The Intersection of Gender, Feminism, and Islam in Post-Revolutionary Iran
Islam and gender has been a controversial field of study for analysts of the Middle East. One point of view praises Islam for its historically liberating role for women in the Arab world, while another perspective holds either Islam or some of its practices and practitioners accountable for the inferior legal rights of women in Islamic countries compared to other parts of the world. [1] Patriarchal beliefs have always been a part of Middle Eastern history, as they have in much of the world, and it is clear that these patriarchal attitudes arose before the emergence of Islam in the Middle East. [2] Although patriarchy transcends beyond any specific religion, religious traditions and practices can sometimes reinforce patriarchal ideologies. This has been the case with Islam regarding its patriarchal practices.[3] Even though patriarchal ideologies have remained in the Middle East, women have still played an important role in the history of Middle Eastern countries, especially in Iran.
During the revolutionary era in Iran, the role of Islamic Fundamentalism became very important, especially in the lives of women. Women’s roles developed socially, politically, and economically.[4] Women also played a large role in the revolution itself and their participation had widespread impacts on their futures as Iranian women. Although it seemed like women were fighting against Shah Reza Pahlavi’s seemingly feminist government, the truth was that Iranian women were not receiving nearly as much freedom as the Pahlavi regime was depicting.[5] Literacy rates had barely increased, job dissatisfaction was high, and women still believed their primary goal in life was to marry.[6] The new Islamic Republic that emerged post-Revolution brought about many legal changes to these women’s lives; however, they did not become passive objects like much of the literature today claims to be the case. In many ways, women’s roles stayed the same in the new regime; however, the Islamic Republic has forced women to face and develop their political identities. [7]
After the Iranian Revolution had ended and the Islamic Republic was firmly in power, a serious of reforms were made in the social, economic, and legal spheres of life.[8] Women’s roles underwent fundamental changes. Once Ayatollah Khomeini achieved power, he made sure that the Family Rights Act, which had given women moderate legal rights and included moderate restrictions on polygyny, was repealed.[9] This matter is more complex than it seems – many of these women, especially rural women, were never aware of their rights, and many of their rights were never even enforced, so in actuality, many of these women did not lose that much power.[10] Nesta Ramazani further explains that the clerical leaders also reduced the marriage age for girls, closed daycare centers and family planning clinics and banned abortions and birth control.[11] Temporary marriage was encouraged and any obstacles to polygyny were removed. Motherhood and domesticity was encouraged among women. Women were mandated to wear hejab, or modest dress, in public at all times. De facto segregation was instated at universities across Iran, and women were banned from studying certain fields. Women were also prohibited from being judges, firing those who already were practicing judges. [12]
If all of this is true, then how are women in Iran today so politically motivated? As Ramazani explains, while the revolutionary leaders were trying to domesticate women, they were simultaneously mobilizing them on a mas=sive scale both politically and militarily.[13] Ayatollah Khomeini urged women to vote in the first post-revolution parliamentary elections, declaring the vote to be a “religious, Islamic, and divine duty.” [14] In 1984, the paramilitary forces started recruiting women, and Khomeini urged women to volunteer for military training during the war with Iraq. As the war raged on, women began to replace male laborers, and the number of women government employees increased. As a result of their newfound involvement in these activities, women became a major political force and an important asset to the revolutionary regime.[15]
Perhaps the most interesting and complex rule imposed by the new regime was requiring that women wear hejab. Certain women first began veiling themselves during the revolution in opposition to Shah Reza Pahlavi, but it was only made mandatory after 1979.[16] According to Nikki R. Keddie, veiling has become the central symbol of the Islamic Republic. [17] The veil and “proper veiling” have become symbols of a woman’s faith and loyalty. In traditional Islamic discourse, the veil is related to modesty and morality. In this setting, it has transformed into a “central [symbol] of power,” giving the veil a total “religiopolitical significance.” [18]
