Persian women's movement
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This article is mainly about the women's movement in modern day Iran. For women in traditional Iranian/Persian culture please see Persian women. For women rights issues in Iran please see Women rights in Iran
Iranian women's movement ( also called Persian women's movement ) involves the Iranian women's experience of modernism, through which the concept of "Modern Iranian woman" and its associated art, science, literature, poetry, and political structures have been evolving since the 19th century. Iranian women account for a remarkable fraction of intellectual circles in Iran and consequently played roles in forming Iranian identity in modern time.
[edit] Background
It is believed that Persian women's movement dates back to the ancient time. Cyrus the great was perhaps the first advocator of human rights and arguably paved the way for the women's movement in Persia. Purandokht, who was the daughter of king Khosrau II ruled Persian empire for almost two years.
[edit] Women in Persian constitutional revolution
Iranian women had a significant presence in Persian Constitutional Revolution. At the turn of 20th century journalism attracted educated Persian women. Danesh (1907) was the first specialized journal focusing on women issues. Later on Shokoufeh, Nameie Banovan, Alam e Nesvan, Nesvan e Vatan Khah were published in Tehran. More over , Nesvan e Shargh in Bandar Anzali, Jahan e Zanan in Mashhad, Dokhtaran e Iran in Shiraz and Peik e saadat in Rasht were the journals particularly addressing women issues throughout Persia (Iran).
The most notable Iranian women who were influential in the revolution are: Bibi Khatoon Astarabadi, Noor-ol-Hoda Mangeneh, Mohtaram Eskandari, Sediqeh Dowlatabadi and Qamar ol-Molouk Vaziri.
Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-11 became a turning point in the lives of Iranian women. Women participated in huge numbers and gained important positions for expressing their views, including journals, schools, and associations that flourished in the following period (1911-24).[1]
But the defeat of the constitutionalists (1921-5) and the consolidation of power by Reza Shah (1925-41) had two contradictory impacts. Independent women's journals and groups were destroyed, while the state implemented social reforms such as mass education and paid employment for women. Reza Shah also initiated his controversial policy of Kashf-e-Hijab, banning the wearing of the Islamic Hijab in public. But like other sectors of the society in those years under Reza Shah's rule, women lost the right to express themselves and dissent was repressed.[citation needed]
[edit] Women in Iranian revolution
With the advent of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, women's rights took yet another wild swing toward religious conservatism. Despite the decree of many of Iran's top clerics such as Ayatollah Taleghani, the state, under the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini made wearing the Hijab mandatory for all women, implementing strict religious codes for women in society. However, revolution brought many low and middle class women into public sphere. For many years, breaking the barrier of confinement of the private sphere had been a major source of frustration for advocates of women's rights in Iran. The Islamic revolution broke the barrier overnight. When Khomeini called for women to attend public demonstration and ignore the night curfew, millions of women who would otherwise not have dreamt of leaving their homes without their husbands' and fathers' permission or presence, took to the streets. Khomeini's call to rise up against the Shah took away any doubt in the minds of many devoted Muslim women about the propriety of taking to the streets during the day or at night.
The early 1990s witnessed a marked increase of employment for women. This increase was much more than the rate prior to the revolution. Such dramatic change in the pattern of labor force participation might not have been possible if Khomeini had not broken the barriers to women entering into the public sphere. Educational attainment for women, also a product of free education and the literacy campaign, contributed to this increase. In fact, today there are more women in higher education than there are men. The Islamic Republic had adopted certain policies to expand educational levels for women in order to ensure that sexual segregation paid off. These policies were to encourage women to become skilled workers in domains exclusive to women. For example, the government set quotas for female pediatricians and gynecologists and set up barriers against women wanting to become civil engineers.
In May 1997, a large number of women participated in presidential elections and overwhelmingly voted for Mohammad Khatami, a reformist cleric who had promised reduction of repression and toleration of civil society institutions. His election opened a period when women could voice their ideas once again, with many becoming increasingly bolder in their demands and in their criticisms. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian human rights and women's right activist, further emboldened Iranian women's right activists inside Iran and cemented their relationships with Iranian feminist activists abroad.
