Women throughout the entire world have dealt with a series of injustices within this male-dominated world. Specifically, I have spoken about abortions and the healthcare system on multiple occasions and how it has always been discriminatory towards women in different parts of the world. Throughout history, women have been seen as worth half of a man and have never consistently held power within any aspect of life. Hearing about the unequal laws in Texas and now Ohio sparked an interest in learning more about how women are treated in the healthcare system. Also, Reading and Watching the film/story of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi allowed me to compare these issues in the United States with those in Iran.
Iranian women, after the revolution, started to deal with numerous issues as time progressed. For example, the Islamic Republic suppresses women by forcing them to wear veils and putting them in a systemic hole within their society. According to Marjan Keypour Greenblatt, “The combined effect of these legal inequities and societal practices is that half of the Iranian population lives with a degree of systemic vulnerability that would astonish Western observers” (MEI, 2020). These women and girls are vulnerable to abuse and discrimination within their society. The Iranian authority has forced women to keep their children and has criminalized abortions. Even though these laws and treatment seem horrific to western culture, the United States doesn’t wholly stray from these same ideals.
Iranian women are dealing with the changes of the revolution.
In the United States, women are still mistreated within this “land of the free.” Throughout history, women in the U.S. have not had the authority or equality they deserve, similar to the ideals of Iran. There have been proposed bills that prohibit abortion to unrealistic extents in Texas and Ohio and reward those who expose clinics or women trying to get an abortion. These bills, just like Iran, are criminalizing abortion and placing women into a box within their choices for healthcare. Women are systemically oppressed in the medical care system, and it stems from the misogynistic history of the world.
Protesters against abortion in front of a Planned Parenthood.
https://www.mei.edu/publications/women-iran-political-representation-without-rights
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/11/514717975/protests-against-planned-parenthood-rouse-dueling-rallies-nationwide
https://abcnews.go.com/International/iranian-authority-mandates-pregnant-women-reported-prevent-criminal/story?id=80416961