Morgan Sousa
For my context research presentation I will be discussing how the Iranian Revolution of 1979 affected women and their rights. After the revolution, their lives changed drastically compared to the time before, taking away their freedoms and lowering their status within society.
Life in Iran before the revolution was a progressive era, in which current leader (Shah), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi passed many laws to modernize the country in such ways of the west. Attitudes toward women’s equality in Iran were improving for them as they gained basic human rights. The Shah advocated for women’s rights by, granting them the right to vote, promoting the benefits of higher education, and ending the segregation between men and women.
During this period, numerous women’s rights organizations had finally succeeded in gaining suffrage. Women were seen as equals to men and were able to hold high positions in government as well as law enforcement. The Shah abolished the hijab from being worn in public while his wife influenced women to adopt the Western fashion style.
Though, these modernizations and westernizations caused problems with conservatives who struggled to assimilate. The divide in opinions from Iranian conservatives and liberals eventually unfolded leading to the revolution in 1979. Things rapidly regressed for Iran after Shah Pahlavi was overthrown by Ruhollah Khomeini and declared Iran as an Islamic Republic.
With Khomeini now in power, he repealed all rights given to women. It became mandatory for women to wear a veil as he implemented a strict dress code, requiring that they are to be covered from head to toe. It was no longer allowed for women to continue their studies or hold a job unless their husband was in favor of the idea. Once again, women were separated from men in the workplace, classroom, and on public transportation. Life resumed to a time before Shah Pahlavi ruled Iran, reversing all progress he had made for the country.
Mary Jane Maxwell, et al. “Before and after 1979: Women’s Rights in Iran.” ShareAmerica, 2 Apr. 2019, share.america.gov/before-and-after-1979-womens-rights-in-iran/.
“Before and After: Iran 1979.” International Policy Digest, 11 May 2019, intpolicydigest.org/2019/02/22/before-and-after-iran-1979/.
“History of Iran.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iran.
“Women’s Rights Movement in Iran.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 June 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_rights_movement_in_Iran.
Morgan
Thank you for your insights regarding women’s rights during the Iranian Revolutionary. It is evident from your statements as well as watching the films that women were treated much differently than the women of Western culture. In the film the scene where all of the students of the university were called to a meeting to discuss women’s outer wear. The men said that the women had to wear more coverings and longer vails. Marji made it a point to stand up and question their demands. The men seemed confused and unsure of how to answer her challenge to them.
Hi Morgan!
I really enjoyed reading your context post and I thought you did a really good jobs contrasting the two societies: During the Shah rule and the Islamic Republic. I actually do no idea that Iran was so modernized before reading the book and reading your post. I had always through that women were to be clothed head to toe in that society, but I was clearly wrong. As I read your post, I cannot help but think of what it was like to be a young women around my age at this time. To grow up in a society where you are treated equal, just for it all to be taken away through government changes. This must’ve been very hard on women’s independence and personalities to be thought of as less equal once again. I cannot help but think of Marji and Taji while reading your post.
Hi Morgan,
I agree with your presentation that the harsh laws changed and women were treated like nothing. They had no say in their own life anymore, that unfortunate truth effected many women and demolished what Shah had initially done for Iran. It was like a hierarchy and after the Islamic Revolution there was no sense of community, everything was under the hands of Khomeine who made his own rules and punishments towards his people he was suppose to protect. After reading the book and watching the movie, it makes me appreciate the little things I have right now. I have a freedom of expression and to make my own choices, the basic rights women should have. The fact that education was limited and it took the freedom to be successful for so many women, it is absolutely horrible. I am grateful to read books from authors who have first hand experience on situations like this, because it gives them an outlet to let the people of this world to know what happened. It is good to be self aware of our world and what we can do to evolve.
Hi Morgan, thanks so much for this post! it’s very informative and well put. Having an overview of the history of women’s right in Iran before watching the Persepolis movie is a very good refresher to provide better context for both last week and this week. It’s very interesting to read up on things like this that I had not previously been very informed on. Women’s rights in general across the world have had a difficult and slow history, but understanding more and more about just how oppressive things have been and how recently is always shocking.
