Every nation defines feminism differently. Culture, religion, and the history of a country all play a role in forming that definition. For some, it means fighting for the right to be heard while for others, it means being given the right to vote and hold political office. Yet, for others, it means to simply have access to an education. Feminism has a radically different definition in West Asia than it does in North America and Europe. Women around the world, though united in their struggle, find it difficult to form a common consensus on basic gender roles. Although researchers in Iranian studies argue that the low socio-economic conditions and the cultural background of women in the Middle East are explanations for the absence of a women’s movement, these are not the reasons in their entirety. A broad generalization across such a vast region is an inaccurate representation of reality. A region lacking progress in their activism for women’s rights is not an indication that it is not advancing towards its goals. The Iranian people have formed their own definition of feminism. Their definition is shaped by their lived realities, cultures, and history. In Iran, feminism has been connected to two aims: access to education and access to the labor market. This paper will focus specifically on women in urban areas and not those residing in rural parts of Iran due to the fact that there is little to no documentation on mass women’s rights movements in those regions. Urban areas on the other, hand have seen dramatic social changes including changes in legislation as well as access to education. Through limiting the scope of this paper to the aftermath of the Constitutional Revolution up until the 1979 Islamic Revolution, one will be able to gain a much more thorough understanding of women’s political activity during a pivotal shift in regimes.
The quest of Iranian women in attaining education rights and equality has been greatly affected by the socio-political environment being that it has played a major role in limiting the rights of women’s organizations and their efforts.
The Constitutional Revolution aimed to not only restrict the powers of the monarchy but to also eliminate foreign domination in Iran. The revolution resulted in a written constitution with strict Islamic laws combined with a blind copying of Western laws which functioned as a religious decree with a secular appearance. This hybrid eventually led to many contradictions in its core which brought about negative consequences as time elapsed. Article 2 of the constitution clearly stated that no legislation that is in contradiction to the Shari’a (Islamic Law) would be allowed to pass in parliament, yet legislative measures existed which blatantly contradicted the Shari’a. Such legislations included those that not only refused to grant women basic rights but also placed women, the mentally ill, and criminals in the same category; they were collectively labeled as “outlaws.” Women were not allowed to vote, divorce, or have a say regarding polygamy. At the same time, ironically, the revolution allowed a platform for Iranian women to engage in political action. Women were told by government that their education and training should be limited to raising children and maintaining their homes. As Iran aimed to be like the West it was still restricted through backward cultural ideals which politicians based their opinions of women on. Most women who were involved in women's affairs were from rich families and were well educated. The initial struggles for women's rights mostly came from the upper class. For these women, the key to development in women’s affairs was education, they believed the best solution in educating women was to establish schools for girls. While no educational institutions existed for women at the time, they argued that as the first teachers of men, they also deserved an equal opportunity at education. The first school for girls was built during the early years of the Constitutional revolution in 1907; Madreseh Dooshizeh (School for Girls) was founded by Bibi Khanoum Vaziri. Later that year, Namous (Honour) was founded by Toubi Azmoudeh. These schools were the first of their kind and produced some of the first educated Iranian women. Although both were shut down after opponents destroyed the school and harassed the students with accusations of immorality and unchastity, they proved to have an impact and eventually gave rise to many other schools throughout Tehran.
Similarly, girl’s education wasn’t considered of importance. It wasn’t until 1918 when the government provided funds to establish ten primary schools for girls that the first steps of progress had been made within the Iranian government. Further political change came when the Qajar dynasty was overthrown and the Pahlavi Dynasty took power. Reza Shah came to power and abolished many of the freedoms that were won during the Constitutional Revolution. The Shah’s stance on women, similar to the dynasty before him, differed in different situations. Freedom of speech and press were suppressed and the constitution was changed to give the Shah more power. As a man with four wives, he did nothing to safeguard womens interests in the case of divorce or polygamy. At the same time, under Reza Shah’s reign, many socio-economic reforms were made leading to a much more secular culture that eventually opened the door in allowing women to access education as well as paid jobs.
