Central Asia

The Women’s Movement in Iran: Women at the Crossroads of Secularisation and Islamization

The paper thus outlines the social and political conditions that have led not only to the development of secular feminist perspectives in Iran, but to the emergence of woman-centred Islamists and their strategies which aim, thus far with considerable success, to fundamentally challenge conventional gender visions often presented as "Islamic." This analysis of the gender debates in Iran, and by extension elsewhere in the Muslim world, reiterates that Islam, particularly as a political ideology, is far from static and unchanging; it is a dynamic and evolving ideological force that

Dossier 23-24: Women in Iran Since 1979

Although all countries are unique, Iran may have claim to more surprising political changes in the past century than any other country existing continuously during that period. Among these changes have been notable alterations in women’s roles and status. The birth of urban mass politics during the constitutional revolution of 1906-11 saw women’s first political activism, which continued after World War 1, though that independence was eventually much diminished under the new Pahlavi dynasty of Reza Shah (1921-41) (Afary, 1996; Bayat, 1978; Paidar, 1995; Sanasarian, 1982).

Dossier 23-24: Chronology of Events Regarding Women in Iran since the Revolution of 1979

February 11, 1979
Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers take power after a revolution.

February 26, 1979
Khomeini announces that the Family Protection Law (1967) is abrogated.

March 3, 1979
Khomeini announces that women cannot be judges.

March 6, 1979
Khomeini announces that women are to wear hejab in the workplace.

Dossier 23-24: (Un)Veiling Feminism

This essay draws on several talks and conversations: Brandeis University, 17 March 1998; Harvard University, 19 November 1998; and American Association of Religion, 23 November 1999. 1 would like to thank the organizers of each event for giving me the opportunity to present these ideas, and other panel participants and the audience for critical comments. Special thanks to Camron Amin, Janet Jakobsen, Irena Klepfisz, and Ann Pellegrini for many thoughtful conversations.

Dossier 22: Traditional Stereotypes and Women’s Problems in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan: A Survey of the Mass Media

Introduction

Following independence in 1991, the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan has been undergoing sweeping social, political and economic changes, all deeply affecting the country's women. However, women's problems continue to be ignored, while the role of women has become a battleground between the various forces, including fundamentalism, which seek to fill the ideological vacuum left by the collapse of Soviet power.

Dossier 21: Women and Politics in Post-Islamist Iran: the Gender Conscious Drive to Change

The implementation of the Shari’a and the institutionalization of gender inequality in the aftermath of the revolution led to the disillusionment of the gender-sensitive Islamist women and triggered their discontent. Through their involvement in politics they attempted to present a different reading of Islam and Islamic laws which would be more attentive to the condition of women.

Dossier 17: Women’s Rights in the Current Political Backdrop of Afghanistan

Introduction:

Violence against women is one of the sharp indicators of the subordinate position of women in the society. Violence exists in different forms, different levels from personal to physical violence to structural violence, justified by religion, culture and laws. Most of the steps taken from the protection of women against violence tend in addressing the women rather than men. These steps don’t enforce laws or take action against men.

The women issues are political issues. The social paradigms don’t recognize this.

Dossier 14-15: The Hidden Politics of Cultural Relativism

Editor’s note

Women migrants in Europe or North America have long started to denounce the dangerous softness with which oppressive laws, customs and practices against women, imported from our countries and cultures, are tolerated or encouraged in the host countries, - in the name of tolerance, of respect of the Other, of the right to difference, of putting at par different cultures or religions, etc...

Like our own governments, governments of the countries of immigration are prepared to sell out the well being, the human rights and the civil right

Dossier 17: Statement by the Afghan Women’s Network

Who we are

We are a group of Afghan women and their supporters who live in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In a country where over 90% of the women and girls are illiterate, we are a group of women who were encouraged by their families to become educated. Many of us have university degrees. Many of us previously worked in Afghanistan as lawyers, engineers, professors and doctors. Now we are working with NGOs (non governmental organizations), UN agencies and schools. Some of us are widows. Many of us are the sole support of our families.

Dossier 17: Kabul, ban on women working, the cold, the misery and trading in human remains

The seizure of power by the Taliban has reduced the Afghan capital to a ghost city. Half of the men are out of work, the women find themselves forbidden from the work place. To top it all, winter is particularly trying.