Hi Morgan, thank you for this background information! What I enjoy about this week is that everyone already has a basis for the novel we read, which can lead us to connect the information you provided to the characters. In the novel, we notice how the attitudes of people shift very early on because of the Shah being overthrown. Some women, like the revolutionaries, have a mission to find women who are not conforming to the new, conservative, and inequalities of women’s lives under Khomenei. Marji’s mother, for example, openly protests for freedom of expression by not following the strict dress code, but she understands that this will lead to danger for herself and for her family.
Hi Morgan! Thank you so much for this well written and thorough background information about the Iranian Revolution and its connection to the book/film Persepolis. As both your research and Persepolis states, women’s rights went from one extreme to the other then back again during the reign of the Shah and Khomeini. I can’t imagine how hard it would’ve been to have a taste of freedom and basic rights only to have them taken away again. Between the book and the film, my gratitude for the time and place in which I live has truly solidified. Thanks again for writing such a great refresher for last week and a preview to this week.
Hi Morgan!
Sad situation! Women were doing so well before the revolution. At least, that is what this American woman thinks. Iranian woman might like to be in a situation like that because that might be all she knows. I could not imagine having my husband tell me what to do and the government tell me what to wear out in public. I love my freedom!
Morgan, I appreciated reading your presentation after reading Persepolis, yet before watching the film version. The focus on the background of the veil was very informative to me, and related very well to the story as this was a major theme in Persepolis. Proving this context allowed for a better understanding to the scenes of Persepolis. For example, it was understood from the first page of the book that wearing a veil was not by choice. The veil is a very symbolic example of the restriction of women’s rights during the rule of Ruhollah Khomeini.
Hey Morgan thanks for the background information about the Iranian Revolution it opened up my view on Persepolis along with women’s rights during that time. I didn’t even realize that the rules for women were so strict especially during Ruhollah Khomeini’s ruling. It’s so crazy to think that during Ruhollah’s ruling he actually went back in time to make women suffer more. Imaging how Marji grew up it must have been tough, but I can relate to her wanting to be her own self and not like everyone else. It’s good to be different, but also following the rules especially in a country like that where if women fall out of ‘line’ they could be sent to prison or put to death.
Thanks!
Hi Morgan, I think the context you poested is very helpful for me. You mentioned how the Iranian Revolution affected women and their rights. You mentioned how Shah Pahlavi made law and change the daily life and social status of women. I also understand that Ruhollah Khomeini overthrow Shah Pahlavi and reverse all the progress back to the previous time.
Hi Morgan, after reading your context presentation, I had a better understanding on how the Iranian Revolution influenced the women’s right and their social status. At first, I only saw Marji witnessed and experienced many injustices without any background information about the reason why women were oppressed in Iran at that age. From your presentation, I know that the struggle of women’s rights has continued for a long term. Things got worse when Khomeini in power.
Hello Morgan, I think the information you gave is very useful and it helped me understand better. Through the film and your article, I have a general understanding of Iranian women’s rights and related revolutionary history as well as images of Persepolis. I myself have previously done research and surveys on women’s rights in some areas. This is a topic that needs more input and understanding. I admire those women who bravely stand up for their rights. The world needs more people like them.
Hello Morgan! Thank you for your background information about women’s rights issues in Iran. It turns out that women in Iran once had free to dress and act and had the same rights as men. Unfortunately, this period was not long maintained. After the Iran Revolution in 1979, women’s rights and status returned to the previous difficult situation. I really can’t imagine, this is really sad.
Hi Morgan,
I really liked your presentation. I felt you gave a lot of information that was really important to giving context to some of the events of “Persepolis”. Much of the motivation behind Marji’s mother’s behavior was touched on only briefly in the book, or left to the more obvious examples such as the veil, and so it’s interesting to hear just how successful the women’s rights movement had been in the years before the revolution. I think that makes the revolution all the more devastating; that they also lost that crucial social progress they had worked so hard for.