In the early years of Reza Shah's rule, from 1925 to the 1930s, most women who engaged in women’s movements were supporters of the regime. Only later, “with creeping state control over civil society and increasing police repression, the activities of women groups, along with other political and trade union organizations, however, were restrained and finally banned.” Eventually in the mid-1930s all women organizations were squashed; from socialist women organizations to the liberal movements who even supported the Shah, they were all shut down. By 1966, there were no women’s movement left in Iran. Although Reza Shah was interested in changing the condition of women, he was unwilling to allow independent activities supporting the woman's cause to expand.
It is key to note that one of the Shah’s tactics in appealing to the West was through pretending that they cared about the affairs of women Although the Pahlavi dynasty had implemented repressive measures against women, it maintained a pro-women’s rights facade for the outside world by hosting different conferences. In an attempt to fool the West, Iran hosted the Second Congress of Eastern Women in 1932 hoping to prove their dedication to fighting for women rights, and in 1968 they declared that they would be hosting the first UN International Conference on Human Rights.In 1968, the first United National International Conference on Human Rights ironically took place in country that was not only against democracy but also against many human rights.
Reza Shah brought about a major change to the makeup of the country when he passed the anti-veil offensive in 1936 which took away women’s rights in covering their hair. This made Iran the first country to impose Western standards of dress on its female population. Reza Shah insisted on ‘Westernizing’ Iran to give it a modern look and saw the ban on the veil as the first step. Arguing that his anti-veil law freed women from what he perceived to be oppressive Islamic traditions, the Shah believed he was liberating the Iranian women. While there were many talks of liberation, there was no actual concrete evidence of such an act; in fact while the Shah believed he was freeing women from oppressive Islamic obligations, he was in fact simultaneously depriving women of the freedom to wear it if they so chose to. As a result, many women protested the new anti-veil ban. The most eventful of the protests was one that took place in the city of Mashad which provoked a serious confrontation ending with the bloody suppression of the religious opposition further proving the Shah’s backward attempt in ‘liberating’ women.
In 1941 Reza Shah was forced to flee as WWII began. His son, Mohammad Reza Shah, was immediately placed in power, and he like his father focused entirely on modernizing and westernizing Iran. Mohammad Reza however, with the guidance of his twin sister Ashraf Pahlavi worked towards improving women’s affairs. Ashraf Pahlavi used her connections with the government to persuade her brother Reza Shah towards making policies for women in regards to education and basic civil rights. Her involvement and persuasion eventually led to the incorporation of education into Reza Shah's reform policies. Education for women was made a priority. “Great number of schools for girls were opened to prepare them for this participation.” In 1963, Mohammad Reza Shah continued on the path his sister had paved for him when he elected six women to the Twenty-first Majlis and two to the senate. From 1963 onwards, the status of women in Iranian society rose steadily. As more women became literate there could be no doubt that their participation in the social and political life of the country would become more prevalent.
With the help of Ashraf Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah’s six point reform program, women were granted the right to vote on January 26, 1963. However it is important to note while certain steps were made towards women’s rights, the cultural makeup of the country still kept them a few steps back. “Even then, they were to use separate ballot boxes, and their votes, although counted, would not be included in the grand total.” While the right to vote encouraged Iranian women and brought about a fresh air of optimism, they knew they still has a long road ahead.
In 1944, Ashraf Pahlavi emerged from her brother’s shadows and took her first individual steps in fighting for women’s rights by establishing the Social Services Foundation, the “largest social agency in Iran.” The group distributed food, goods, and built pediatric clinics around poor villages in Iran. As she organized this mass building of clinics in remote areas of the country, Pahlavi proved to be extremely bright and cunning. She showed how well she knew her way around the political sphere by exhausting all her efforts in pursuit of her goals. Her presence seemed ubiquitous; whether she was meeting with foreign leaders to discuss the future of Iran or having tea with major opponents of the monarchy to be able to persuade them in accepting the regime, her activity was apparent. Throughout her efforts, she worked closely with her brother Mohammad Reza Shah in promoting women's suffrage. Through her involvement in various organizations for women, she started a federation known as the High Council of Women's Organization which aimed to integrate Iranian women into every facet of society and sought to create conditions of equality for all women in Iran. In 1966 the council was renamed as the “Women’s Organization of Iran” (WOI) and it supervised five thousand-member assembly of women representatives from all the regions of the world. The WOI built a network of 349 branches and 120 centers by 1975. These centers worked to give women better access to training and educating women. By convincing the government that such services were necessary for national development, the Shah jumped on board. Although his assistance was mainly due to his hidden motives in portraying Iran as a modern country, his support ultimately allowed for the incorporation of many women into formal politics. While the Shah he was no real supporter of women’s rights, he still understood the importance of their role in society. At times he argued,“Women constitute half of the population of the world. They make up a great workforce whose effective participation in activities is essential requirements for all development and progress. Let us not forget that problems such as human rights, population, family planning, campaign against literacy and poverty, on which the fate of the human race depends , cannot be resolved without the complete and effective participation of women.”
