Young Iranian women at the ballot box in the first round of the February 18, 2000
legislative elections.
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It is not possible to develop
a country without first advancing the status of women.
Habib
Bourguiba,
first president of Tunisia
(1901-2000)
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Despite the Islamic revolution,
women have never stopped standing up for their rights. In head-scarves or chadors,
they are at the heart of the struggle to modernize society
 I’ll go to parliament dressed
as I was during my campaign, in an overcoat and a head-scarf. No way will I put on
the chador.” Elaheh Koulaï, a university professor elected to parliament as
a representative of Tehran in the February 18, 2000 legislative elections, unleashed
a political storm when she made this quasi-revolutionary proclamation. Since the
advent of the Islamic Republic in 1979, all women holding official positions have
worn the chador, the long, black fabric covering that conceals the entire body from
head to toe.
Marzieh Dabagh, an outgoing member of parliament who was not re-elected, reacted
to Koulaï’s statements by threatening to “box the ears” of any woman who would
dare come to the Majlis (the Iranian parliament) without the traditional chador.
The brother of the Guide of the Islamic Republic, Hadi Khamenei, a leading member
of the reformist camp, had to step in and cool tempers down, saying that all forms
of veils, from the simple head-scarf to the chador, are acceptable.
This debate may seem trite, but it reveals the assertiveness of women in Iranian
society, including outside Tehran, where they are seldom seen without the chador.
Fatemeh Khatami (no relation to the president) was elected to parliament in Mashhad,
not far from the Afghan border, even though she does not wear the chador, an unprecedented
event in the provinces.
An
educated generation
A symbol of
the Islamic order, the obligation to wear the veil has never prevented women from
standing up for their rights. At the beginning of the revolution, the government
tried to send them back into the home, primarily with offers of early retirement
and incentives to work less. But officials soon gave up in the face of resistance
(women were accustomed to gentler treatment under the Shah, especially if they belonged
to the elite) and the needs of the country, then at war with Iraq. Today, women account
for 12 per cent of the work force. Although the figure is the same as in 1979, it
is likely to rise as new generations of better-educated women enter the labour market.
For women have taken full advantage of the literacy for all campaign launched after
the revolution, especially in the countryside, which had remained backward under
the Shah. Today the percentage of girls in school is almost the same as that of boys
(nearly 80 per cent). Young women account for 40 per cent of university students
and, two years ago, for the first time more girls than boys were admitted to the
competitive national entrance examinations. This year, they even make up 58 per cent
of the accepted candidates. “Almost all leisure activities are closed to girls,”
explains lawyer and women’s rights advocate Mehranguiz Kar. “So they focus on their
studies.”
Women are still overwhelmingly underrepresented in political decision-making bodies,
but they play a decisive role as voters. “Their turn-out has been outstanding since
the May 1997 legislative ballot, which helped elect President Khatami,” continues
Kar. “The women’s vote is a conscious vote. They carefully choose candidates who
are in favour of their rights.” In February 1999, they made use of their power to
vote some 300 women into municipal councils during the first local elections since
1979. In the rather traditional provincial cities and towns, these results reflect
a “revolution of mentalities”, says Fatemeh Jalaïpour, a Tehran municipal council
member responsible for women’s issues.
The women’s vote also helped reformers win the legislative elections. Some interior
ministry officials say that women outnumbered men voters: 55 per cent compared with
45 per cent. But, as journalist Saïd Leylaz points out, “this time they didn’t
vote specifically for women candidates,” even though their number increased by 70
per cent compared with the last legislative elections. Like the outgoing Majlis,
the new parliament has only fifteen women deputies (out of 290), but they are moderates
rather than conservatives.
A
voice in the press
Women must
still settle for a backseat in politics, but they hold a growing number of senior
civil service positions. Since taking office in 1997, President Mohammad Khatami
has asked his ministers to appoint women to head up the various ministerial departments.
And his brother, Mohammad Reza Khatami, who leads the Islamic Iran Participation
Front, said after that movement won the last elections, “We are in favour of women
entering the government.”
The rise of Iranian women is partly due to their own mobilization efforts. After
the Iran-Iraq war, many of them organized all kinds of activities within religious
organizations, often spurred on by the government. Since 1997, they have rushed into
the liberalization process begun by Mohammad Khatami to set up more independent non-governmental
organizations, despite resistance from conservatives, who until now have controlled
the committee in charge of issuing permits. Today, the social fabric is partly based
on women. “In Tehran, several hundred grassroots mutual aid, environmental protection
and other groups are headed by women,” says Jalaïpour. Likewise, the number
of young women on student councils is steadily on the rise. And, says Kar, women
head over 40 publishing companies, most of which print books on women’s issues or
by women authors.
The press has also played a key role. As early as 1990, women Muslim intellectuals
founded the monthly Zanan (Women, in Farsi), where they campaign for a revision of
their legal status and a more modern form of Islam. They are demanding the same rights
as men with regard to inheritance (under sharia, they are entitled to only half as
much as men), divorce (they can be repudiated for no apparent reason) and child custody
(which is denied them if their daughter is over seven and their son over two). Only
a few minor touch-ups have been made in the past several years to correct these inequalities.
For example, a woman may now request that her right to ask for a divorce be recognized
in the marriage contract.
Widely read by young women, Zanan boasts a circulation of 30,000, one of the highest
runs of any Iranian monthly. However, there as elsewhere, the debate over the interpretation
of Islamic rules still dominates the issue of gender equality, which limits the scope
of the feminist movement. “Advocates of secularism still cannot organize as such,”
says Kar. They have voiced their concerns on several occasions within non-governmental
groups such as the Organization of Women Journalists and through the women’s press,
in Zanan and the daily Zan, before it was shut down less than one year ago.
“We’re going to have new laws passed in favour of gender equality,” said Elaheh Koulaï
after she won the election. The deputy’s determination is likely to put her on a
collision course with irate conservatives, who view the “loosening of moral standards”
as a sign of their political defeat.
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