Danielle Hill
Haesook Chae
Politics of the Middle East
April 14th, 2017 Feminism in Iran After the Iranian Revolution Feminism is the fight of women receiving equal rights for all sexes. During the Iranian Revolution, women played a huge part in advocating for human rights in Iran under the regime of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. The revolution against dictatorship was fought by people of all walks of life including the urban poor, students, trade unions, intellectuals, leftists, Islamists, women, and many more. Most of these groups received freedoms but the situation of women worsened. After the revolution, laws were created to oppress women. Women continued their fight for equal rights after the revolution was over and to this day they
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Before Shah fled Iran, he removed the hijab. If women did not follow this demand, they faced an immense number of obstacles ranging from shame to education; blood was shed during demonstrations. The article, Iranian Women After the Islamic Revolution by Dr. Ansia Khaz Ali states, Reza Pahlavi, “carried out extensive propaganda campaigns, and women found themselves facing considerable obstacles in entering higher education institutes or certain social circles whilst wearing a hijab.” (Ali, 3). The religion of Islam played an indirect role in the way women were treated before the Iranian Revolution. Mehrdad Darvishpour points out that Islam has patriarchy views that have oppressed women by men. Darvishpour notes that Islam forces men to be superior over women and reveals a quote by Fatima Mernessi, an Arab feminism, that states, “In western culture, sexual inequality is based on the belief in the biological inferiority of woman. In Islam, it is the contrary: the whole system is based on the assumption that woman is a powerful and dangerous being.” (Darvishpour, 2). Darvishpour continues, “It is men’s responsibility and duty to keep women under their protection and control.” (Darvishpour, 3). The struggle women face is Iran comes from authoritarian leaders, strict laws, and Islam “patriarch” views, according to Darvishpour and …show more content…
Their commitments played a huge role in the ousting of Pahlavi and it pushed feminism in Iran. Iranian women have been victims of patriarchy since birth. The article, Iranian Women and the Civil Rights Movement in Iran: Feminism Interacted, by Majid Mohammadi states, “The Iranian women have traditionally been deprived of many of their basic rights and have suffered from both male centered ideologies and male dominance that treat women as irrational, child-like and immature, and from widespread discriminatory policies that effect their lives from birth to death,” (Mohammadi, 2). While women faced inequalities since childhood, they constantly fought throughout the Islamic Revolution of 1979, a revolution that did not include gender differences or expectations. Mohammadi states, “The Islamic Revolutionary utopia, shaped and presented in the 1970s, was not ideologically, strategically, and tactically gendered; gender issues were hidden under the guise of Islamic ideology that was the framework of the next regime and no one was talking about it beforehand.” (Mohammadi, 2). Women became more involved in the Revolution after Reza Pahlavi’s son began sexualizing women in Iran. He believed that westernizing women would improve the state of Iran. Shah Pahlavi wanted to remove the hijab to appear more western. Ali states, “On 7th January 1935 Reza Khan announced a ban on the hijab during the
The first religion and its views on women that will be discussed in this essay is Islam. Islam is a religions founded in Saudi Arabia almost two thousand years ago, by the prophet Muhammad. In fact, Muhammad dedicated much attention towards women in the Koran, the holy book of Islam. However, even though much was dedicated to women in the Koran, it was not dedicated to them in the sense of equality. Women in Islamic culture were apparently much lower on the totem pole than men, "The men are made responsible for the women, since God endowed them with certain qualities, and made them the bread earners...If you experience opposition from the women, you shall first talk to them, then [you may use such negative incentives as] deserting them in bed, then you may beat them (129)." Excerpt...
The article “My Body Is My Own Business” by Naheed Mustafa is about an Islamic women’s principle that putting on her usual headscarf, or Hijab, actually empowers her as a female, contrary to the popular principle that the hijab represents male oppressiveness. She ex...
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 placed an ideological wedge that created an increasingly pervasive rift in gender equality that is now only gradually being successfully challenged and correct upon.
2007 "The Politics and Hermeneutics of Hijab in Iran: From Confinement to Choice." In Muslim World Journal of Human Rights 4.1
Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. In simple terms, it is the ideology of women being equal to men and it is often misinterpreted as the belief of women being above them. Feminists believe in diminishing patriarchy which is a system of society and or government in which men are considered more powerful than women. When people are against feminism they are supporting sexism which is why it is important to educate ourselves on the matter and to understand why we need it.
There are many examples throughout the text that specifically focus on the overbearing treatment of women. During the country's revolution there is a shift to extremely conservative religious conviction that force women to cover themselves head to toe while in public. Ultimately, Nafisi refuses to wear a veil while teaching at the University of Tehran which leads to her expulsion. These examples presented throughout the text along with various outside sources, can be a tool to interpret and scrutinize the oppressive treatment of people in unjust societies like that of Iran's.