The biggest victory for Ashraf Pahlavi and all Iranian women came in 1975 when Ashraf Pahlavi was able to help pass the Family Protection Act, a substantial achievement during its time. The first of its kind, the act recognized a wife as an equal partner of a marriage. The act also placed conditions on men marrying multiple wives and provided that a woman could seek divorce on the same grounds available to a man. Women were finally granted the right to make decisions of their own.
One of Mohammad Reza Shah’s major opponents was Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran. Mosadegh brought a wide range of progressive social and political reforms such as social security, rent control, and land reforms. His most known policy, however, was the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, which had been under British control since 1913 through the Anglo Persian Oil Company (APOC). In 1953, with the help of the CIA, Operation AJAX took place which overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran and its head of government, Prince Minister Mohammad Mosadegh. The coup saw the transition of Mohammad Reza Shah from a constitutional monarch to an authoritarian who relied heavily on United States support to hold onto power until his removal during the 1979 revolution. Many women's organizations realized the importance of the nationalization of the oil and supported the national government of Mosadegh. Many women were in the forefront and, “were especially active in selling national government bonds and raising funds for the support of the democratic government.” Although, with the help of the CIA, the regime eventually overthrow Mosadegh, many women showed their activism by fighting alongside their male counterparts against the government.
Iranian women wanted to be part of their government and have their voice heard. A woman wrote a letter that shows clearly the thought process of women during this time:
“You think that we are ignorant or unconscious, have no initiative, and have no share of human rights. If we are women we are not foolish. We watched every effort and service the nationalist performed and all the pain they suffered. But we had no remedy. Some of us patriots celebrated the day the constitutionalists were victorious and felt happy, and when bad fortune struck, we wept, but we were allowed in no gathering or meeting.”
She points to the theme of the time where women were active in protests but when it came to having a say they were silenced.
In the early 1900s, while the U.S. feminist were fighting for voting rights, Iranian feminists were more concerned with education and welfare issues. Illiteracy was a major issue that Iranian women faced due to the fact that was a general belief that literacy among women would pose a dangerous threat to society while others argued that women did not have the mental capacity for seeking knowledge. There is very little data on the education of women, though one source states that only 3 percent of all women in Iran were literate in 1925. The literacy in Iranian women in urban regions improved drastically from 1957 to 1972. In 1957, the percentage literacy rate among women was at 22.4 percent. This number doubled and in 1972 to 48.3 percent. Although there had been achievements made by women in education, over half the population was still illiterate because education was never seen seen as a human rights issue, rather, it was seen as a means to equip women with the intellectual abilities necessary for bringing up males capable of serving the state.
Eventually, in the 1950s, there was a heightened consciousness of women’s roles in society. By this time there was a much larger group of educated women who were increasingly aware of women’s progress in other countries and thereby began forming various organizations to improve the condition of women in Iran. In 1955 the Rah-e No (New Path) was created by Mehranigiz Downlatshahi and one year later, Safieh Firouz founded the Women’s League of Supporters of the Declaration of Human Rights, an organization that actively sought equal political rights for women.
