysis and writing.

Findings: as well as correspondence and corrections for publication. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgment: The authors would like to thank all the researchers who had valuable studies in this field and were used in this research, as well as the relevant organizations that were active in the field of security, especially the security of women.

Keywords

• Social Security
• control sources
• Social disorder
• social class
• Women

20.1001.1.23452692.1402.11.1.1.7

Main Subjects

• Woman and family