Social Economy and the Role of Low Income Religious Women in Iran

Social economy refers to the sector of the economy that is neither part of the government or the private sector but primarily is rooted in the community. It can be applied to a range of practices, from volunteer groups, to not-for-profit associations, to community-based organizations to social safety nets. This paper examines one aspect of the social economy, the social safety net, which relies on social networks among Iranian women in low-income households. I argue that the social safety net in Iran is spread widely and is especially strong among Islamist women who tend to be the majority of those living in low-income households. The paper documents their role as part of the social economy, filling the gap between both welfare state and formal safety net institutions. This is not to overlook the fact that there are non-religious safety nets, nor does it suggest that middle and higher income women are excluded from the social economy. Yet, since the majority of those who need help are low income, and they tend to be more inclined to embrace religious values, the emphasis will remain on low-income Islamic women’s ways of building safety net. This can be argued to be similar to examples in other parts of world where religion, especially, established formal churches, has played a role in social economy, such as Quebec in Canada and in most of Latin America, where the social economy and