Iranian Journal of Public Policy

Iranian Journal of Public Policy

Analyzing the Components of Women`s Agency Formation in Iran Based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework and Political Opportunity Structures: The Historical Experience of Establishing Girls’ Schools in Iran

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
Mostafa Zamanian 1
Leyla Boostani 2
Elham Masoomi 2
1 Assistant Professor of Governance, Faculty of Governance, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2 Ph.d. Student of Population and Family Governance, Faculty of Governance, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
10.22059/jppolicy.2026.107828
Abstract
This article draws on the Advocacy Coalition Framework and the gendered access to power approach to examine the policy ecosystem and the process of policy learning involved in the establishment of girls’ schools in Iran from the Qajar period to the early Pahlavi era. The study employs a qualitative case study design based on the analysis of historical documents. The establishment of girls’ schools resulted from long-term interaction between two rival coalitions: a pro-modernization coalition that viewed women’s education as essential to national progress, and a conservative coalition that considered girls’ schooling incompatible with public morality and the traditional gender order. The findings show that the success of the pro-modernization coalition depended on gradual policy learning, including strategic adaptation to dominant norms. Women’s agency was largely exercised from within existing structures rather than through radical external opposition, using culturally legitimate resources to reduce social sensitivity and resistance. Overall, in culturally sensitive socio-social domains in Iran, sustainable policy change has largely occurred through incremental learning, negotiated adaptation, and the gradual reduction of resistance.
Keywords
Policy Learning
Girls’ Schools
Policy Ecosystem
Advocacy Coalitions
Gendered Access to Power
Women’s Agency
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Iranian Journal of Public Policy
Volume 12, Issue 2
Spring 2026
Pages 259-276