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A Brief History of Women's Rights Activism in Iran (1895 - Present)

Iranian women have always played an important role in their society dating back to the dawn of the 20th century. They were one of  the first women in the Islamic world to struggle to attain an equal say and standing in society Iranian Women’s movements have been the prima¬ry driving force for change in contemporary Iranian history and in present days. Despite all the governmental and cultural obstacles the Iranian Women’s movements continues to move ahead and has broken new grounds in several levels.
The following brief chronology is meant to provide basic information for the general public regarding Women’s movements in Iran since the constitutional revolution and early 19th century.

The Constitutional Revolution Era

1895: The Qajar monarch, Nasser od-Din shah, gave the exclusive rights for tobacco production and sale to the British firm, Rejie, the populace vehemently objected and boycotted the use of tobacco, forcing the king to annul the agreement. Iranian women were at the forefront of this resistance. Even within the royal court, the women rose up against the agreement, broke the hookah and joined the boycott.

1905: Zeinab Pasha. Also known as Bibi shah Zeinab, she led the popular opposition to the Rejie agreement in Tabriz, capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Zeinab Pasha organized seven groups of armed women to parry government efforts to put down the rebellion. The seven groups under her command themselves led other groups of women. When government forces intimidated the bazaar merchants into opening their shops, Zeinab Pasha and a group of armed women, wearing the chador, re- closed the shops.(6) Eventually, bowing to pressures from across the country, Nasser od-Din shah canceled the Rejie agreement.

On January 10, 1906, the shah's carriage was on its way to the home of a wealthy aristocrat, when it was attacked by a multitude of women marching in the streets, forcing it to stop. One of the women read a statement addressed to the king, saying: "Beware of the day when the people take away your crown and your mantle to govern."
With the strong influence from the clergy, the electoral law of September 1906 expressly barred women from the political process. A group of women from well to do families objected, but were told that “ the women’s education and training should be restricted to raising children, home economics and preserving the honor of the family”

On January 20, 1907, a women’s meeting was held in Tehran where ten resolutions for Women’s rights and education were adopted.

Opening of Effatiyah School by Mrs. Safieh Yazdi, the wife of the pro constitution mujtahid, Mohammed Yazdi in 1910 encouraged others and more schools were opened.

By 1913 there were 9 women’s societies and 63 girls’ schools in Tehran with close to 2500 students.

In 1910, Mrs. Kohal published the magazine Danesh, thefirst journal published by a woman in Iran. Mrs. Ameed Mozayan-al Saltaneh published Jahan-i Zanan and Shikufah in 1912 and 1913.

The communist members of the Messengers for Women’s Prosperity celebrated the International Women’s Day for the first time in Rasht in 1915.

The First Pahlavi Era


In 1926 Sadigeh Dawlatabadi attended The International Women’s Conference in Paris. On her return she went public in European attire. In 1928 Majlis ratified the new dress code.

Mirza Aboulghasem-i Azad established the first emancipation society in 1930 and was supported by Yahya Dawlatabadi. The first conference on Muslim women at the same time began in Damascus Syria. Sadigeh Dawlatabadi, Mostoreh Afshar and Mrs. Tabatabai represented Iran.

1931, for the first time Majlis approved a new civil code that gave women the right to ask for divorce under certain conditions and the marriage age was elevated to 15 for girls and 18 for boys.

In 1933 recommended reforms at Damascus and Tehran conferences were presented to Majlis and women demanded emancipation electoral rights and were refused again. Reza Shah intervened, in 1934 Ali Asghar-i Hikmat, the Minister of Education received orders to establish Kanoun-i Banouvan and implement reforms. Hajer Tarbyat was the first chairwomen and Shams Pahlavi the Royal appointee. Though controlled by the state, for the first time women’s activities were legitimized. The Ladies Center was not received well by the socialists and independents. They opposed royal monopoly and interference.

