Professional Women Redefine Good Work

This chapter shows how innovative women integrated and shaped the modern workplace. It describes the challenges women faced in leaving traditional village or family workplaces, where they were commonly part-owners, but frequently worked without “pay.” In the urbanizing world of the early twentieth century, they increasingly took “jobs” where they worked all day among strangers, often under supervision by men from other families. The chapter gives a series of eight stories of female pioneers in previously masculine careers. Among the women featured are hospital manager Fatemeh Pakravan, the government’s Office for Women Workers manager Ozma Adl-NaficyAdl-Naficy, Ozma, and Sattareh Farman FarmaianFarman Farmaian, Sattarehobservations by, who founded the School of Social Work. Last, the chapter considers the changing place of working women in the family and on the farm.