Feminism is the public support for or recommendation of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. In a more simple way of stating it, women rights equivalent to those of men. Before suffrage begun, women were strictly to act as women should, or what they were expected to act like. They were expected to take care of the children, cook, and clean. Not only were they supposed to do house work, but they also couldn’t vote or own any property. On August 26th, 1920, after 72 long-lasting years of fighting, and prolonged anticipation, women finally won their rights to be treated equally. There have been, and still are, many feminists in this world. One very prominent feminist is Crystal Eastman.
The reformation of the country of Iran toward Islam caused turmoil among the people because the drastic changes forced on the people were not easily accepted. One of the major changes is that women were forced to wear veils as a religious requirement. A change in government toward a religion is difficult to overcome because not everyone agrees on the changes and many people want to keep things the way they are. This change to Islam is difficult for Marjane and the other children as she explains “We didn’t really like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to” (3). Marjane’s family serves as an example that there are families in Iran who do not strictly follow the Islamic religion and do not understand why they are being forced to follow the government mandated rules. Although many people did not believe the government’s proposition that women’s hair excites men, they still had to wear the veil to live safely. Marjane claims, “I think that the reason we were so rebellious was that our generation had known secular schools” (98). Constantly struggling to make the transition to the religious schools was difficult for the children of Iran because they had already be...
The religion of Islam was imposed upon Iranians, whether they liked it or not. Marjane and her classmates “...didn’t like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to”(Satrapi 3). The young girls were against wearing the veil because they were not practicing
However, there have been various definitions for the word “Feminism”. On the whole, evaluating these definitions, “Feminism” can be explained as a revolution in order to fight against the norms that exist between men and women and also the right to consider every women equal to men on every grounds
In the book, Women in the Middle East, a Saudi Arabian proverb states, "A girl possesses nothing but a veil and a tomb" (Harik and Marston 83). The key words, "veil" and "tomb" lend evidence to the fact that many Middle Eastern women lack identity symbolized by the “veil” and lack the right of ownership except for their veil and the tomb. This statement further enforces the notion that many women in the Middle East are expected to serve and tolerate the oppression of the men in their lives throughout their lives on this earth. Moreover, it confirms that many of these women do not get the opportunity to obtain education, join the work force, and even participate in the political affairs of the country. This arrangement further helps the Middle Eastern men to view women as their properties, servants, or even as slaves. Ultimately, there are three main reasons why Middle Eastern men engage in the act of oppressing their women.
The Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 created a lasting affect on the societal role of women through modern day Iran. Women in Iran before the revolution were not entirely treated equal to men, but despite some cultural perceptions of women being inferior to men, they had made progress to become socially equal under the Shah. Several misconceptions and theories have been published and studied to show the inequality of women versus men because of Islam. However, contrasting theories have also been made to show that inequality has little to do with the religion, but instead with the forceful nature upon which it was implemented in the revolution. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the Islamic and political history of Iran and its social implications over Iranian women.
Feminism is the movement towards women’s equality. It fights for equal rights in the social, political, cultural and economical aspects for women. Feminism also fights for equal opportunity for women in employment and education. A feminist is someone who advocates their support for women’s rights but is not restricted to only women; anyone who supports women’s rights and equality are feminists, including men. Feminism is not only about the females, it fights for gender equality for all. Feminist movements, or Women’s movements, campaign for reforms in household issues with domestic violence, political issues with equal pay, employment and maternity leave, and reproduction rights. All feminism movements fight for equal rights, but it cannot be conquered or be made known all at once. First wave feminism was mostly about women’s suffrage and political equality in general. Second wave feminism went more in depth about the social and cultural inequalities.
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 had greatly transformed and affected the lives of women because it abolished all of the rights they had attained under the two previous Shahs decades before, however, not all women were impacted negatively since the new Islamic regime had given them new opportunities that they didn’t have before the Revolution . They played an important role during the Revolution because they succeeded in gaining a lot of support for the Ayatollah Khomeini, and were able to mobilize large numbers of people to remove the Shah from power. After the Revolution, while most women were negatively affected by the newly established fundamentalist Islamic regime, some women from poorer regions were able to obtain more power by becoming
The role and place of Women in Islam has changed drastically, in a positive way, over the past millennium: the changes can be greatly attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, and the Qur’an. To understand the changes in women’s rights and freedoms, one must understand their role and place before Islam was created, which happened in the Arabia Peninsula, now Saudi Arabia (Angha). Before Islam was formed women lacked many of the basic human rights, and they were treated as more of a burden in their culture then someone who should be respected, but that is not the case today. Though women in Islam have gained many rights, there is still some controversy over whether or not women are still being oppressed and treated like second class citizens compared