The Sixth Parliament saw the emergence of some of Iran's strongest advocates of women's rights. Almost all of the 11 female lawmakers of the (at the time) 270-seat Majles took on the challenge of trying to change some of Iran's more conservative laws amidst a male dominated culture. However, during the elections for the Seventh Majlis, all of those representatives were banned to run for office by the all male Council of Guardians, only allowing conservative females to run for election. The new representatives, as expected, upon their arrival into office began reversing many of the laws passed by the reformist 6th Majles.
[edit] Iranian women and Contemporary Persian literature
See also: Persian literature
Persian literature of last two centuries enjoyed the presence of brilliant female literary figures as Simin Behbahani, Forough Farrokhzad, Parvin Etesami and Simin Daneshvar to name a few. Simin Daneshvar's Savushun is a novel about the Iranian experience of modernity during the 20th century.
Simin Behbahani, in her artistic progress as a poet, has moved from passionate love poems towards poetry enriched by a motherly affection for all humans; and as such, has approached the narrative as an appropriate form for her poetical expression.[2]
Behbahani is currently president of The Iranian Writers' Association. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997.
[edit] Iranian women and Persian music
See also: Iranian women and Persian music
Perhaps Qamar ol-Molouk Vaziri is the first female master of Persian music who introduced a new style of music and received reputation among masters of Persian music at her time.
Several years later, Mahmoud Karimi trained several female student who later become masters of Persian traditional music: Arfa Atrai, Soosan Matloobi, Fatemeh Vaezi, Masoomeh Mehr-Ali and Soosan Aslani.
Soodabeh Salem and Sima Bina were instumental in the development of Iranian Children music and Iranian folk music respectively. Innovations made by Iranian women is not restricted to Persian music. For instance, Lily Afshar is working on a combination of Persian and Western classical music.
[edit] Iranian women and modern science
See also: Higher education in Iran and Science in Iran
Bibi Khatoon Astarabadi founded the first school for Persian girls in 1907. In this school, Iranian women could learn history, geography, law, calculus, religion, cooking among other subjects.
During Reza Pahlavi era, Tehran University offered possibilities for Iranian women to have academic experience which was a huge step forward for the education of Iranian women. In 1936 for the first time 12 women were admitted into Tehran University. They entered all faculties.[3]
At the end of the 20th century, according to the research ministry of Iran, women accounted for 70% of all university students in the natural sciences and engineering, including one in five Ph. D. students.
The presence of Iranian women in international olympiads attracted observers worldwide. Maryam Mirzakhani, for instance, won gold medals both in International Mathematical Olympiad (Hong Kong 1994) and International Mathematical olympiad (Canada 1995). An alumnus of Sharif University of Technology, she is currently an assistant professor at Princeton. Mirzakhani is an example of numerous Iranian women who were raised in Iran and have found international reputation.
[edit] Iranian women and modern art
see also: Modern and Contemporary Art in Iran
Iranian women had an undisputable role in the recognition of Iranian art and particularly Iranian cinema in the world.
Following the rise of Iranian New wave of Persian cinema, there are now record numbers of film school graduates in Iran and each year more than 20 new directors make their debut films, many of them women. In the last two decades, there has been a higher percentage of women directors in Iran than in most countries in the West.[4]
The success and hard work of the pioneering Rakhshan Bani-Etemad is an example that many women directors in Iran were following much before Samira Makhmalbaf made the headlines. Internationally recognised figures in Persian women's cinema are: Tahmineh Milani, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Zahra Dowlatabadi, Niki Karimi, Samira Makhmalbaf, Mahin Oskouei, Pari Saberi, Hana Makhmalbaf, Pouran Rakhshandeh, Shirin Neshat, Sepideh Farsi, Maryam Keshavarz, Yassamin Maleknasr and Sara Rastegar.
Iranian writer-director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad is probably Iran's best known and certainly most prolific female filmmaker. Rakhshan Bani Etemad has established herself as the elder stateswoman of Iranian cinema with documentaries and films dealing with social pathology. One of the best-known female film directors in the country today is Samira Makhmalbaf, who directed her first film The Apple at 17 years old. Samira Makhmalbaf won the 2000 Cannes Jury Prize for her following film Blackboards, about the trials of two travelling teachers in Kurdistan.
