Gender Relations During The Iranian Revolution

During the Iranian Revolution in 1979 transformed Iran’s political,social,and economic structure. Secular Laws were replaced with Islamic laws creating an outburst. Women were often abused,raped,treated as slaves,and accused of false imprisonment. These tortures things that most women had to face are against the Islamic religion.

Women's rights in the Middle East have always been a controversial issue. Although the rights of women have changed over the years, they have never really been equal to the rights of a man. This poses a threat on Iran because women have very limited options when it comes to labor, marriage and other aspects of their culture. I believe that equal treatment for women and men is a fundamental principal of international human rights standards. Yet, in some places like Iran, discriminatory practices against women are not only prevalent, but in some cases, required by law. In this essay I will explain to you the every day life of an every day Islamic woman living in Iran. You will be astonished by what these women have endured through the

1. Summary of the Islamic worldview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Women’s rights in the Middle East have always been a controversial issue. Although the rights of women have changed over the years, they have never really been equal to the rights of a man. This poses a threat on Iran because women have very limited options when it comes to labor, marriage and other aspects of their culture. I believe that equal treatment for women and men is a fundamental principal of international human rights standards. Yet, in some places like Iran, discriminatory practices against women are not only prevalent, but in some cases, required by law. In this essay I will explain to you the every day life of an every day Islamic woman living in Iran. You will be astonished by what these women

There are many ways in which Iranian cultural expectations are different from the western cultural expectations. They are different in regards to citizens’ rights and gender norms.

In the society of Iran in 1980s, “wearing ties, cologne, perfume, makeup, or nail polish was declared “satanic” and therefore subject to severe punishment”(Nemat 121). Things that are ordinary to us could lead people in Iran to get punished, especially to women in Iran. She was captured by the government because she met a friend who were protesting for anti-revolution. The government suppress the freedom of speech and arrest the citizens. Marina was a prisoner, therefore she could not have any rights to refuse her arranged marriage. Even worse, to get married, she had to convert her religious to Islam. Even that marriage was temporary marriage as she says, “[I]n a temporary marriage, the woman had no rights whatsoever”(156).

This was one reverse too far, for Iran's young “cherish a packet of grievances, ranging from the acute shortage of jobs to the social restrictions that ban most boy- and-girl outings. Restrictive though it is, the system allows discussion of these complaints, and many niggling rules have been quietly eased since Mr. Khatami took over” (Anonymous Iran's second revolution? 13). It was, however, after the police and their allies, the Islamist bully-boy militia, raided the dormitories in Tehran University, where they killed at least one student and probably more, that the shout for change began to penetrate “out-of-bounds areas. The students started to call for fundamental reforms, questioning the legitimacy of clerical control” (Anonymous Iran's second revolution? 13). They even went so far as to challenge the sacrosanct heart of Iran's Islamist edifice, the ultimate authority of the “supreme leader.”

The emergence of the Islamic Republic in late 1970’s Iran demonstrates how middle class Iranian people purged themselves of the Pahlavi Dynasty in an effort to continue down a more righteous and egalitarian path. As a result, the country underwent a complete social upheaval and in its place grew an overtly oppressive regime based in theoretical omnipotence. In response to this regime, the very structure of political and social life was shaken and fundamentally transformed as religion and politics became inexorable. As a result, gender roles and the battle between public and private life were redrawn. Using various primary and secondary sources I will show how the Revolution shaped secular middle class Iranians. Further, I will show how the

Iranian society is more complexed than what its face value portrays. The west tends to attach negative associations with Iran and the rest of the middle east. The author writes that the purpose of her book is to show that Iran is not a country of fundamentalists and terrorists, and that characterizations of the country by the West are inaccurate. Satrapi’s narrative does the Iranian society justice. It explains the common misconceptions of Iran and its society by a first hand account, Marjane Satrapi.

For example, after the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and the rise of an Islamic republic in 1979, Iranian women’s rights declined drastically, as can be seen in the political cartoon from The Minneapolis Star. In this cartoon, a wilted flower represents Iranian women’s rights, and a devious Muslim man is seen in the background, which presumably symbolizes the new Islamic government led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Thus, the creation of this new government has greatly diminished whatever women’s rights were previously established in Iran (Doc 9). This source, an American newspaper, may not be as accurate as, for example, a Muslim source because of a general American unfamiliarity with Islam. Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, a high-class Islamic woman, described her experiences as a Muslim female during this period in her memoir Faces in a Mirror: Memoirs from Exile. This specific excerpt depicts the immediate obedience of high-class Islamic women to their male superiors, despite their own intentions (Doc 10). Thus, although there were sparse attempts to reform the status of Islamic women in the 20th century, in general, the role of women remained the same, or in some cases it was even worse than before.

The region of the Middle East and its inhabitants have always been a wonder to the Europeans, dating back to the years before the advent of Islam and the years following the Arab conquest. Today, the Islamic world spreads from the corners of the Philippines to the far edges of Spain and Central Africa. Various cultures have adopted the Islamic faith, and this blending of many different cultures has strengthened the universal Islamic culture. The religion of Islam has provided a new meaning to the lives of many people around the world. In the Islamic world, the religion defines and enriches culture and as a result the culture gives meaning to the individual. Islam is not only a religion, it is in its own way a culture. It may be this very

In today’s vast, democracy-fueled world, the concept of feminism has gradually taken on a significant role when it comes to modernity. The advocacy for equality of all women proves effective and boasts an undying faithfulness from women everywhere. Within the boundaries of the United States of America, feminism has grown since the establishment of the nation and continues to grow today, an issue that has especially risen in light of the recent election. However, beyond this great nation’s borders, feminism does not die in even the slightest way. Women all over the world are fighting for their equality and right to complete and total fairness. Despite the worldwide movement, it’s often overshadowed by other issues going on. Iran, the focus of Jasmin Darznik’s The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother’s Hidden Life, played (and continues to play) host to perhaps one of the greatest flawed societies when it comes to feminism. Through her powerful, poignant memoir, Darznik brings us into the midst of a particular lifestyle and the reality behind treatment of women in Iranian society.

Islam, especially in a modern context, is a religion that is often viewed through a negative lens. As the work of Edward Said underscores, orientalist thinkers often view religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism with fascination and curiosity, but approach Islam with a critiquing nature (Lecture 8/13/17). Both Manan Ahmed Asif and Richard Davis prompt and encourage their audiences to look beyond the initial series of raids and understand the process through which Islam was able to permeate through geographical and religious boundaries. Though Islam originated from a variety of conquests beginning outside of South Asia, it coexisted with Hinduism in the same geographical location and established itself as an indigenous South Asian religion.

* Show how Marjane Satrapi grew up under oppression during the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Throughout the various texts and films we observed this semester, there were a multitude of underlying themes associated with each. These themes do not live in a textual or film related vacuum, but rather offer major implications on given Middle Eastern cultures. In the fictional film Offside, directed by Jafar Panahi, he decides to zero in on the complex culture within Iran. He illustrates the culture within Iran by employing the 2006 World Cup qualifying soccer match between Iran and Bahrain as a metaphor of the various social dynamics attached to this sporting event and the country as a whole. That said, there are numerous underlying themes associated with this film. In this paper, however, I will