Besides education,women sought to have more control over their life. Seeking equal opportunities within the government and workforce were the main goals of women at the time as opposed to charity activities which were more in line with Reza Shah’s ideas of what women were supposed to do. Employment of women went hand in hand with economic growth in the country. In 1956, women employed in the economy formed 9 percent of all employees. By 1976, this number doubled with 1.5 million women being employed amounting to 15 percent of the labor force. This rise in employment was a direct result of the economic growth the nation underwent. As Iran became more integrated into the world market, the country in turn experienced economic growth that was based on the rising oil revenues which resulted in a bolstering of the state's power. Industrial and service sectors were enlarged and the structure of the economy was altered which changed the labor force and the gender division of the labor. More women, now unveiled and educated, began joining the growing labor market. Though women still had to cater to working inside the home, they were allowed to take part in gender-mixed occupations. The income that Iranian women were now getting gave them a grounding on which they could negotiate their relationships to patriarchs. As Iran’s economy grew, so to did the Shah’s support for women’s presence in the labor market. He argued, “More facilities for part time work... will permit fuller use of housewives and provide them with the opportunity to play a worthy role in the work of social reconstruction even while administration and supervising the home... Women... make up a great force whose effective participation in activities is an essential requirement for all development and progress.” It is important to note that industrialization required the passage of a number of labor laws for women. While some limited the shifts women could work or the type of work they could take part in, others granted them certain rights, such as the right to maternity leave. These rights however were limited; Husbands were allowed to “...forbid their wife to accept a job that is degrading to him or her.”
In an attempt to gain further leeway in society, Iranian women took advantage of the rare freedom they were granted- freedom of the press.By utilized journalism they were able to publish their own newspappers in an effort to fight for equality. The first newspaper, Danesh (Knowledge), appeared in 1910, followed by Shokufeh (Blossom) in 1912. The latter was entirely dedicated to the question of women's education and played an important role in addressing the hardships and difficulties that women faced in Iran.. More than six journals were published and edited by Iranian women but ultimately many participants were exiled and journals were not allowed to accept articles from them. Like other things in Iran, the idea of freedom of the press was an illusion and as women gained momentum the government was quick to shut them down.The result was an increase in the amount of coalition building organizations.
With the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian women were pushed into another political arena although they initially were in support of the revolution along side Ayatollah Khomeini. It was not necessarily Khomeini that they were backing, instead, their agenda was more of an anti-Shah movement. To their dismay, the revolution brought many changes to women's affairs. As much as the Pahlavis had insisted on Westernizing the country, the new regime saw anything related to the West as evil. The headscarf was mandated and laws such as abortion were all deemed illegal. Women were beaten and accused of being “American agents.”
Iranian women have been well acquainted with dictatorial regimes; this is an indication that Iranian women must renew their struggle for women’s rights. The women of Iran have traversed a long and arduous path to be where they are today. Feminism began as a struggle for access to education and involvement in the workforce. Today, both those goals have been obtained for the most part. Yet, the journey of Iranian women has not ended. It has merely taken a new trajectory to be directed in the struggle for securing the freedom of speech.
The quest of Iranian women in attaining education rights and equality has been greatly affected by the socio-political environment being that it has played a major role in limiting the rights of women’s organizations and their efforts.
The Constitutional Revolution aimed to not only restrict the powers of the monarchy but to also eliminate foreign domination in Iran. The revolution resulted in a written constitution with strict Islamic laws combined with a blind copying of Western laws which functioned as a religious decree with a secular appearance. This hybrid eventually led to many contradictions in its core which brought about negative consequences as time elapsed. Article 2 of the constitution clearly stated that no legislation that is in contradiction to the Shari’a (Islamic Law) would be allowed to pass in parliament, yet legislative measures existed which blatantly contradicted the Shari’a. Such legislations included those that not only refused to grant women basic rights but also placed women, the mentally ill, and criminals in the same category; they were collectively labeled as “outlaws.” Women were not allowed to vote, divorce, or have a say regarding polygamy. At the same time, ironically, the revolution allowed a platform for Iranian women to engage in political action. Women were told by government that their education and training should be limited to raising children and maintaining their homes. As Iran aimed to be like the West it was still restricted through backward cultural ideals which politicians based their opinions of women on. Most women who were involved in women's affairs were from rich families and were well educated. The initial struggles for women's rights mostly came from the upper class. For these women, the key to development in women’s affairs was education, they believed the best solution in educating women was to establish schools for girls. While no educational institutions existed for women at the time, they argued that as the first teachers of men, they also deserved an equal opportunity at education. The first school for girls was built during the early years of the Constitutional revolution in 1907; Madreseh Dooshizeh (School for Girls) was founded by Bibi Khanoum Vaziri. Later that year, Namous (Honour) was founded by Toubi Azmoudeh. These schools were the first of their kind and produced some of the first educated Iranian women. Although both were shut down after opponents destroyed the school and harassed the students with accusations of immorality and unchastity, they proved to have an impact and eventually gave rise to many other schools throughout Tehran.
