Against All Odds: The Building of a Women's Movement in the Islamic Republic of Iran

"Immediately after the overthrow of the Reza Shah Pahlavi by a popular movement in 1979, the new Islamic regime introduced a series of discriminatory laws, annulling the meagre rights that women had secured in the previous seventy-five years. This was done despite the massive participation of women in the revolution bringing about the newly established regime..."

Published as part of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)'s Building Feminist Movements and Organisations (BFEMO) initiative, this 16-page paper outlines how advocates in Iran have worked toward mobilising women and building a robust women's movement. Author Homa Hoodfar explores the evolving and diverse, multi-pronged strategies that these women developed through two decades of decentralised, informal and semi-formal activities, and by reclaiming traditional women's social institutions.

To illustrate how these advocates politicised the everyday forms of social and legal discrimination against women - and rendered them unacceptable - Hoodfar begins by tracing the historical development of the Iranian women's movement, in several stages from 1900 onward. One may read here about the regressive gender ideology that dominated within 2 weeks of Ayatollah Khomeini's coming to power (e.g., girls could be given in marriage at the age of nine, women were barred from becoming judges, women should wear the veil (hijab) at the workplace, and so on). Also detailed here are the buds of this movement's growth, such as spontaneous demonstrations and a rally of several thousand women on March 8 1979, International Women's Day (IWD). Women lawyers, backed by secular as well as some Islamist forces, organised several sit-ins at the Ministry of Justice. The demonstrations attracted public attention and support. Secular and some Islamist women activists then tried to organise an independent women's organisation, but this was an uphill battle.

As Hoodfar explains, many secularist women, who continued to hold meetings in their homes, had strong links with activist women in exile and through them access to the international media, which could expose the Islamic Republic's gender apartheid system. They also sent published accounts of cases of injustice to popular Iranian women's magazines under assumed names, questioning the alleged Islamic justice and dignity that the regime had promised to bestow on women. In addition, a constituency of religious women continued to re-affirm their commitment to the Islamic Republic while warning against the excesses of the Republic's gender ideology. Knowing there were few sympathetic ears among the leaders, these Islamist activists took their case to the public. For example, they published stories of women divorced by their husbands after decades of marriage without alimony or support, due to the new, religiously justified law whereby husbands may divorce at will and are obliged to pay only three months of upkeep to the former wife regardless of the length of marriage. Many young widows of war martyrs also joined in critiquing the regime, highlighting the injustice of losing their children to their husband's father or brothers, in accordance with the Muslim law. They shared their trauma through the media and at gatherings with neighbours and political leaders. In fact, "[t]housands of stories about the unfair treatment of women...were circulated in the public sphere through newspapers, women's magazines, and women's religious gatherings at home and in the mosques....Given that the new regime was shunned by the international community, and gained its legitimacy from support of the public at large, political leaders were conscious of the significances of public opinion."

Another simultaneous strategy was the launching of a large-scale letter-writing campaign to the leaders of the revolution and to magazines - especially women's magazines. Some of these were subsequently printed and made their way into the public discourse on justice for women. By the mid 1980s, one of the major women's magazines, Zan Roose, initiated a new strategy, inviting the more liberal religious leaders to respond to the questions of some of its readers in a column, or to be featured in interviews concerning women's questions. "The reality of centuries of discourse amongst only themselves meant that, in fact, religious leaders had rarely, if ever, had to engage with or respond to women’s questions. Thus the initiative itself introduced an entirely new trend. These dialogues in fact continue to this day and have become increasingly prominent and widespread in various media, encouraging at least some of the religious leaders to think outside conventional religious arguments and become amenable to a more liberal interpretation of women's issues."

For various reasons detailed in the document, the end of the 8-year Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, and other changes led - by 1997 - the contradiction between the regimes' stated gender ideology and the imposition of its purportedly Muslim laws on women to be "one of the most widely debated issues in public discourse." President Khatami (1997-2005)'s support of civil society meant that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) "expanded to an unprecedented degree...the social environment grew less strained so that women moved with greater freedom in the public sphere – holding meetings, publishing, making films, and suffering less harassment for clothing choices....In particular, during Khatami's term the preparations for, and celebrations of, International Women's Day became a rallying point that brought women of all political and religious persuasions together....Many women's groups took advantage of Khatami's 'Dialogue of Civilizations' initiative. They re-established links with the global women's movement, gaining new experience and insights by attending international meetings and conferences..."

Continuing to trace the history, Hoodfar explains that "the 2003 Nobel Prize for Peace bestowed on Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi, a long-time democracy, women's and children's rights activist, created a wave of pride and optimism, and a renewed energy in Iran and within the women's movement....On the night Ebadi returned to Tehran after receiving her prize, and despite discouragement by security and government forces, thousands of women from every segment of Iranian society, many who had never engaged in activism, travelled considerable distances to the airport to welcome her. They distributed tens of thousands of white flowers, symbolizing peace, to the security forces and all they encountered."