In 1936, Emancipation of women was officially born. Unveiling was made compulsory and women were barred from wearing chador and scarf in public

In 1936 the first females entered Tehran University. Amineh Pakravan was the first female lecturer and Dr. Fatemehh Sayah the first woman who became a full professor in 1938. 

The Second Pahlavi Era


After Reza Shah’s fall, independent organizations were formed. Safiyeh Firouz in 1942 formed the National Women’s Society and the newly formed Council of Iranian Women in 1944 strongly criticized polygamy. Tudeh Party Women’s league was the best organized in this period with a reported membership of 2,500 women.

 In 1944 Huma Houshmandar published Our Awakening and in 1949 the women’s league was changed to Organization of Democratic Women and branches were opened in all the major cities.

In 1951, Mehrangiz Dawlatshahi (the first female Ambassador) formed Rah Naw and with Safeyeh Firouz founded the first organization supporting human rights. The two met with the young Shah and demanded electoral rights. Opposition by religious authorities ended the debate

In 1955, Forough Farrokhzad, the most revered Iranian female poet, and an idol of progressive women in Iran writes “The Sin”.

In Bahman of 1962 at last women were given the right to vote and to be elected. Fatwas by known figures including Ayatollah Khomeini declared the move heretic, demonstrations followed but were put down.

In 1968 the Family Protection Law was ratified. Divorce was referred to family courts, gains were made with respect to divorce laws, polygamy was limited and required first wife s’ written consent. Marriage age for girls was set at 18 years.

 Ms. Parsa became the first women minister in Iran.

In 1975, women gained the right of guardianship for their children after their husbands’ death.

In 1975 Mahnaz Afkhami became the first minister responsible for women’s affairs.

By 1978, 33% of university students were female with 2 million in the workforce. 190,000 were professionals with university degrees. There were 333 women in the local councils, 22 in Majlis and 2 in the Senate. What was the % of women in population???

The Revolutionary Days and Post Revoloution


1975- 1979,  Ali Shariati published the best seller “Fatemeh is Fatemeh” and proposed the daughter of  Prophet Mohammad, Fatemeh, as a role model for Muslim Women. Ayatollah Motahari started the popular series “Women in Islam” in the secular magazine Zan-i Ruz and confirmed Hejab.

There were no independent organizations except the underground groups opposing monarchy. Marzieh Ahmadi Oskouei, Ashraf Dehghani, Mansoureh Tavafchian, Fatemeh Rezaei and Mrs Shayegan were amongst the activists.

Both secular and Islamic women had a major role in the revolution of 1979.

The Family Protection Law was abolished by a declaration from Ayatollah Khomeini’s office in March 1979 , Women denied the right to be judges; Women ordered to wear Islamic hejab in the workplace;Beaches and sports events are ordered sex-segregated; Women protest against veiling and banning of the Family Protection Law. Islamic law, rights, and morals are to govern the role of women in family and society .

On March 8, 1979 International Women’s Day, thousands gathered at Tehran University. The speakers could not speak since the microphones were sabotaged.

In April 1979 the marriage age for girls was reduced to 13 and married women were barred from attending regular schools. By this time many Independent women’s organizations were formed and all political parties had their own women’s league.

Several women’s magazines were published, the daily Awakening of Women was amongst the first published in Tehran University and was immediately followed by Equality, Women in Struggle and Women’s Path.

In the first Majlis among 217 elected members only 3 were women.

Azam Taleghani represented the Women’s Society of Islamic Revolution and send letters to Khomeini cautioning the authorities about compulsory veiling.

1980, the birthday of Fatemeh, Prophets’ daughter was announced as the National Women’s Day.

In 1980 Azam Taleghani completely covered in Islamic attire represented Iran in United Nations Conference on Women in Thailand.

In 1980, the veil is made mandatory by law, first for governmental offices, and then for the entire country. Leftist demonstrations against the veil meet with violence.

Pro-government women charities help raise money and supply goods for the war effort. Islamic Women Militias were trained for homeland defense, crackdown on Marxist, Nationalist and Liberal political groups removes the last set of secular women’s organizations from the scene.