Similarly, girl’s education wasn’t considered of importance. It wasn’t until 1918 when the government provided funds to establish ten primary schools for girls that the first steps of progress had been made within the Iranian government. Further political change came when the Qajar dynasty was overthrown and the Pahlavi Dynasty took power. Reza Shah came to power and abolished many of the freedoms that were won during the Constitutional Revolution. The Shah’s stance on women, similar to the dynasty before him, differed in different situations. Freedom of speech and press were suppressed and the constitution was changed to give the Shah more power. As a man with four wives, he did nothing to safeguard womens interests in the case of divorce or polygamy. At the same time, under Reza Shah’s reign, many socio-economic reforms were made leading to a much more secular culture that eventually opened the door in allowing women to access education as well as paid jobs.
In the early years of Reza Shah's rule, from 1925 to the 1930s, most women who engaged in women’s movements were supporters of the regime. Only later, “with creeping state control over civil society and increasing police repression, the activities of women groups, along with other political and trade union organizations, however, were restrained and finally banned.” Eventually in the mid-1930s all women organizations were squashed; from socialist women organizations to the liberal movements who even supported the Shah, they were all shut down. By 1966, there were no women’s movement left in Iran. Although Reza Shah was interested in changing the condition of women, he was unwilling to allow independent activities supporting the woman's cause to expand.
It is key to note that one of the Shah’s tactics in appealing to the West was through pretending that they cared about the affairs of women Although the Pahlavi dynasty had implemented repressive measures against women, it maintained a pro-women’s rights facade for the outside world by hosting different conferences. In an attempt to fool the West, Iran hosted the Second Congress of Eastern Women in 1932 hoping to prove their dedication to fighting for women rights, and in 1968 they declared that they would be hosting the first UN International Conference on Human Rights.In 1968, the first United National International Conference on Human Rights ironically took place in country that was not only against democracy but also against many human rights.
Reza Shah brought about a major change to the makeup of the country when he passed the anti-veil offensive in 1936 which took away women’s rights in covering their hair. This made Iran the first country to impose Western standards of dress on its female population. Reza Shah insisted on ‘Westernizing’ Iran to give it a modern look and saw the ban on the veil as the first step. Arguing that his anti-veil law freed women from what he perceived to be oppressive Islamic traditions, the Shah believed he was liberating the Iranian women. While there were many talks of liberation, there was no actual concrete evidence of such an act; in fact while the Shah believed he was freeing women from oppressive Islamic obligations, he was in fact simultaneously depriving women of the freedom to wear it if they so chose to. As a result, many women protested the new anti-veil ban. The most eventful of the protests was one that took place in the city of Mashad which provoked a serious confrontation ending with the bloody suppression of the religious opposition further proving the Shah’s backward attempt in ‘liberating’ women.
In 1941 Reza Shah was forced to flee as WWII began. His son, Mohammad Reza Shah, was immediately placed in power, and he like his father focused entirely on modernizing and westernizing Iran. Mohammad Reza however, with the guidance of his twin sister Ashraf Pahlavi worked towards improving women’s affairs. Ashraf Pahlavi used her connections with the government to persuade her brother Reza Shah towards making policies for women in regards to education and basic civil rights. Her involvement and persuasion eventually led to the incorporation of education into Reza Shah's reform policies. Education for women was made a priority. “Great number of schools for girls were opened to prepare them for this participation.” In 1963, Mohammad Reza Shah continued on the path his sister had paved for him when he elected six women to the Twenty-first Majlis and two to the senate. From 1963 onwards, the status of women in Iranian society rose steadily. As more women became literate there could be no doubt that their participation in the social and political life of the country would become more prevalent.
