52 Iranian Women in Politics

Intro

To most people, when first thinking about Iran, what will come to mind is the relation to the Iraq/Afghanistan war. Although, upon taking a deeper dive into Iran, Iranian culture, and the relationship it has with Islam, we can see and identify issues that arise in the country. One of the most debated topics in Iranian history is women’s rights. The issue surrounding women and how they exist in Iranian society is not a new phenomenon. The push for women’s rights has been prevalent for over a century and there have been many gains and losses throughout that time. To better understand what is happening currently in Iran, it is important to look at the history of the women’s rights movement. After the timeline has been established, it is almost as important to look at the country’s leaders and those in government to see how they are going to respond to the protests.

History of Iranian Women in Politics

We begin to see the women’s movement in Iranian politics start around the year 1925, or what is known as the Pahlavi Dynasty which was led by Reza Khan and lasted for 16 years before he was surpassed by his son, Mohammad Reza in 1941 (Iran Chambers Society, 2022). Reza Khan, a premier, dismantled and got rid of the previous dynasty and declared himself the leader of Iran or “Shah”; a title of the former monarch of Iran. The Arabian government during the same time he made himself Shah, The Majles, passed a new code that gave women the right to ask for a divorce and increased the legal age for marriage to 15 (Foundation for Iranian Studies, 2022). It was at this time that Reza Shah established the first women’s center which was led by Shams, his daughter, and Hajar Tarbiyat. Hajar was a women’s rights activist and was also one of the first women in Iran to be elected into the senate in 1971 (Foundation for Iranian Studies, 2022).

In 1935 Reza created an order, making it legally required for women to not wear the veil, otherwise better known as the hijab, when out in public. Due to the new law, and being ordered to abide by it, it was a traumatic time for women as they wanted to wear the veil because of their religion, but at the same time were afraid of being attacked by religious extremists if found not wearing the veil properly.

The first ever Hezb-e Zanan (Women’s Party) in the sphere of politics was founded in 1943 by Hajar Tarbiyat, Safieh Firuz, and other women (Foundation for Iranian Studies, 2022). Another breakthrough for women around this time was having the first female lawyer, Mehrangiz Manuchehrian, who was an advocate for women’s rights and taught law at Tehran University before becoming another one of Iran’s first female senators in 1963 (Foundation for Iranian Studies, 2022).

During the 1950s, many events took place. In 1955, the ministry of labour created the Welfare Council for Women and Children. The council was founded to improve labour conditions for women and children through the avenues of law, social welfare, and health (Foundation for Iranian Studies 2022). Later in that year, The United Nations was brought in to assist the council which led to the first trained social worker living in Iran. Sattareh Farman-Farmaian, the first Iranian social worker, set up Iran’s first social work school in 1958. The school started with 20 students in Tehran. It was a 2-year training course containing both theoretical and fieldwork. 7 years later this course was developed into a BA degree with 4 years of study according to university syllables (Iran Association of Social Workers, n.d.). In 1959, women’s enfranchisement, or gaining the right of privilege and to vote, was brought before the government which the clergy objected to and was denounced by Mohammad Taqi Falsafi, a preacher and Ayatollah; an honorific title for someone high-ranking in the clergy.

In 1963, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi granted women the full right to vote in all elections (Sahimi 2010). This action was opposed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was the first Supreme leader of Iran. Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, the current supreme leader of Iran, was appointed by Ruhollah Khomeini to represent him on Iran’s security council since 1989 (Brumfield 2013).

The first Family protection Law was introduced to the country in 1967 by the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his Prime minister, Amir Abbas Haveyda. The law served to limit men’s former absolute rights to divorce their wives (Sahimi 2010).

A second Family Protection Law was introduced in 1975 which granted women equal rights for divorce, custody of children, marriage settlements, and limited rights of guardianship (Sahimi 2010). This law also allowed women to be judges, and members of the cabinet and reset the legal age of marriage to 18.

Perhaps the most infamous moment in the Iranian women’s rights movement was the revolution that began in 1979. The revolution started on March 8, 1979, International Women’s Day, when Ayatollah Khomeini made the veiling of women mandatory (CBC Radio 2022). Thousands upon thousands of women marched in the streets and were met with similar resistance as we are seeing today in Iran. Unfortunately, the revolution only had a short-term effect on the government’s view about women wearing the veil. Instead of achieving equality for women, most of the rights that they had fought for were taken away (Sahimi 2010).

Only two years later in 1981, it became mandatory for women and girls over 9 years old to wear the veil again.

“Other changes also followed: gender segregation in the workplace, and at schools, beaches, and sporting events. And a slew of new laws governing divorce, child custody, inheritance, citizenship, and retribution — all tipping the scales against women” (CBC Radio 2022).

“In the 1990s, women activists focused on restoring some of their lost rights under family laws and succeeded in regaining the rights to initiate divorce and obtain child custody. Throughout this period, many women committed daring acts of disobedience to highlight the conditions they lived under” (Nahvi 2022).

In 1994, parliament enacted a law awarding a woman monetary compensation when her husband initiated divorce proceedings and she was not at fault (Esfandiari 2010).

President Mohammad Khatami was elected from 1997 to 2005 and the women’s movement gained momentum once again.