Thousands of female political activists arrested. Hundreds of them were executed in prisons along with men. Reports of pre-execution rapes by prison guards are filed by Amnesty International. Virgin, Sigheh, Capital punishment???

The magazine Zanan published in 1992 systematically criticized the legal code. They argued gender equality was Islamic but religious literature is misread and misappropriated by misogynist interest oriented males. Secular activists, Mehrangiz-i Kar, Shahla Lahiji and the Muslim Shahla Sherkat the editor of Zanan lead the debate on women’s rights.

Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of one of Iran’s most influential ruling clerics and the President at the time, initiated Asian games for Muslim women in 1993.

By the late 1990s, the National Muslim Women’s League, sponsored and financed by the government became a powerful umbrella organization providing support and networking for sixty registered women’s organizations.

In 1995, 305 women announced their candidacy for the Majles. 179 of these women are approved by the Guardians Council to run in the election

Zanan Magazine played a major role in the presidential elections, which saw Khatami elected in 1997.

The international human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, gives an award to lawyer Shirin Ebadi for her efforts for women and children's rights in Iran. She is the founder of the Iranian non-profit Children's Rights Committee.

Although female vote for President Khatami was in the high 80 percentile in that election, few changes occurred in women’s situations. At no surprise, women’s votes for Khatami were far lower in the 2001 elections.

The reformist parliament passed some important laws for women’s rights in divorce cases, which were vetoed as un-Islamic by the Guardians Council.

With the advent of Information Technology, weblogs have been used extensively to promote feminist ideas. Women also discuss issues of sexuality and criticize the patriarchal structure far more openly in their weblogs, which are considered the only uncensored media outlets in Iran. Mention Filtering??

Female students participate actively in the pro-democracy rallies during 1998 and 1999.

Female students outpace male students in undergraduate university admissions in the National University Entrance Examinations.

Shirin Ebadi, a long-time women’s rights activist, became the Nobel laureate for Peace in 2003. She has won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her focus on human rights, especially on the struggle to improve the status of women and children. Ebadi was one of Iran's first female judges before being forced to step down after the Islamic revolution. She is the first Iranian to receive the honor since it was first awarded in 1901 and the 11th woman.

More than 32 Women-only NGOs perform outstanding service in the relief efforts in the Bam earthquake.

Women’s groups have strongly protested the death sentence of Afsaneh Nowroozi, an Iranian woman who killed a man in self-defense. The sentence is currently suspended.

On March 8, 2003, women's movement activists in Iran gathered in Tehran's Laleh Park to celebrate International Women's Day. Contrary to official Iranian women’s day, birthday of Fatemeh, declared after the revolution.  Any struggles???

By 2004, 64% of the students entering universities were female and the worsening economic situation has forced millions of women to enter the workforce.

In 2004, Mehrangiz Kar was recognized as the recipient of the annual Human Rights First Human Rights Award (formerly Lawyers Committee For Human Rights).

On March 8, 2004, Women's Cultural Center was planning to celebrate the Women’s day, however, the permission was withdrawn a few hours before the event by authorities. The police and pressure groups attacked the attendants who arrived in the park not knowing the event is cancelled.

On June 12, 2005, activists organized a peaceful protest demanding the revision of discriminatory laws against women in Iran. The meeting was held in front of the Tehran University. “June 12th” has since been chosen by Iranian women’s rights activists as their national day of solidarity.

March 2006, women’s rights activists celebrated the Women’s day at the Daneshjoo Park. The peaceful celebration was attacked by police forces, many of the participants were beated and arrested.