[edit] Iranian women and Sports
Women were an integral part of the sport in ancient Persia. Polo originated in the royal courts of ancient Persia 2,500 years ago. The queen and her ladies-in-waiting would play against the emperor and his courtiers.[5]
Today, Iranian schools offer Sport for Iranian students including girls. Despite some restrictions, Iran has many female athletes talented enough to win medals in international competitions. In 2000, Atousa Pour-Kashian, became world chess champion. In 2004, Zahra Asgardoun won a silver medal in sanshu competitions of the Asian women's wushu event.
On 30 May 2005, Farkhondeh Sadegh, a graphic designer, and Laleh Keshavarz, a dentist, became the first Muslim women to make a successful ascent of Mount Everest. In December 2005, Iran wins Asian women's canoe polo crown. In 2006, Iranian wushu athletes gained five medals in the Third Grand International Wushu Festival in Warsaw, Poland. Iranian women's national team athlete, Elham Sadeqi, won three golds in Taolu events. Iran's top race car driver is Laleh Seddigh who is skilled in both circuit and rally driving.
National teams include: Iranian women national football team, national taekwondo team, National chess team, track and field team etc.
[edit] Women's health in modern Iran
In 20th century, female social activists, health workers and NGOs took initiatives to promote the health of women by informing them about the importance of regular check-ups as Pap smear, mammography, blood test etc. The importance of vitD-ca supplementation and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) have been emphasized in order to prevent osteoporosis that affects Iranian women.
In 2005, Iranian parliament approved abortions before four months gestation if a woman's life is at risk or the fetus is malformed. With technical support from UNFPA, literacy and family planning initiatives were implemented by the government. The Fund's specific contributions to the Literacy Movement Organization include training of more than 7,000 teachers, development of a nine-episode television series on women's health issues (including family planning), and procurement of computers and other equipment.[6]
[edit] Women's movement in late 20th century
Women movement during Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's era, Iranian revolution and post revolution Iran continued to be very significant. Perhaps the most notable figure is Shirin Ebadi who won a Nobel Prize for her courageous efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. Ebadi in collaboration with figures like Simin Behbahani, Mehrangiz Kar, Elaheh Koulaei, Shahla Sherkat, Jila Bani Yaghoob, Mahboubeh Abbas-Gholizadeh, Azam Taleghani, Shahla Lahiji and a few others directed women's movement in Iran in late 20th century and at the turn of the new millennium.
In 1992, Shahla Sherkat founded Zanan (Women) magazine, which focuses on the concerns of Iranian women and continually tests the political waters with its edgy coverage of everything from reform politics to domestic abuse to sex. Zanan has been the most important Iranian women's journal after Iranian revolution. Zanan systematically criticized the Islamic legal code. It argued gender equality was Islamic but religious literature is misread and misappropriated by misogynist interest oriented males. Mehangiz Kar, Shahla Lahiji and Shahla Sherkat the editor of Zanan lead the debate on women's rights. Reforms were demanded by all; the leadership did not respond but for the first time after revolution they could not silence the movement.[7]
In 1997, a prenuptial document to be signed at the time of marriage was approved. The object was to give women the rights they lack in Shariat. The future husband forfeits his rights to polygamy and unconditional divorce. Women can initiate divorce, divide assets and have joint custody of children and child support. The practice so far has failed and most men will not sign the contract. Few gains are made since then. Family courts are back again and divorce is referred to these courts, though the number of courts is very limited. Women can function as judges but do not have the title. Mahriyeh is indexed and linked to inflation. Women are given more grounds for initiating divorce.[8]
On August 27, 2006, a new women's rights campaign was launched in Iran. The "One Million Signatures"[9] campaign aims at ending legal discrimination against women in Iranian law by collecting a million signatures on paper. Some of these laws include the low age of legal adult responsibility for girls (9 years right now), inequality of a woman's testimony to that of a man, lower punitive damages in the case of injury or death of a woman (half of a man's), and many more. Since the mentioned discriminatory laws affect women and men from all backgrounds rather than a specific class of people, the campaign has the potential to have a wide range of supporters: traditional or modern, religious or non-religious, underprivileged or well-off. The supporters of this campaign include many Iranian women's rights activists inside Iran and also international activists including many Nobel peace prize laureates.