Esfandiari, H., 2010 reports all of the following events that happened from 2002-2009. In 2002, parliament raised the age of marriage for girls from nine to 13. In 2004, 13 women were elected to parliament—the largest number since the revolution. In 2007, 43 women were elected into local councils. In the 2008 parliamentary election, 9 out of 585 women were elected. Tens of thousands of women from all social classes supported two reformist candidates who backed greater women’s rights.

Iran had its first female minister, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, who was the minister of health from 2009-2013 (Vahdati 2021).

Since the return of hard-line politicians in 2020, government control over women’s lives has become more rigid and invasive (Lamensch 2022).

“In July 2022, President Ebrahim Raisi ordered tougher enforcement of the country’s hijab and chastity law, which states that “‘violators will be fined, while female government employees will be fired if their social media profile pictures do not conform to Islamic laws” (Lamensch 2022).

Current Female Politicians in Iran

It was difficult to find research that clearly detailed women’s experiences within current Iranian politics other than Wikipedia. I can infer that this would be the result of the Islamic Revolution, where women’s rights were written over by male authority figures. There was a single resource found in the conducting of my research that had “good” information, produced by Manara Magazine. “There are currently only 17 female members of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) elected in 2020, a total of just 5.8%. In the 1980 election, only 4 women — 1% — were elected to the Islamic Republic’s first Majlis” (Manara Magazine 2022). 17 women may not seem like a big number but considering the barriers and obstacles that women are faced with to get any form of rights, such as divorce, 17 is pretty substantial. Between the years 1980 and 2020, there have been more than 80 members of parliament, and some were elected for numerous terms (Hanna 2021). Perhaps the two most infamous female politicians/lawmakers from Iran are Fatemeh Rahbar and Jamileh Kadivar.

Fatemah Rahbar was the longest-serving female lawmaker. She was a member of the Islamic Coalition Party, a conservative group, and had previously served three terms. She was set to have her fourth term in office but passed away due to the Coronavirus in March 2020 (Radio Free Europe 2020).

Jamileh Kadivar was a reformist lawmaker. She was elected in 2000 and was associated with the Women’s Journalist Association (Korassan 2000), but after being charged with harming national security, she was exiled from the country in 2007. She was exiled for attending a conference in Berlin about Iran’s reform movement, and this was seen as insulting Islam and the prosecution was seeking the death penalty (Gulf News 2000).

There is little current information about other current female politicians.

Current Issues

On September 16, 2022, the world’s focus was drawn to Iran due to the death of a woman named Mahsa Amini. Amini was originally arrested by the country’s Morality Police, or Guidance Patrol, for not following government legislation on how to properly wear a hijab. She was beaten while in police custody and has passed away because of those beatings. The Iranian government says that Masha had a pre-existing medical condition that caused her death but her family denies that claim. She fell into a coma due to her injuries and passed away three days later. This event has sparked worldwide protests and rallies in support of women in Iran, as well as pushing for justice to be served to the people who caused her death. Amjad Amini, Masha Amini’s father, denied the medical examiner’s report about her cause of death and holds the morality police responsible for his daughter’s death (Iran International, 2022). Iranian Legal Medicine Organization announced that her death was “not caused by a blow to the head and limbs” but by multiple organ failure caused by cerebral hypoxia” (Iran International, 2022). However, the CT scan that was taken of Mahsha Amini’s body shows something far more sinister. The CT scan of her brain shows bone fractures/hemorrhaging, and brain edema; images of her chest showed bilateral diffuse alveolar hemorrhage and damage due to aspiration pneumonia, secretion retention, and superimposed infection (Iran International, 2022)

In response to the protests, the Iranian government has combated the protesters with violence, batons, guns, and tear gas. There have been videos of military and police officers who are walking through the streets and shooting civilians and protestors. There have been several fatalities as a result of these protests with the numbers continuing to rise daily. “The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization said on Wednesday at least 342 people including 43 children and 26 women have been killed by security forces in the ongoing nationwide protests” (Iran International, 2022). The government is also trying to limit videos about the protests and morality police from getting on the internet and therefore isolating them from the rest of the world. This has caused a staggering increase in people buying VPNs or Virtual Private Networks to upload footage of what is happening. Top10 VPN recorded that the demand for VPNs skyrocketed to 2,100% on September 22 compared to the past 28 days (CNBC News, 2022). Even though VPNs are illegal in the country, many youths have been using social media platforms such as Tiktok and Snapchat to share what they are experiencing. Many videos that I have seen and have also been shared with news reports show women burning their hijabs and cutting their hair while crying. A lot of the people in those videos are young women as well as men who are protesting with them.

One aspect that has given the protests more momentum has been the students protesting at their schools. The Washington Post (2022) states that there have been over 130 Iranian universities that have participated in the protests and have been a major area for clashes between the morality police and protestors. Students are also protesting in other, less violent ways by leaving classes or not going to school at all.

Conclusion

The women’s rights movement in Iran is not new and has been a persistent movement for the last 43 years. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that there have been protests about women’s rights and what they can and can’t do in Iran. This is also not the first time that the government has countered the women’s movement with violence and murder. The tragedy that happened to Mahsa Amini’s family is just one of many and has not been the last civilian killed by the Morality Police and the Islamic Republican Party. While these events have continued to occur, so has the determination, resilience, and perseverance of women has continued to grow and grow throughout this. The women and men of Iran who continue to protest are some of the bravest people in the world and their efforts have reached all corners of the globe. Let their actions and sacrifice be rewarded in victory.

Women. Life. Freedom.

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References

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