IranDespite historical blindness to women’s partici-
pation in various social and political movements in
Iran, scattered accounts show women’s involve-
ment in local and national protests, such as riots
against bread scarcity, rising prices, and tax
increases. Since at least the mid-nineteenth century,
women have made enormous contributions to
efforts for social change in Iran.
The development of gender consciousness and
the women’s rights struggle were hindered by sex-
ual segregation and restrictive moral codes, which
deprived women of access to literacy, paid work
outside the home, and the right to a public pres-
ence. Yet there were always exceptional women,
such as ¢àhirah Qurrat al-≠Ayn (1815–51) and Bìbì
Khànum Astàrabàdì(1858–1921), who openly
exposed and opposed male supremacy and the
patriarchal values and practices that barred women
from the acquisition of knowledge and access to the
country’s social and economic resources (Nà†iq
1358/1980, Nà†iq and âdamiyat 1368/1989).
By participating in wider social and political
movements of the period, such as the Tobacco
Protest of 1891–2, and particularly, the Constitu-
tional Revolution of 1905–11, women gained a
new political maturity and began to forge an inde-
pendent political identity. Thus empowered, activ-
ists crossed gendered boundaries and social norms.
For example, women disguised in men’s clothing
joined military actions in the civil war that followed
ratification of the constitution (Nàhìd 1360/1981);
in support of pro-constitution clergymen, others
built strongholds on the rooftop of a religious
shrine near Tehran, throwing stones at the attack-
ing army.
Disappointment at the consolidation of their
legal and social inferiority in the first Iranian con-
stitution subsequent to the victory of the Con-
stitutional Revolution increased activist women’s
gender consciousness and self-image, giving rise to
the Iranian women’s movement. In 1906, a group
of women marched in the streets of Tehran, took
off their veils, and demanded recognition of their
rights. Outraged, prominent Constitutionalists called
them prostitutes hired by “reactionaries” to dis-
credit the revolution (Bayat-Philip 1978).
Women’s protests against the injustices to which
they were subjected were expressed in remarkably
diverse forms. Some sought radical short-term goals
while others pursued more lasting, fundamental
changes in women’s status. These efforts sometimes
evoked a violent response. A group of women in
Shiraz became targets for mob attacks when they
iran 639changed their black chador to brown ones, in
protest at veiling (Sanasarian 1983, 14). But the
women persisted. Activists burned in public a pam-
phlet written by a clergyman opposed to women’s
rights (Bàmdàd 1977, 63). Adult literacy classes
and girls’ schools were established at enormous
costs to the pioneers of women’s rights. Many
groups and associations were formed. Over 20
women’s periodicals were published between 1910
and 1930.
However, one contradictory result of the evolu-
tion of the modern Iranian state under the two
PahlavìShahs (1925–79), including structural and
legal changes in society and economy, was increas-
ing police repression and the creeping extension of
autocratic state control over civil society. While
some changes benefited women, they also had a
damning effect on the burgeoning women’s move-
ment (Najmabadi 1991, 56–8). Cooptation of
women activists, and the appropriation of the fem-
inist agenda by the state, circumscribed and dis-
credited women’s militant efforts, and put a stop to
indigenous, radical, and independent forms of
protest for over 50 years, to be revived only after
the 1979 Revolution, ironically, under the rule of
Islamic clergy.
Only a few weeks through the revolution, fol-
lowing Ayatollah Khomeini’s decree for the reveil-
ing of women (8 March 1979), Iran saw a chain of
women’s powerful, spontaneous protest marches,
sit-ins, and work stoppages in ministries, hospitals,
and girls’ high schools (Moghissi 1994). This
marked the rebirth of an independent, powerful,
and effective women’s movement for change. The
consolidation of the power of the Islamic state and
the political repression and ousting of organized
opposition a year later also dismantled many secu-
lar women’s associations and groups that prolifer-
ated immediately after the revolution. Yet political
repression has failed to silence women.
Signs of women’s resistance to gender barriers
and their resistance to legal restrictions and gen-
dered social and moral codes imposed by the new
state have been observable throughout the country
since the revolution. These have included secular
women’s defiance of the ™ijàbcode; their remark-
able resilience and skill in reclaiming educational
and employment spaces they lost after the revolu-
tion; the voices of discontent and protest coming
from Muslim women activists against gendered
values promoted by the media and the education
system; and the astute and skillful use of national
and international days for protests such as anti-
war marches and, more recently, the re-emergence
of International Women’s Day celebration (Faßl-i