HI Morgan,
I really enjoyed the insight on this piece that you wrote. I think that realizing what Iran was, helps us identify the conflicts of Perspolis and also helps shift our own individual ideas of Iran. Most people would assume that Iran is simply that of post 1979 revolution, whereas it is much more than that. I believe that informing readers and people in general of what Iran really is and the back story of Iranian culture, really helps us realize that the Iranian people are not much different than ourselves. The preconceived notions of what Iran is don’t help in analyzing the story of Persepolis and through this project, I believe it helped shift us readers’ minds. Research like this is crucial to the analyzation of any story like Persepolis. Great job!!
Hi Morgan,
Thank you for your presentation of the history of women’s rights in Iran. Before reading this I did not know that there was a time in Irans history where women and men were equal as I’ve only ever seen Iran as restricting with rights towards women. I knew that the early Shah was modernizing Iran, however I didn’t know how quickly Iran reversed from modern to almost no rights for women. Right now in Iran they are staring to work back to normal however there are still a lot of rights that they just don’t have and I hope that they can back to the time where men and women were equal. Overall thank you for the insight on women’s history in Iran
Morgan,
Thank you for this background! I think it is really easy to see countries like Iran, especially with the bias against Islam that many western countries now have, as having always existed as the states they are presently. But this, of course, is not the case and many citizens of Iran may not be in agreement with the laws and policies under which they now live. Understanding that present day Iran is due to the actions of a few extremists and not representative of the majority is important to remember.
Hi Morgan,
Thank you for your work on this presentation and the back ground information on the history of women’s rights in Iran. While unfortunate, it is interesting to learn about before these strict laws against women in Iran. I knew that the minority of extremists are influential in Iran; however, I had no idea that before there was a time where they were much more modern and women had more rights than they do right now. I think this information is very important for western readers to know given the bias and prejudice many people in the west have against the middle east as a whole. Hopefully people learn this and become allies to the majority of people in Iran and help them against these extremists.
Thank you for the great context presentation Morgan! I was positive about women’s suffrage for Iran when you were speaking about Shah. The laws he passed seemed to really help modernize and create an equal society. However, it is very upsetting that when Shah was overthrown, Iran went back to how it was before, and possibly worse. I hope to see another movement in women’s rights to create b better equality. Great Job Morgan!
You did a good job giving us some background insight to how women were treated in Iran, and how it is much different than women are treated in the United States. It is unfortunate that one Shah took over essnetially all progress was turned around and women lost many more rights than they had. Great post and insight!
Hello Morgan,
Great job with your post this week! You definitely provided a lot of good information to help further our understanding of “Persepolis”. Between last week and this week I have been very interested in Marji’s story, novel form and film form. The degrading these women went through is honestly inspiring to me because I feel I strive daily to be and continue to become very independent regardless of what society says. Learning more of the background details of the women in Iran defiantly helps when analyzing “Persepolis”.
Hi Morgan,
First off, really nice job with the context presentation this week. The laws regarding women in Iran are extremely unfortunate but I do think that learning about it like we all are is very important. Doing some of my own research, I actually learned that for a brief time that women had equal rights to men. Like I said, that time was very brief and not long lived. I think that learning more about the context like we now are is extremely important in understanding the message of Persepolis.
While the movie and book gave us insights into some women’s views on the political changes, this post helps contextualize their feelings even more. This inspired me to do my own further research on women’s rights in Iran and their status today. I was curious to hear more from Iranian women what they have experienced and how they view things like compulsory headscarf laws and other women’s issues such as representation in government and the work force, which is still very low. I found some things surprising, like the high education rates and high literacy rates. Overall “Persepolis” really just made me question how much I know about the experiences of women around the world, and reminded me to seek to learn more and be a global citizen.
Hi Morgan,
Thanks for the background information. I didn’t know that Shah was leading Iran to be a more modernized country that he even banned the rule that women have to wear hijab. It’s difficult to get it why it went back in time to make women persevere more. I was in WGSST class last year, but I never learned something like this. It is astonishing to learn how strict their rules are on women.
Hi, Morgan!