[edit] Women's studies in Iranian Universities
In 2001, University of Allameh Tabatabei, Tarbiat Modarres University and Azzahra University initiated "Women's studies" program at MA level. Shortly after, Tehran University organized a similar program.
[edit] Women's movements in Iranian cultural continent
Women of modern Iran have close contacts with the women from the Iranian cultural sphere as Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kurdish areas in Iraq and Central Asia. Many women right activists, artists and literary figures in the region cross borders to work and assist each others. As an example, Iranian Jila Bani Yaghoub and Samira Makhmalbaf contributed to Afghanistan each in her own ways. Iranian foremost intellectual Farah Karimi wrote a book entitled "Slagveld Afghanistan" to criticise Dutch military policies in Afghanistan. In 2006, Iranian Farah Karimi was appointed as the representative of United Nations in Afghanistan affairs.[10] In 2003, Sima Bina, the voice of Khorasan, performed secular sthrenodies of Khorasan at the Théâtre du Soleil for the benefit of the "Afghanistan: one child one book" project created by the organisation Open Asia.[11] Moreover in 2004 World Bank has funded establishment of a "netwrok of Persian women" for promoting the situation of women in Persian speaking lands. The network consists of women of Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.[12]
- Afghanistan: Here are some influential figures of women's movements in this area:
- Sima Samar, the first Deputy Chair and Minister of Women’s Affairs.
- Safeeieh Ammeh Jan, prominent Tajik-Afghanistani women right activist.
- Tajikistan:
Tajik women founded more than 100 NGOs during last decades to defend their rights and improve their quality of life. Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, acted as a role model for new generation of Tajik women. Many Tajik bussiness women have economic ties with Iran.[13] In 2005, a conference on Poverty of women was organized in Iran and a group of Tajik journalists, activists, University lecturers and athletes were invited to Iran for exchanging experiences.[14]
[edit] References and further readings
- Edward G. Browne, The Persian Revolution of 1905-1909. Mage Publishers (July 1995). ISBN 0-934211-45-0
- Farideh Farhi, Religious Intellectuals, the “Woman Question,” and the Struggle for the Creation of a Democratic Public Sphere in Iran, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Vol. 15, No.2, Winter 2001.
- Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Religious Modernists and the “Woman Question”: Challenges and Complicities, Twenty Years of Islamic Revolution: Political and Social Transition in Iran since 1979, Syracuse University Press, 2002, pp 74-95.
- Shirin Ebadi, Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope, Random House (May 2, 2006), ISBN 1-4000-6470-8
[edit] Notes
- ^ J. Afary, The Iranian constitutional revolution, 1906-11. Grassroots democracy, social democracy, and the origins of feminism, New York 1996.
- ^ The international symposium on Simin Behbahani
- ^ History of Medicine in Iran
- ^ Haus der Kulturen der Welt
- ^ Polo comes back home to Iran
- ^ Adult Education Offers Options to Iranian Women
- ^ Women's movement: Zanan magazine
- ^ Women's movement: A brief history 1850-2000
- ^ About "One Million Signatures Demanding Changes to Discriminatory Laws"
- ^ Farah Karimi: a fight for freedom
- ^ Sima Bina: "Afghanistan, one child one book" project
- ^ Network of women in Persian speaking countries
- ^ Tajik Women and Iran
- ^ Campaign against Women's Poverty: Iran-Tajikistan joint project
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Articles:
- Portrayal of Women in Iranian Cinema: An historical overview by: Shahla Lahiji
- Manifestation of Feeling: A Selection of Paintings by Iranian Female Artists
- A Holistic Approach Underpins the Iran's Success in Family Planning (UNFPA)
- One Million Signatures Campaign (we-change.org)
- The Iranian Camila Batmanghelidjh has won the UK's Women of the Year 2006 award. (BBC)
- Iran's Women's Rights Movement and the One Million Signatures Campaign
- The Iranian Women’s Movement: A Century Long Struggle
Websites and forums:
- Zan (in Persian)
- Iran-Dokht (in Persian)
- Iran Women's Study Foundation
- Iranian Feminist Tribune (in Persian)
- Focus of Iranian Women (in Persian)
- Islamic Republic of Iran Center for Affairs of Women's Participation
