Women march, and women say women will be part of change in the Middle East. For several years the voices of Iranian women have been heard,, even before the present crisis after the election. But will past history win or will they have to retreat again?
In recent months there have been a number of stories about strong women of Iran, involved in careers and taking charge of their own lives. Zohreh Vantankhah, a race car driver, mountain climber, and adventurer is one of them. She is depicted as incredibly beautiful, assured, well-dressed, articulate and ready to take on all comers in many areas where she excels. She is outspoken and confounds stereotypes, part of a new image developed of Iranian women that these new female folk want to retain. One journalist called Zohreh part of the
lipstick revolution in Iran.
Women became outspoken prior to the recent Presidential election in Iran. Some women worry even though Ahmadinejad did not prevent them from wearing just scarves instead of the traditional Muslim women garb, that if the opposition firmly loses, and is thoroughly quelled with the former President maintaining control, the move to equal rights
for women in public roles will be thoroughly suppressed. Could that be why so many women have taken to the streets to demonstrate their opposition to Ahmadiniejad rule and the power of the mullahs represented by Ayatollah Khamenei?
In Iran black has been the official color for conservative women, the long black chador, which is a tent-like garment that covers the head and body. But it is more than the black chador that symbolizes the Iranian view of women, it has been laws that have kept women from realizing their potentials in society.
Mousavi’s wife, Zhara Rahnavard, has been part of the change taking place in Iran and has represented the rights women want.
Her Facebook page shows her earnest interest in being seen as a strong, independent person and her public image is of a woman with her own mind. She is also seen devoted to her husband, with her hands holding his in public places, something which is forbidden by Islamic fundamentalists. Zhara is a top-ranking female university professor as well as a respected painter, like her husband, a woman of no small accomplishments who was seen campaigning with her husband prior to the Presidential election.
Women demonstrators in Iran are said to be taking particularly great risks, even as they did before the war in Afghanistan and as they have asserted themselves in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. The seeds of their resistance started years ago, with key events occurring in 2007 when more than 30 women publicly demonstrated against demonstration in Tehran and produced a public letter revealing their concerns. It said:
"International Women's Day is soon upon us as our nation endures a grave period. The internal policies of domination, duress and an ineffectual foreign policy - with an insistence on pursuing a nuclear energy programme - when we have lost the confidence and trust of the world; as the confrontational issues and the continuous warmongering policies of the United State and its allies around the world with the pretext of exporting democracy and human right through sanctions and military attack has presented us with a mounting predicament. On one side - with the absence of a democratic structure - we witness decisions being made on our behalf without our presence or the presence of our legitimate leaders. While at the other end we feel the circle of the siege around us increasingly tighten as we are threatened with sanctions and the nightmare of war....
... we announce our protest against all paternalistic policies, whether they be in the name of dishonest interpretations of Islam or with the pretext of human rights and democracy and we believe what the world community should insist upon debates on democracy and human rights and not nuclear energy, and all within peaceful diplomatic dialogue, not war and destruction....
Indeed women seem to have given voice and a special determination to the present rebellion regarding the recent Presidential election taking place
in Iran. While they called for open relations with the West, it is interesting to note that some leaders of President Obama’s opposition in the United States, such as one of the founders of neoconservatism, Norman Podhoretz, did not hear this message at the time, calling instead for bombing Iran. Now these same people call for greater support of the Iranian people in the Congress, even as the women of Iran take to the streets and declare their support for freedom and not war.
