Women In Iran From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shah's era[edit]
During the Pahlavi era (1925-1979) women had freedom. The shah's government began its "White Revolution" in 1962 and ratified important women's rights measures, including suffrage and the Family Protection Law of 1967, later amended more heavily in favor of women in 1975, which ended extrajudicial divorce and restricted polygamy.[3][4] It also raised the minimum age of marriage of girls to 18 that had been 13-15.[4]
Islamic Republic[edit]
Women and the Iranian Revolution[edit]
Women participated heavily in the Iranian Revolution of 1979 that toppled the shah.[3][5][6]
Not with-standing this, the Islamic republic of Ayatollah Khomeini severely curtailed rights that women had become accustomed to under the shah.[5] Within months of the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the 1967 Family Protection Law was repealed; female government workers were forced to observe Islamic dress code; women were barred from becoming judges; beaches and sports were sex-segregated; the legal age of marriage for girls was reduced to 9 (later raised to 13); and married women were barred from attending regular schools.[3]
Almost immediately women protested these policies.[5][7] The Islamic revolution is ideologically committed to inequality for women in inheritance and other areas of the civil code; and especially committed to segregation of the sexes. Many places, from "schoolrooms to ski slopes to public buses", are strictly segregated.[8]
Hijab[edit]
"Bad hijab" ― exposure of any part of the body other than hands and face – is subject to punishment of up to 70 lashes or 60 days imprisonment.[9][10] In April 2007, the Tehran police, (which is under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's supervision), began the most fierce crackdown on what is known as "bad hijab" in more than a decade. In the capital Tehran thousands of Iranian women were cautioned over their poor Islamic dress and several hundred arrested.[11]
Post-Khomeini era[edit]
The early 1990s brought a marked increase in the number of women employed in Iran. Dramatic changes in the labor force might not have been possible if Khomeini had not broken the barriers to women entering into the public sphere unchaperoned. Women were also more likely to pursue higher education, a product of the free education and the literacy campaigns. Today, more women than men are pursuing higher education in Iran even though the Islamic Republic tries to limit women to domains exclusive to women. For example, the government has set quotas for female pediatricians and gynecologists and has made it difficult for women to become civil engineers.
Marriage law[edit]
In 2008, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration introduced a "family support bill" in the parliament that would have allowed men to marry a second wife without his first wife's permission, and put a tax on Mariyeh – which is seen by many women "as a financial safety net in the event a husband leaves the marriage and is not forced to pay alimony."[13] [14] In September 2008, however, the bill for the tax was returned by Iran's judiciary to the legislative council with complaints about the polygamy and tax articles,[13] and these were removed from the bill.[6]
During the Ahmadinejad administration, the use of Siqeh, or temporary marriages (that can last from 30 minutes to a lifetime), was used, especially in response to the financial demands of prenuptial agreements. The temporary marriages, enacted by fatwa in 1983 under Khomeini, are heavily criticized as a form of legalized prostitution.[3][15][16]
Education[edit]
First group of women who entered university, 1936.[17]
See also: Higher education in Iran and Science in Iran
The writer and activist Bibi Khatoon Astarabadi founded the first school for Persian girls in 1907. In this school, Iranian women could study a variety of subjects, including history, geography, law, calculus, religion, and cooking.