With the help of Ashraf Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah’s six point reform program, women were granted the right to vote on January 26, 1963. However it is important to note while certain steps were made towards women’s rights, the cultural makeup of the country still kept them a few steps back. “Even then, they were to use separate ballot boxes, and their votes, although counted, would not be included in the grand total.” While the right to vote encouraged Iranian women and brought about a fresh air of optimism, they knew they still has a long road ahead.
In 1944, Ashraf Pahlavi emerged from her brother’s shadows and took her first individual steps in fighting for women’s rights by establishing the Social Services Foundation, the “largest social agency in Iran.” The group distributed food, goods, and built pediatric clinics around poor villages in Iran. As she organized this mass building of clinics in remote areas of the country, Pahlavi proved to be extremely bright and cunning. She showed how well she knew her way around the political sphere by exhausting all her efforts in pursuit of her goals. Her presence seemed ubiquitous; whether she was meeting with foreign leaders to discuss the future of Iran or having tea with major opponents of the monarchy to be able to persuade them in accepting the regime, her activity was apparent. Throughout her efforts, she worked closely with her brother Mohammad Reza Shah in promoting women's suffrage. Through her involvement in various organizations for women, she started a federation known as the High Council of Women's Organization which aimed to integrate Iranian women into every facet of society and sought to create conditions of equality for all women in Iran. In 1966 the council was renamed as the “Women’s Organization of Iran” (WOI) and it supervised five thousand-member assembly of women representatives from all the regions of the world. The WOI built a network of 349 branches and 120 centers by 1975. These centers worked to give women better access to training and educating women. By convincing the government that such services were necessary for national development, the Shah jumped on board. Although his assistance was mainly due to his hidden motives in portraying Iran as a modern country, his support ultimately allowed for the incorporation of many women into formal politics. While the Shah he was no real supporter of women’s rights, he still understood the importance of their role in society. At times he argued,“Women constitute half of the population of the world. They make up a great workforce whose effective participation in activities is essential requirements for all development and progress. Let us not forget that problems such as human rights, population, family planning, campaign against literacy and poverty, on which the fate of the human race depends , cannot be resolved without the complete and effective participation of women.”
The biggest victory for Ashraf Pahlavi and all Iranian women came in 1975 when Ashraf Pahlavi was able to help pass the Family Protection Act, a substantial achievement during its time. The first of its kind, the act recognized a wife as an equal partner of a marriage. The act also placed conditions on men marrying multiple wives and provided that a woman could seek divorce on the same grounds available to a man. Women were finally granted the right to make decisions of their own.
One of Mohammad Reza Shah’s major opponents was Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran. Mosadegh brought a wide range of progressive social and political reforms such as social security, rent control, and land reforms. His most known policy, however, was the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, which had been under British control since 1913 through the Anglo Persian Oil Company (APOC). In 1953, with the help of the CIA, Operation AJAX took place which overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran and its head of government, Prince Minister Mohammad Mosadegh. The coup saw the transition of Mohammad Reza Shah from a constitutional monarch to an authoritarian who relied heavily on United States support to hold onto power until his removal during the 1979 revolution. Many women's organizations realized the importance of the nationalization of the oil and supported the national government of Mosadegh. Many women were in the forefront and, “were especially active in selling national government bonds and raising funds for the support of the democratic government.” Although, with the help of the CIA, the regime eventually overthrow Mosadegh, many women showed their activism by fighting alongside their male counterparts against the government.
Iranian women wanted to be part of their government and have their voice heard. A woman wrote a letter that shows clearly the thought process of women during this time:
“You think that we are ignorant or unconscious, have no initiative, and have no share of human rights. If we are women we are not foolish. We watched every effort and service the nationalist performed and all the pain they suffered. But we had no remedy. Some of us patriots celebrated the day the constitutionalists were victorious and felt happy, and when bad fortune struck, we wept, but we were allowed in no gathering or meeting.”
She points to the theme of the time where women were active in protests but when it came to having a say they were silenced.