Thank you for your work on the presentation. You provide the research on historical policy changes in Iran which is really helpful for us to understand the Persepolis. Years before 1979, women gained basic human rights and the inequities was reduced. I believe it was a great progress. However, after 1979 the revolution, many women’s rights were deprived again. The revolution in my opinion is terrible. I am sad for women who gain the rights then lose them again.
Hi Morgan,
I really enjoyed your context research presentation. It is evident that you put a lot of thought and effort into this. You provide a lot of important detail and information without making it seem too much like a lecture where you’re naming off numbers or stats or such. I learned a great deal from you, for example your insights on Iran!
Hi Morgan,
It is not only Iran but pretty much every Islamic nation treat women as second-class citizens when compared to women living in the western countries. It is extremely sad to know that Iran was progressing in the right direction before the undoing of those efforts by the Khomeini regime that is presently ruling. I cannot even imagine how women in such nations feel with having been treated unequally everyday by taking away their freedom. Overall a great post in summarizing the Iranian revolution period.
Hey Morgan, this is a great presentation. I like how you chose to write. about the history before what we see in the book as it gives context as to why people are so angry and willing to go to literal war in their own streets to regain the semblance of freedom they once had. One thing I’d like to comment on is where you talk about Pahlavi banning the veil in public. Here’s the thing, freedom is good but freedom is an encompassing idea, meaning. should include freedom to practice religion. Imagine being told you cannot wear a religious necklace anymore, or perhaps being told that you can’t veil if you chose to. For many conservative women, it was incredibly difficult to go out in a world that had never truly seen them. Many women felt naked because they liked the safety of choosing to wear the veil. In my opinion, it is on the same level to ban the veil as to mandate it. Being progressive in the religious area means promoting equality of faith and freedom to practice and even though Pahlavi did do a lot for women who wanted progression, he really hurt the religious people (thus their anger with him which led to the theocracy being instated). Regardless, this is a good presentation and I thank you for writing about a highly engaging topic.
Hi Kate,
This comment is insightful — it makes me think of women in France having their veils ripped off at public beaches, which is indeed a form of discrimination as you point out. This post is actually drawing our attention to the REQUIREMENT to wear the veil in public, so the opposite of what you’re critiquing. I believe Morgan’s use of “abolished the veil” means that the Shah abolished the requirement to be veiled in public, not outlawed it. Both can be read as forms of oppression, if they restrict one’s right to practice beliefs/strip freedoms. Just chiming in to clear that up!
Hey Morgan i would like to thank you of this presentation as it elaborates on how the systematic injustice that was experienced by women during that period of time could come to an end during the time when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and other government officials passed many laws to modernize the country in such ways of the west. Attitudes toward women’s equality in Iran were improving for them as they gained basic human rights , this showed how commited the officials where ready to participate towards modernity.
Hello Morgan,
I found it incredibly that life in Iran has seemingly regressed to square one, in terms of women’s rights. I can’t imagine going through such progressive change within my country, only for it to be reversed within several years. The treatment of women as second class citizens is truly despicable, and when it becomes so severe I understand the actions of those attempting to solve the issue.
Hi Morgan,
I really like your post. It gave a great overview to how women have been treated in Iran. It is a good preview to what happens in the film and it gives me a better understanding of what Marjane had gone through with men throughout her life. It is really upsetting to see that there was positive changes made to the culture and they just reverted back to the way it has always been. I could never imagine living in an environment where every little thing I do could be criticized by others.
Morgan, this background was very helpful in truly understand what was happening in this area during this time. While reading your post I couldn’t help but make the connection between this and “Can the Subaltern Speak.” The reason is because in both cases women didn’t have equal rights or their concerns heard. Also it was very disheartening to read that just because two group that different views on the world that it causes a revolution which resulted in a group of people being stripped of their freedoms. I feel like this matter of having different beliefs leading to anger between the two is similar to today’s political environment in the U.S. In which two groups have different beliefs and it leads to a strong divide. I really enjoyed reading this and learning more about the revolution that took place, and only hope that women of the area can regain control over their lives and make their own decisions once again.