Islamic feminist discourse, which first emerged in Iran after the Revolution, is delicate and quite different than the discourse of mainstream feminism. Mainstream feminists search for equality; Islamic feminists seek a “balanced gender complementarity.”[19] Islamic women have been able to construct their own narrative of Islam, using the theological basis of the Koran to anchor their arguments. Their arguments are entirely based on the teachings of Islam, the Koranic laws, and the traditional practices of the Prophet of Islam.[20] They have argued that Islam as a religion has always accommodated for a woman’s specific needs. The Koran outlines Islamic marriage as being a contract between consenting partners, with a specific price, or mahre, being paid to the bride to the groom before the marriage is consummated. Husbands are expected to provide their wives with a comfortable home and must pay them for suckling the babies.[21] By accepting complementary roles, Islamist women argue, they can obtain wages for domestic and mothering duties and enjoy an honored status in the home.[22]
Muslim women have often argued that the Western feminist discourse of pursuing equality “…denies women their right to femininity, devalues their role as domestic providers[,] and makes motherhood into an unpaid burden rather than a remunerated pleasure.[23] The feminism that they seek, “…demands respect for women and offers them the opportunity of education, independent and gainful employment, either in the workplace or in the home, where they demand an honoured Islamic space for those who choose to becoming wives, mothers and home-makers.”[24] These women state that Islam recognizes the importance of women’s life cycles, claiming it offers them different opportunities at different points in their life, and at every stage, they must be valued, respected, and financially rewarded.[25] Complementarity, they argue, allows women to be women and encourages femininity and feminism alongside masculinity and manhood.[26]
According to Ramazani, “The high visibility and compulsory nature of Islamic hejab [for women] in Iran has obscured the cautious reforms that the clerical leaders have been making gradually in the interests of the survival of their rule and revolution.” [27] The Islamophobia of Western feminism, Ramazani argues, renders the Islamic woman invisible and just shows her as an oppressed woman being forced to be completely covered. [28] This Islamophobia essentially erases what the Islamic government has done to advance women’s rights. Beyond just the hejab, Iran’s theocratic state has found the advancement of women to be compatible with its own interests. The women of Iran, now aware of new possibilities, “…have held the government’s feet to the fire in regard to implementing the “equality of men and women in Islam”.’ [29] Women have been able to demand changes in education, in family laws, and in the work force. Paradoxically, the hejab imposed on women by the theocratic leaders of Iran has become a means to both combat marginalization and increase female involvement socially, politically, and culturally in Iran. A new female identity has risen from the ashes of the revolution. Women have forged their own voice, have ensured that it is heard, and have maintained a visible (if veiled) presence in Iran. [30] This does not mean that the fight is over, however. Much still needs to be done in terms of attitudes towards women, and that is a slow and uphill battle. However, clerics are starting to reinterpret Islamic law in light of modern realities about life, and women’s consciousness in Iran has risen significantly and irreversibly. [31]
[1] Kazemi, Farhad. 2000. “Gender, Islam, and Politics”. Social Research 67 (2). The New School: 453–74.
[2] Ibid., 454
[3] Ibid., 454-5
[4] Girgis, Monique. “Women in Pre-revolutionary, Revolutionary and Post-revolutionary Iran.” Iran Chamber Society. 1996.
[5] Ibid., 2
[6] Ibid., 2
[7] Ibid., 3
[8] Ibid., 3
[9] Ramazani, Nesta. 1993. “Women in Iran: The Revolutionary Ebb and Flow”. Middle East Journal 47 (3). Middle East Institute: 409–28.
[10] Girgis, 3.
[11] Ramazani, 409.
[12] Ibid., 410
[13] Ibid., 410
[14] Ibid., 410
[15] Ibid., 410
[16] Kazemi, 455
[17] Keddie, Nikki R. 2000. “Women in Iran Since 1979”. Social Research 67 (2). The New School: 405–38.
[18] Ibid., 410
[19] Afshar Haleh, and Maynard Mary. 2000. “Gender and Ethnicity at the Millennium: From Margin to Centre.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 23 (5): 805–19.
[20] Ibid., 811
[21] Ibid., 811
[22] Ibid., 812
[23] Ibid., 812
[24] Ibid., 812
[25] Ibid., 812
[26] Ibid., 813
[27] Ramazani, 427
[28] Ibid., 430
[29] Ibid., 427
[30] Ibid., 428
[31] Ibid., 428
Perspectives 