One of Iran's greatest philosophers, Omar Khayyam (18.06.1048-4.12.1131), rejecting any restrictions on the human mind, exclaims in his Rubaiyat, "You in the black cassock! Do not throw rocks at those who would like to learn the world". He sought to redefine the world, humankind and the essence of existence on his own terms.
The young philosophy student Nida Aga Sultan, following in the footsteps of her mentor of the 11th century, set off to redefine and change the country that was her homeland. On June 20, 2009, as she joined the throngs of demonstrators at Husrevi Streetwalking towards Karigar Road, protesting the June 12 election results and demanding their calls for genuine democracy be recognized by the establishment, a shot was heard. A bullet from the gun of a Basij militia, standing a top a building, shattered Nida's heart. A Basij militia member, or someone who would like to see Iran divided and weak, whoever they may be, but certainly one of those in the black cassock Khayyam had warned about centuries ago, threw a stone to a young woman who sought to learn her world. This stone not only pierced Nida's heart, whose name means shout or cry in Arabic, but it was a blow to all women, in Iran and the rest of the region, who have stood up to claim their legitimate human rights, only to be restrained, refused, and rejected. Nida's death, at a time when Iran is rising in a historical struggle, sent a shock wave around the country.
Iranian women have always been at the forefront of historical change that took hold of their society. This was true during Reza Shah's (Pahlavi) rise to power, when he suppressed local uprisings; during the shift to parliamentarian democracy in the 1940s; the resistance to the demolition of poor people's housing; the strikes organized by the Tudeh party; the Islamic revolution, and now, the reform and post-election opposition movement.
In the 1920s, Reza Pahlavi initiated sweeping modernization and reform policies on levels that were never seen before in Iran's history. He tried to secularize the country from its education to legal systems. He launched the dress revolution.
For Iranian women, those days marked the gradual disappearance of the dark pages of their shared history. Societal pressure sustained by religious dictum began to fade away and women's presence in society was increasingly being felt. The Kemalist revolution in Turkey had inspired Iran, a neighbor thousands of years old. Just like the mutual cross-interaction that is often true today.
The Iranian Renaissance
The period between the 1920s-1940s saw the stirrings of the Iranian women's struggle. A partial relaxation brought a loosening of the restrictions on the entire spectrum of society.
The 1936-1941 years saw the reawakening of the women's movement. Reza Shah sought to rescue women from the veil that was imposed under the guise of Islam, but he had to choice but to wait to consolidate his own power first. His supporters argued that the veil was an obstacle to women's socialization and employment. Reza Shah's ban on the black veil and the law that brought the new code for clothing encountered serious opposition. Religious clergy and people whose worldview was dominated by Islam opposed the law. Many women stayed at home until Reza Shah's son succeeded him after his resignation and brought back the black veil. But the law was applied strictly and women started to appear in the rapidly modernizing society. The 1932 marriage law and 1932 "Congress of the Women of the East" soon followed. Committed to his ‘modernization' project, Reza Shah oversaw a prospering Iran as modern industrial plants began popping up around the country. Iran was about to rescue itself from the threat of famine. The agriculture sector saw a revival and crop yields were improved. However, opposition to the reforms by the religious clergy did not wane.
Confident that only an Iran with an educated society could survive, Reza Shah ended madrasa-style education and paved the way for modern schools to be established. Religious clergy opposed education reform and began to demonstrate in the mosques, rallying around threats like, "Schools educate your sons to become infidels and your girls to become prostitutes". Many families paid attention and started to pull their children from the schools. In the meanwhile, the religious clergy were escaping to the Iraqi cities of Karbala and Najaf to avoid the Shah's wrath. Some hid in Qom. Among these was Ayatollah Khomeini, who would eventually dismantle the system that the Shah had erected. Despite future clerical meddling that would take away the rights granted to Iranian women during the Shah's reign, awareness among Iranian women had reached a point of no return.
Certainly, the Shah's reforms for women did not end there. He allowed women to work in factories, and not just as farm laborers. In this period, he was able to pave the way for women to emerge as public actors in every social sphere, except politics. With the accessibility of certain rights and provision of education to the other half of Iranian society, Iran attained an impressive level of national development.
