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THE FEMALE FACE OF THE IRANIAN PROTEST MOVEMENT.
A San Francisco protester holds a photo of "Neda," via Flickr user Steve Rhodes
The video circulating of the death of "Neda," the Iranian woman shot through the heart protesting in Tehran on Saturday, further cements women's faces as symbols of this uprising. The mullahs are aware that feminist fervor and frustration is, in part, behind the outpouring of pro-democratic sentiment, and they are responding: Iran's state propaganda apparatus is beginning to defend its abysmal record on women's rights. Mehri Souizi, head of Iran's Interior Ministry department for women and family affairs, offers the line that since 1979, "women’s involvement in social, cultural, and political arenas has increased by 170 percent."
Wherever that "170 percent" number comes from, it doesn't come close to telling the real story of Iranian women. Only 13 percent of Iranian women participate in the paid work force, compared to over 25 percent of women in Turkey and over 38 percent in Indonesia. With the permission of a court, fathers can arrange marriages for daughters under age 13. Polygamy is legal, and under Ahmadinejad, Parliament even tried to ease restrictions on the practice. Women cannot run for president, and family law discriminates against them when it comes to divorce, child custody, and inheritance. Dozens of feminist political leaders have been arrested and detained since 2006, when police violently attacked a women's rights demonstration in Tehran, leading to the founding of the One Million Signatures Campaign for women's legal equality.
Even more so than men, women are on the line in Iran. If the Ahmadineajd government returns to power, women will be subjected to ever-stricter "modesty" laws and caps on their enrollment in higher education. There will be harsh crackdowns on the feminist movement that offered so much support to Mousavi. Women in Iran understand the alternative and dread it -- and that is why so many of them are in the streets.
--Dana Goldstein
COMMENTS (7)
I only all you bloggers spent half the amount of time agitating when the police murder innocent people in this country.
It is truly very creepy the way Iran has become the end-all, be-all of so many upper-middle class bloggers. Nobody else even gives a fuck. If Americans are making this big a deal over something happening in another country, 9 times out of 10 the CIA is responsible for it.
Posted by: soullite | June 22, 2009 11:33 AM
You're right, Soullite. I must have missed that memo while I was at the Oakland PD BART killing protest when I got fired for taking time off my job. Now I can work full time at agitating at our own government and become as beloved as Cindy Sheehan. Maybe then smart people like you will respect me and stay on the fucking topic or at least show some respect for someone else's public loss.
Posted by: Blindoctorswife | June 22, 2009 12:14 PM
The death of Neda proves the heavy stake women have in this election. Our blog lends perspective of women bloggers in Iran.
Posted by: Alexandra | June 22, 2009 12:19 PM
The words "Where is this place. This is Iran"are taken from another strong female presence. A video titled "Poem from the Rooftops" has been circulated widely for several days. Those words are a quote from the "poem". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKUZuv6_bus
Posted by: Sharon White | June 22, 2009 12:35 PM
This poem of Bhuwan Thapaliya speaks a lot about Iran.
Heaven, bless my beloved nation!
Heaven, bless my beloved nation!
And by virtue deified, let her not perish
to the horrendous howls of the tyranny.
This is not her destiny. Let the heifer,
graze on the pasture of democracy,
beside the murmur - of the freedom’s
stream. They - the poltergeists, who are
raping her authenticity, are traversing
on the false shimmer of the victory.
Blind they are now; they could not
disguise the concealed loss, and within
their own sphere, they spin, up and down,
down and up, right and left, left and right,
lured by the illusion of confusion, and the
confusion of illusion, as the drunken dancers,
who slap their weary legs, again and again,
on the shore - of the moment’s breast, with
a fleeting pride, parallel to the Everest of fire.
Posted by: Karim Shah | June 24, 2009 4:59 AM
I have been so deeply moved by the coverage of protesters, largely led by women, standing and falling for equality and freedom in Iran that I am compelled to ask for your continued help in supporting them in every way possible. Thank you for adding your work to this critical coverage. If organized marches led by women here and around the world were plastered all over every possible media outlet, we could reach and support them in a powerful way. A female led march has the unique ability to cut through with a display of truth what would otherwise be seen as simply a political march. This would be an unequivocal display that equality, human rights and freedom are what this movement is all about. They need all the support we can give right now and for however long it takes to bring us closer to world equality and an understanding of our common human dignity. Please pass this on so we can unite and march for all the “Nedas” who need our support. If there is already such an effort would you please let us know how we can get involved?
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