June 2005 marked a turning point in the creation of the movement, Hoodfar indicates, though many of the communication strategies described above continue to be echoed in what happened next. Specifically, diverse constituents of the Iranian women's movement launched a protest rally in front of Tehran University, described here as a very public space and traditional meeting place for political activists. Participants from various social, cultural, and political backgrounds and affiliations, and from many corners of Iran, rallied to demand constitutional reform. Hoodfar explains, "[a]lthough the mainstream media was severely restricted in its ability to cover the event, the rally, announced by word of mouth and through Internet sites, was a success....In the midst of the jostling and jeering security forces that at times resorted to violence, the women sang their anthem, made speeches and read out their demands for reform, before being forced to disperse by security forces."

Commenting further on this strategy from an evaluative perspective, Hoodfar explains that "[t]he Iranian women's movement's strength, up to this juncture, was that it had strategically evolved in a highly decentralized manner, with a horizontal network, and a multitude of groups and activists - a 'many headed,' movement that was less vulnerable to attack and suppression. At the same time, these very characteristics meant that it faced more challenges when negotiating with conventional political forces. In a way, the June 12th rally was viewed, at least by some, as a strategy for overcoming this shortcoming and putting the movement on the political map....The period following the rally saw many meetings and the launching of many initiatives; the rally's song of resistance became the anthem of a revived Iranian women's movement, and the images from the rally its icons."

When a new, more conservative government came into power - due, in part, Hoodfar explains, to the fact that reformists failed to address women's concerns - a general discourse around gender discrimination continued. Some women's groups have launched campaigns on specific issues, such as one designed to reclaim public space. "With football a national obsession, Iranian women view their being barred as spectators from the national stadium as an indication of their exclusion from public life." Young women have staged several demonstrations as well as "break-ins" during various sporting events. These campaigns have attracted the attention of international media.

At this point in the history of the movement, new strategies began to evolve. Here are a few examples that feature communication-related elements:

• Efforts at building solidarity across classes were spearheaded by feminist leaders. Many had to do with income-generating activities, which also promoted gender consciousness, confidence building, community building, and social justice training. Others were initiatives to help women with their legal problems; they were designed in a feminist spirit, to provide knowledge, skills, and support to women so that they might feel in control of their lives.
• IWD has become an important day for reiterating the existence of the movement, Hoodfar asserts. On March 8 2006, several programmes were launched, such as a rally organised in one of the downtown parks in Tehran. "Before the rally could begin, the several hundred women who had arrived early were brutally attacked and injured....The news and pictures of the brutality of the security forces...gave international exposure to the violence against a peaceful demonstration by women."
• Several months of discussion and consultation led to launching a broad campaign for one million signatures for reform of the constitution and removal of discriminatory laws. The goal of this campaign was to broaden the base and increase awareness of legal discrimination against women and its impact, not just on women, but on society as a whole. It was to create a new generation of activists who would come to learn much more about their society through their face-to-face contacts. It was also to keep the movement in the public sphere even if not in the form of rallies and demonstrations. This campaign, which was officially launched on August 25 2006, "has gained considerable momentum, attracted much attention and generated much interest among young, educated, urban women as well as veteran activists."
• There had been a call for a rally for gender equality in front of the Majlis (Parliament) to mark IWD 2007. Prior to this event, many of the leaders of the movement had organised a demonstration in front of the court, in support of those who were arrested in an earlier demonstration, to insist that peaceful protests and the right to organise and demonstrate were granted to all citizens under the constitution. Even though there were not more than 60 or 70 demonstrators, the security forces arrested 35 of the women; the arrest became an international headline. In a gesture of defiance, many women went ahead with the March 8th demonstration in front of the Majlis, while others organised meetings in large and small venues, and hundreds of other women's gatherings were held in private homes with placards and posters, photographs of which were then posted on various websites and blogs. One European reporter announced that Iranian women had revitalised IWD in Europe "since journalists had stopped reporting on the day's events for a decade. Iranian women, with their global networks, have become very savvy in getting around government censorship by using international media. They have put themselves on the political map and are a force to be reckoned with."
  

Hoodfar concludes that women's individual acts of resistance have continued, and often render state attempts to control and repress ineffective. However, this strategy "also carries with it the danger of women losing sight of the larger movement and its goals. Thus, creating days of celebration, anniversaries and the launching of film festivals and book readings are effective strategies for women renewing their vows and reinforcing their sense of solidarity and commitment to the cause, and to remind each other of their continuing struggle."