On June 12, 2006, Iranian women’s rights activists took to the streets again and planned a similar protest in Haft-e Tir Square, in Tehran, with similar objectives and demands. The protest was violently broken up and over 70 people were arrested. This was the first major crackdown against peaceful women’s activism in Iran post Iran-Iraq war. This day led to the launching of the “One Million Signatures Campaign” by the organizers of the aforementioned peaceful protest. Some of the legal changes that the Campaign seeks, such as equal rights for women in marriage, equal rights to divorce for women, end to polygamy and temporary marriage, increase of age of criminal responsibility to 18 for both girls and boys, right for women to pass on nationality to their children, equal dieh (compensation for bodily injury or death) between women and men, equal inheritance rights, reform of laws that reduce punishment for offenders in cases of honor killings, equal testimony rights for men and women in court, and other laws which discriminate against women.

On August 27, 2006, two months after the peaceful protest in Haft-e-Tir square and after a lengthy deliberation the Campaign for One Million Signatures to change the discriminatory laws announced its formation to the public by 54 women activists and 100 supporters (such as Shirin Ebadi, Simin Behbahani…)

The Campaign’s message and network of volunteers have been widespread along 20 cities and provinces inside Iran  and 15 countries  around the globe .

October 31, 2006: Stop Stoning Forever Campaign begun. The objective of this campaign is to change the Islamic Penal Code of Iran such that stoning will neither be issued as a sentence nor be practiced as a punishment ever again, through the coordinated efforts of some women non-governmental organizations, a group of women activists, and the Network of Volunteer Lawyers.

Februray 2008, Parvin Ardalan, member of One Million Signatures Campaign, won the 2007 Olof Palme Award. This award is given for an outstanding achievement in the spirit of Olof Palme, the late Swedish prime minister who was assassinated in 1986. Parvin Ardalan was stopped in the airport on her way to receive Olaf Palme Award.

On August 31, 2008 as a result of strong, united and homogeneous campaigning by the women's movement activists, the government backed down and cancelled the proposed Family Protection Law which was introduced by President Ahmadi Nejad.

January 2009, the Simone de Beauvoir prize for Women’s freedom 200 was awarded to the Iranian campaign for “One Million Signatures”. The campaign refused to accept the monetary part of the award according to its statement of formation. This award is founded by Julia Kristeva in 2008 on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Simone de Beauvoir, in order to recognize the exceptional work and actions of women and men who, in the spirit of this feminist icon, contribute to the freedom of women throughout the world.

May 2009, The One Million Signatures Campaign has been awarded the prestigious Global Women’s Rights Award from the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), along with Christiane Amanpour, Billie Heller, Leymah Gbowee, Dr. Neal Baer, and Mariska Hargitay.

October 2009, The One Million Signatures Campaign is the winner of RAW in WAR’s third annual Anna Politkovskaya Award.  The Campaign was honored for aiming to change Iranian society in October 2009.

October 2009, The One Million Signatures Campaign is the winner of Quadriga, an annual German award sponsored by Werkstatt Deutschland. The Iranian Women’s Activists were honored for their peaceful and innovative of approach to empowering women.

November 2009, Women of the Year Glamour 2009 Award is presented to the Iranian Women’s activists of the One Million Signatures Campaign. Glamour is working with the Jenzabar Foundation to launch a scholarship program to help Iranian women attend universities in the U.S. (Because The One Million Signature Campaign cannot accept donations, this program is not affiliated with them.)

February 2010, almost 200 women’s rights activists have been arrested for their peaceful protest against the results of the June 12th, 2009 presidential election.  Women are a vibrant agent of change and quest for freedom and equality and pour in to streets as part of the democracy movement.

February 2010, irangenderequality.com website is launched as part of a collaborative effort among a group of Iranian Women’s Rights Activists. They called for all defenders of women’s rights, women’s organizations and networks to take action in support of the women’s and civil rights movements in Iran, and to prepare measures of support and protest under the banner of “freedom and gender equality in Iran”.  


2006-Present: There has been a systematic crack down and suppression against women’s rights activists in Iran.  Below is a small fraction of such:


References:
 
Nikki Keddie ,Women in the Middle East: Past and Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007

Ali Mostashari, One Hundred Years of Women's Movements in Iran. Iranian Studies Group at MIT

Sanam Dolatshahi, Timeline of Iran's Women's Movement, Snapshot of a movement
 
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