The irony of this period was that these rights came from the top down and were not the result of a grass roots women's movement. This only caused a delay in women's ownership and claim to the entitlements that they were rightfully granted-it did not mean that Iranian women did not embrace the change that had come to bear on their status in society.
Iran under Mohammad Shah
During the most difficult days of the Second World War in British occupied Iran, Reza Shah was forced to leave the throne to his son and the gains that had been won through the Shah's reforms began to slide backwards. The black veil that was forbidden by his father now returned to the streets. But during this time, Mohammad Shah did attempt the ‘White Reforms' for Iranian women.
Like his father's period, imams opposed these reforms. But he acted just like his father had and carried out the reforms after 6 months had passed; and again the mullahs rose against the Shah in protest. But, interestingly enough, same mullahs advocated women's rights to enter politics during the Islamic Revolution. Khomeini supporters spread the rumor that the Shah was against Islam which prompted thousands of people, men and women, to rise against the Shah in a short period of time. In these uprisings, thousands of people lost their lives. On the other hand, against these uprisings, thousands of pro-Shah women made demonstrations twice, and called other women of the country to defend the Hawk Reforms. Since the society of the time did not have a fully matured sense of the workings of democratic government, women who were able to enter the parliament were far from being the voice of all women in Iran and remained as purely symbolic figures. The same situation sadly continues today in many parts of the Middle East. But in the period in question, two women were appointed as ministers. This was a first in Iran's history. Actually there were many firsts in this period; women rose in the military to the ranks of commander, officer and non-commissioned officers.
1979 Islam Revolution
The most striking initiative of the Iranian Islamic Revolution was article 14 of Iran's Islamic Law that states; women, men and children are all equal in front of the law. However, this article was not realized neither at the beginning of the Revolution nor at any point later on. It was not only this article that was not implemented, but almost none of the legal rights granted to women were brought to life. Women's rights remained in the back pages of Iran's Islam Law booklet.
Another striking event during the Iranian Islam Revolution was that Khamenei, three months after the Revolution and just before the public referendum to legitimize it, promised women that they would be guaranteed all legal rights and called people to vote under the banner of a free and independent country.
With the Islam Revolution, debates surrounding the role of women in Iranian society moved to another level. In this period, the main issues revolved around whether women could serve as judges, imams, president, minister, mayor and whether they could participate in jihad or not. The debates were conducted between the imams and Ayatollahs. Some Ayatollahs argued that women have every right to these posts equally as men, emanating from the principle that all humans are equals in front of Islam.
A women MP, Shahbano Emani, raised the issue of a woman's right to serve as a judge during Hatemi's presidency, but her proposal was not approved. The same was true when it came to the right to be elected mayor.
Iranian women held high expectations concerning Hatemi's presidency and for the first time, they exercised their political choice with an impressive show of will and determination. They initiated a campaign for the election of Hatemi. In many ways it was the women's vote and support that ushered in Hatemi to power in a landslide victory. However, the Hatemi government ended in disappointment for women, with the promised reforms failing to materialize. The result was disillusionment and indifference to Iran's elections. That is, until June 12.
Today, Iranian women are subjected to treatment as second class citizens. Priority is almost always given to men for civil servant positions and men hold 70% of government jobs. Women can become assistant judge, but they do not have the power to either convict or to issue a verdict in a case. Although women can constitutionally hold significant government posts, this does not translate into practice. Today, women can only serve in the security forces as moral police. And they conduct this not in uniform, but shrouded in a black veil. In the military, women can only work as nurses, doctors and civil servants. But the number of women within the Basij militia is high, where women's participation is close to 40%. This raises the painful question of whether the bullet that pierced Nida's heart was fired by a woman.
Sidelined from the democratic game either explicitly or though a culture of exclusion, women seeking political space in Muslim societies are rarely the decision makers, but the ones whom decisions are made both despite, and in the name, of. Amidst genuine divergences over political orientation and ideology, and trapped between various shades of Islamic interpretation, women and organized women's groups must not lose sight of a challenge that is common to them all-that they are being denied not only their women's rights, but basic human rights. Nida and many like her do not die just because of the absence of democracy, but because of the imposition of a so-called ‘Islamic democracy'.