Behrooz Parhami

I write this note on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the International Women’s Day (March 8, 2011), having just listened to a rousing and eloquent speech by Mina Ahadi, who, unfortunately, slams those, including other women, who have advocated a step-by-step approach to solving Iran’s women’s rights problems. It is extremely disheartening to see factions of the Iranian opposition attacking each other, despite ample evidence that even complete unity may be inadequate to topple the current regime. A prime example is increased attacks on Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Peace Laureate lawyer and women’s/civil rights activist, because of her stand that Islam is not incompatible with women’s rights.

As a non-Muslim, I am not one to argue that Islam in fact respects women unconditionally and grants them equality; this is an issue for Muslims to address. However, I do not see why the seemingly rigid religious edicts cannot be finessed, as has been done for decades in certain Islamic societies that have had female elected political leaders. There are clerics and lay believers who would have no problem with Western-style civil rights and equality of the sexes in Iran.

The roots of patriarchy are deep and it is difficult to envisage their complete removal with a secular constitution or any other document on paper. Moving from patriarchy to true democracy is a worthy goal to pursue. Meanwhile, the undeniable reality is that a great majority of Iranians have deeply rooted religious beliefs, whether we like it or not. It is extremely foolish to alienate the educated and open-minded people in this group, just because we don’t completely see eye to eye.

I am familiar with the standard response to the views above: As a man, it is easy for you to take such a position, because you are a beneficiary of the current state of affairs. I have no good response to this criticism, because there is a lot of truth to it. However, again, our women cannot afford to alienate Iranian men, just because they don’t agree 100%.

Secular Iranians (a group fragmented into royalists, leftists, humanists, and so on) constitute a minority that cannot lead the country without help from other factions. Much of Iran does not want a return to the days when a small minority of intellectuals, no matter how well-intentioned, decided the fate of the entire country. We should learn to live with one another and exercise tolerance to our fellow Iranians, if we want tolerance to be shown toward us. For example, if we hate capital punishment when our friends are the victims, we cannot call for the heads of our antagonists once the forces of freedom have prevailed.

Addendum: New article by Shirin Ebadi: “The Riskiest Job in Iran,” The Guardian, March 7, 2011.

//www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2011/mar/07/the-riskiest-job-in-iran