Dissertation Defense: Ramesh Sepehrrad - "Gender Conflict in Iran: A Critique of Human Rights and Conflict Resolution"

This study seeks to investigate to what extent international human rights advocates and conflict resolvers are skilled and equipped to deal with situations such as the state-run gender violence which has led to a protracted conflict in a country like Iran. This project aims to first contextualize the gender conflict in Iran, then provide a detailed analysis of the conflict both qualitatively and quantitatively and then offer the impacts of human rights and conflict resolution fields, including its shortcomings. It will call attention to the role of domestic and international non-governmental organizations over the period of 1979-2009. It also provides a briefing on the application of international human rights protocols, laws, and methods of rights protection, intervention and practices of international human rights groups to support their local counterparts in Iran. In addition, this study will utilize the lens of conflict resolution to analyze the gender conflict in Iran, its cause and effect, its phases over the last 30 years, while evaluating existing strategies for methods of intervention and prevention. Recognizing the strength and weaknesses of both fields, the purpose of this project is not to bring the two fields together, but rather to enhance the current understanding of the common grounds between the two fields and stress the need of further partnership between them. Given the under-representation of gender analysis in human rights and conflict resolution fields, this project will also contribute to the literature and the discourse in both fields.

Dissertation Committee:

Mark Goodale, Ph.D., ICAR (Chair), GMU

John Dale, Ph.D., Department of Sociology and Anthropology, GMU

Julie Mertus, J.D., School of International Service, Peace and Global Affairs, American University