Iranian women rights activists determined that education was a key for Iranian women and society. They argued that giving women education was best for Iran, in that the mothers would raise better sons for their country.[18]
Enrollment of 12 women into the Tehran University in 1936, marked the entry of women into university education in Iran.[19]
As of 2006, women account for well over half of the university students in Iran[20] and 70% of Iran's science and engineering students.[21] Such education and social trends are increasingly viewed with alarm by the Iranian conservatives groups.[20][22] A report by the Research Center of the Majlis (controlled by conservatives) warned that the large female enrollment could cause "social disparity and economic and cultural imbalances between men and women."[20]
The Iranian Revolution initiated social changes that helped more women enroll in universities. Today more than 60% of all university students in Iran are women.[23][24]
Iranian women have participated in sciences. For instance, Jaleh Amouzgar, Eliz Sanasarian, Janet Afary, Alenush Terian, Maryam Mirzakhani won gold medals in the 1994 and 1995 International Mathematical Olympiads.[25]
Sports[edit]
See also: Women's football in Iran
Women contributed to the development of polo, which originated in the royal courts of Persia 2,500 years ago. The queen and her ladies-in-waiting played against the emperor and his courtiers.[26]
Today, Iranian schools offer sport for Iranian students, including girls. National Iranian women's teams take part in football (soccer), taekwondo, chess, and track and field events. Despite restrictions, Iran has many female athletes who have won medals in international competitions. In 2004, Zahra Asgardoun won a silver medal in the sanshou (sparring) competitions of the Asian women's wushu (martial arts) event. In December 2005, Iran won the Asian women's canoe polo crown.
On May 30, 2005, Farkhondeh Sadegh, a graphic designer, and Laleh Keshavarz, a dentist, became the first Muslim women to make a successful ascent of Mount Everest. Iran's top race car driver is Laleh Seddigh, who is skilled in both circuit and rally driving. However, in December 2007 it was reported that Seddigh, known as the "Schumacher of the East", was banned from racing for one year for allegedly tampering with her car's engine.[27] "I did not commit any irregularities," said Seddigh, "They simply want to exclude me from racing because I'm a woman."[27]
Acts of protest against sex segregation of women includes an event of the 1997 so-called "Football revolution" when an estimated 5000 women defied the ban on entering football stadiums and stormed the gates to join 120,000 men in celebration of Iran's national football team which had returned to the country from qualifying for the World Cup.[28]
Female Iranian athletes are all but prevented from participation in the Olympic Games.[29] In December 2007 the vice president of the Iranian Olympic Committee, Abdolreza Savar, issued a memorandum to all sporting federations about the "proper behavior of male and female athletes" and that "severe punishment will be meted out to those who do not follow Islamic rules during sporting competitions" both local and abroad.[30] Men are not allowed to train or coach women. Iran's female volleyball team was once considered the best in Asia, but due to the lack of female coaches it has been prevented from international competition.[30]
Iranian women are allowed to compete in sports that require removal of the hijab, but only in arenas that are all female.[29] They are banned from public events if spectators include unrelated men.[31] Thus, of the 53 Iranian athletes in the Beijing Olympics, there were only three women: Sara Khoshjamal Fekri (taekwondo), Najmeh Abtin (shooting) and Homa Hosseini (rowing).[29]
Women may not wear Lycra as it is too form-fitting; when Homa Hosseini competes in rowing she must wear her hijab secured by a hat, a long-sleeved baggy top and tracksuit bottoms.[31] If women do not conform to the dress code rules, they face severe punishment and a ban on participation in any future national or international competitions.[30]
"One Million Signatures campaign"[edit]
On August 27, 2006, a new women's rights campaign was launched in Iran. The "One Million Signatures"[35] campaign aims to end legal discrimination against women in Iranian laws by collecting a million signatures. Examples of such laws include one that gives lower value to legal testimony by women than to legal testimony by men, and one that limits punitive damages in cases of the wrongful injury or death of a woman to half of that of a man. The supporters of this campaign include many Iranian women's rights activists inside Iran and also international activists including many Nobel Peace Prize laureates. However, according to California State University professor Nayereh Tohidi, women collecting signatures were attacked and arrested, which has slowed the campaign and caused it to extend its two year target.[6]
After the victory with the marriage bill in September 2008, a court sentenced four of the women leaders, all involved in the One Million Signatures campaign, to jail for contributing to banned websites.[36] They were identified as Mariam Hossein-khah, Nahid Keshavarz, Jelveh Javaheri and Parvin Ardalan.[36]