Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Women's Studies International Forum journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wsif Young Iranian women as agents of social change: A qualitative study ☆ Asiyeh Salehi a,e, ⁎ , Bernadette Sebar b , Dean Whitehead c , Nahid Hatam d , Elisabeth Coyne e , Neil Harris b a School of health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Australia b School of Medicine, Griffith University, Australia c School of Nursing and Midwifery, Flinders University, Australia d Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran e Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Australia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Social capital Agents of social change Qualitative research Young women Iran ABSTRACT Objectives: Limited studies have investigated detailed insights into the experiences of women in transitioning countries such as Iran as active agents in their lives and their societies. This study explores how young Iranian women build and use their social capital to make a social change and improve their status. Methods: This study is the qualitative component of a larger mixed-method study exploring social capital and wellbeing in young Iranian women. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 young Iranian women aged 18–35. This data was supplemented with the open-ended responses provided by 87 of 391 parti- cipants in the quantitative phase of the study. Thematic analysis based on the Giorgi method was used for data analysis. Results: Two major themes that emerged from the data included “multiple identities” and “young women as agents of social change”, with more emphasis on the latter. Four main strategies were used by young Iranian women to enact social change and improve their position. These included building digital freedom, generating a new style of dressing, creating leisure opportunities, and changing social and sexual relationships. Conclusions: This study provides new insights into the necessity of moving away from simply looking at women as powerless victims within paternalistic societies to exploring their potential as agents of social change. Understanding the ways young Iranian women perceive themselves, their roles in society and their experience of enacting social change and building new social identities yields deeper insights into their expectations for transformational change. Background Health and wellbeing outcomes are significantly influenced by perceived control over individual and societal matters and by feelings of being valued and included in society (Salehi, Harris, Coyne, & Sebar, 2014a). These factors are considered the main determinants of social capital, as they facilitate access to tangible and/or intangible resources through social networks (Salehi et al., 2014a). Social capital can be built through bonding, bridging and linking social capital. Bonding social capital are the social links between homogenous social ties, while bridging and linking social capital indicate the connection between heterogeneous groups of people, which facilitates access to more powerful social connections. These two types of social capital are complementary (Griffiths et al., 2009; Eriksson, 2011). The lack of social inclusion and the lack of strong community and/ or social networks have been shown to be related to behavioural dys- function at the individual and community levels (Griffiths et al., 2009). In contrast, having an active role in the community empowers in- dividuals as well as reinforces the support of individuals for each other and for their community, resulting in less inequality and more social cohesion (Griffiths et al., 2009). According to the literature, some specific groups may be more vulnerable to the consequences of social exclusion and inequality (Griffiths et al., 2009), such as women in transitional societies, as they are more likely to experience a lack of https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2020.102341 Received 29 May 2019; Received in revised form 20 January 2020; Accepted 24 January 2020 ☆ Ethics: Approval to conduct the study was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Griffith University in Australia (GU Protocol Number PBH/38/ 12/HREC) and Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, the partnering local university human research ethics committee (EC_P_92_13043). This manuscript has not been published elsewhere and it has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere. ⁎ Corresponding author at: Room 7.38, School of health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Gold Coast Campus, QLD, Australia. E-mail address: Nasim.salehi@scu.edu.au (A. Salehi). Women's Studies International Forum 79 (2020) 102341 0277-5395/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T