Women's Rights in The Islamic Republic of Iran

1331 Words3 Pages

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.

To understand the changing role of women starting during the Islamic Revolution, it is important to briefly review the lives of Iranian women and the role of Islam during the final years of the secular regime of the Shah. Mohammad Reza Shah was disliked by the majority of Iranian population, but his secular and prominent Western attitude allowed for some reforms of women’s rights in Iran. For example, in 1963 he created a reform program which would eventually be known as the “White Revolution,” which included suffrage for women (Beck and Nashat 114). This decision led to a violent reaction, especially from strong Islamic leaders such as Ayatollah Khomeini, whom would eventually play a pivotal role in the revolution and women’s rights. Although the Shah allowed for women’s reform, he was popularly known as a dictator and appeared to be in complete favor of maintaining a traditional patriarchal society.

During the 1960s, during the rule of the Shah, The W...

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Works Cited

Abrahamian, Ervand. A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print.

Beck, Lois, and Guity Nashat. Women in Iran from 1800 to the Islamic Republic. Urbana: University of Illinois, 2004. Print.

Kian, Azadeh. "Women and Politics in Post‐islamist Iran: The Gender Conscious Drive to Change." British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 24.1 (1997): 75-96. Web. 13 Feb 2012

Mehran, Golnar. "Lifelong Learning: New Opportunities for Women in a Muslim Country (Iran)." Comparative Education 35.2 (1999): 201-15. Web. 13 Feb 2012.

Shi'ism and Constitutionalism in Iran. by Abdul-Hadi Hairi; Iran: Dictatorship and Development. by Fred Halliday; The Rise and Fall of the Shah. by Amin Saikal; Iran: The Illusion of Power. by Robert Graham. Review by: Farzeen Nasri. World Politics, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Jul., 1983), pp. 607-630. Web. 13 Feb 2012.

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