In the early 1900s, while the U.S. feminist were fighting for voting rights, Iranian feminists were more concerned with education and welfare issues. Illiteracy was a major issue that Iranian women faced due to the fact that was a general belief that literacy among women would pose a dangerous threat to society while others argued that women did not have the mental capacity for seeking knowledge. There is very little data on the education of women, though one source states that only 3 percent of all women in Iran were literate in 1925. The literacy in Iranian women in urban regions improved drastically from 1957 to 1972. In 1957, the percentage literacy rate among women was at 22.4 percent. This number doubled and in 1972 to 48.3 percent. Although there had been achievements made by women in education, over half the population was still illiterate because education was never seen seen as a human rights issue, rather, it was seen as a means to equip women with the intellectual abilities necessary for bringing up males capable of serving the state.
Eventually, in the 1950s, there was a heightened consciousness of women’s roles in society. By this time there was a much larger group of educated women who were increasingly aware of women’s progress in other countries and thereby began forming various organizations to improve the condition of women in Iran. In 1955 the Rah-e No (New Path) was created by Mehranigiz Downlatshahi and one year later, Safieh Firouz founded the Women’s League of Supporters of the Declaration of Human Rights, an organization that actively sought equal political rights for women.
Besides education,women sought to have more control over their life. Seeking equal opportunities within the government and workforce were the main goals of women at the time as opposed to charity activities which were more in line with Reza Shah’s ideas of what women were supposed to do. Employment of women went hand in hand with economic growth in the country. In 1956, women employed in the economy formed 9 percent of all employees. By 1976, this number doubled with 1.5 million women being employed amounting to 15 percent of the labor force. This rise in employment was a direct result of the economic growth the nation underwent. As Iran became more integrated into the world market, the country in turn experienced economic growth that was based on the rising oil revenues which resulted in a bolstering of the state's power. Industrial and service sectors were enlarged and the structure of the economy was altered which changed the labor force and the gender division of the labor. More women, now unveiled and educated, began joining the growing labor market. Though women still had to cater to working inside the home, they were allowed to take part in gender-mixed occupations. The income that Iranian women were now getting gave them a grounding on which they could negotiate their relationships to patriarchs. As Iran’s economy grew, so to did the Shah’s support for women’s presence in the labor market. He argued, “More facilities for part time work... will permit fuller use of housewives and provide them with the opportunity to play a worthy role in the work of social reconstruction even while administration and supervising the home... Women... make up a great force whose effective participation in activities is an essential requirement for all development and progress.” It is important to note that industrialization required the passage of a number of labor laws for women. While some limited the shifts women could work or the type of work they could take part in, others granted them certain rights, such as the right to maternity leave. These rights however were limited; Husbands were allowed to “...forbid their wife to accept a job that is degrading to him or her.”
In an attempt to gain further leeway in society, Iranian women took advantage of the rare freedom they were granted- freedom of the press.By utilized journalism they were able to publish their own newspappers in an effort to fight for equality. The first newspaper, Danesh (Knowledge), appeared in 1910, followed by Shokufeh (Blossom) in 1912. The latter was entirely dedicated to the question of women's education and played an important role in addressing the hardships and difficulties that women faced in Iran.. More than six journals were published and edited by Iranian women but ultimately many participants were exiled and journals were not allowed to accept articles from them. Like other things in Iran, the idea of freedom of the press was an illusion and as women gained momentum the government was quick to shut them down.The result was an increase in the amount of coalition building organizations.
With the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian women were pushed into another political arena although they initially were in support of the revolution along side Ayatollah Khomeini. It was not necessarily Khomeini that they were backing, instead, their agenda was more of an anti-Shah movement. To their dismay, the revolution brought many changes to women's affairs. As much as the Pahlavis had insisted on Westernizing the country, the new regime saw anything related to the West as evil. The headscarf was mandated and laws such as abortion were all deemed illegal. Women were beaten and accused of being “American agents.”
Iranian women have been well acquainted with dictatorial regimes; this is an indication that Iranian women must renew their struggle for women’s rights. The women of Iran have traversed a long and arduous path to be where they are today. Feminism began as a struggle for access to education and involvement in the workforce. Today, both those goals have been obtained for the most part. Yet, the journey of Iranian women has not ended. It has merely taken a new trajectory to be directed in the struggle for securing the freedom of speech.