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| Volume VIII, December 2001, Number 4 |
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| EXCERPT: Women in Iran: An Online Discussion |
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This debate on the role of women in the Islamic Republic of Iran was conducted early in 2001 as part of the Gulf/2000 project at Columbia University, directed by Gary Sick. Normally these online discussions are reserved for members, but this topic is of such general interest and aroused such intense emotions that two of the participants were asked to edit the discussion for a wider audience. The final version was edited by Nikki R. Keddie, professor emerita of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, based on the selection and organization of the texts by co-editor Azita Karimkhany, alumna of Columbia University and researcher in Middle Eastern studies. For additional information on Gulf/2000, see the project website at http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/.
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INTRODUCTION
Nikki R. Keddie:
The modern history of Iranian governmental acts regarding women is both contradictory and controversial. Reza Shah (r. 1925-41) encouraged the earliest public education, including university and physical education, for girls and women, and in 1935-36 took strong measures against head-to-toe veiling and encouraged Western dress and mixed socializing for women and men. Forbidding the chador, which was traumatic for many, was in practice abandoned when Mohammad Reza Shah (r. 1941-79) took the throne. This shah responded to the pressures of many women and men when he initiated voting for women in 1963 and a new Family Protection Law in 1967, revised in 1975. The latter, given an Islamic framework by its inclusion in traditional marriage contracts, gave women more nearly equal rights in marriage, divorce and child custody. This law was opposed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the coalition that overthrew the shah in 1979. In the next few years the Khomeini forces ousted the liberals and leftists in the coalition and very early enacted a number of "Islamic" measures, including the abrogation of the Family Protection Law and the institution of a rule that women must cover their heads, necks and hair and wear either a chador or loose clothing over their entire bodies.
In the years since, many women and men have fought against these restrictions and have succeeded in reinstating some of the Family Protection Law's provisions, though only those safeguards in marriage contracts that are signed by both bride and groom are operative. Women have also entered education, business, the arts, the professions and (sex-segregated) sports in unprecedented numbers. On the other hand, women are subject to many legal and customary forms of discrimination, including sporadic brutal punishments. The debate below reflects different ways in which people see this situation, ranging from William Beeman's original op-ed piece, which emphasizes the positive, to Ann Elizabeth Mayer's reminder of how short Iran falls of international human-rights standards. The debate also reflects different views on whether it is useful to work within the Islamic Republic for further reforms or if only a radical change in form of rule can achieve significant equality for women. The debate also deals with the crackdown on free speech in 2000-01.
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