Iranian Women: Caring in Struggle
Given the ongoing protests and struggles in Iran, I am beginning our read along with Prof. Mahmoudi’s chapter. It feels particularly relevant in our contemporary moment to discuss how women in Iran have and continue to strive for equality. The chapter is titled “Difficult Care: Examining Women’s Efforts in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and examines the ongoing struggle of Iranian women since the 1979 revolution through the lens of care ethics.
In many countries, including Iran, national sovereignty and relativism are promoted to excuse oppression and human rights violations. They dismiss elements of the UN universal declaration of human rights because they claim they are based on western ethics. While moral relativism assumes that ethics and morality should be judged according to the standards of the culture the behavior is coming from, care ethics does not assert any standards or truths by which to judge between moral systems. Regarding nation-state sovereignty, care ethics sees the state’s role as care towards all human beings and acknowledges that, in some cases, limitations on the state may be necessary to preserve human rights. Care ethics emphasizes relationships, connectivity, interdependence, and responsibility between people, especially marginalized groups.
In Iran’s case, it is difficult to get detailed information about the daily limitations on Iranian citizens because the country is closed to independent human rights observers and human rights groups. However, what we do know is alarming. Private and public life are blurred by the punitive police state, including literal morality police. Neighbors and friends are turned into agents of the state as everyone is watching everyone else. Women, in particular, face a harsh reality and are monitored to ensure their compliance in both public and personal life.
Women are not allowed to dance, even privately, or ride in a car with a non-family member. Dress code violations, including wearing a hijab incorrectly, can lead to physical and sexual abuse. We are seeing a distinct reaction to this truth right now in Iran, as the current protests were first sparked after the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police.
After the 1979 revolution, Islamic law was implemented in Iran. Under this regime, women do not have equal rights. They need a male guardian’s permission to marry, get a passport, travel, and many other things. They are discriminated against in hiring practices, and the legal age of marriage is 13, raised from 9 in 2013. There is no legal existence of marital rape laws, women have very few custody rights, and only men can decide on a divorce unilaterally.
Feminism in Iran is complex. Islamic feminists work within the bounds of sharia law, while secular feminists favor human rights, civil governance, and democratization. Women have been challenging the system since the revolution. In the eighties, there were demonstrations against veiling laws, but the international community failed to comment on and support the women of Iran. This lack of response is, unfortunately, being repeated today. Nonviolence is the most prominent feature of Iranian women’s activism. Despite this, activists have faced violent suppression and unjust imprisonment, and brutality for decades. Yet through their care for one another and for the status of women in general, the women of Iran persevere.
About the Author
Stella Hudson is a Graduate Assistant with the Baha’i Chair for World Peace. She graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2021 with a B.A. in English. She will graduate from the University of Maryland with her MLIS in spring 2023.