Iran, A Reflection: Beyond Polished Nails and Gender Divide

Balatarin
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desideratum.anthropomorphized anonymous000
by desideratum.anthropomorph...
22-Jul-2009
 

For the "Iran, a reflection" Series

Iranian women participated massively in the 2009 election campaign and in its subsequent popular uprising. While it is absurd to call a movement that is neither a revolution nor contingent on twitter ‘a twitter revolution’, widely accessible images spoke louder than volumes of words to discredit the caricatured face of women living in the post-Revolutionary Iran.

But to avoid replacing one caricature for another, it is now time to correct some of the misperceptions that hovered over the commentaries decoding the fast journalism on women’s participation. This has some serious implications for understanding the green movement and its potential future.

Iranian women’s political sophistication and extensive engagement both in the campaign and in subsequent protests, quite unassumingly, defined feminism (small f) and testified to the growth of gender consciousness. But to say that this was all a Feminist (capital F) rage would not only ignore the complexity of Iranian Feminism but also miss the historically significant and larger political sensibility of the Iranian women involved.

For starters, many self-avowed Feminists inside and outside boycotted the election altogether. Secular Feminists didn’t see much to gain from reforming the system from within an Islamic system. The campaign promises of the reformist candidates, Mousavi and Karoubi, were too religious-laden to be trusted. In spite of their initial boycott, some nevertheless did join the ensuing protests

This suggests that the startling number of women taking to the streets --whether or not they had partaken in the campaign and election-- to protest the mockery of an election were demanding more than mere women’s rights. The attractive display of fashion and the determination of female protesters is not just a nose-thumb to the arbitrary dress code or, under a more sympathetic analysis, attesting to women’s anger at men’s passive silence against gender discriminatory laws and practices. Behind the easy-to-consume glare of those perfectly polished nails, the hands showing the V-sign belong to the great-granddaughters of women supporting the Tobacco Revolt of the late nineteenth century, the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, and the establishment of the first Iranian National Bank to resist against the stranglehold of British influence. They follow in their mother’s footsteps who stood for the 1953 Oil Nationalization and the 1979 Revolution in search of independence and freedom not just for women but for all citizens alike.

The history of Iranian women’s political engagement suggests two points: first, women’s demands are merely part of a broader political consciousness that has historically been translated into resistance against both internal tyrants and external intervention. From Neda Agha-Soltan –the iconic image of the 2009 post-election movement, to women’s craftsmanship projects to support the soldiers of the Iran/Iraq war of the 1980s, to their demonstrations and threats to employ all the means at their disposal if parliamentarians surrendered to the Russian ultimatum of 1911, women have actively stood against their incompetent and illegitimate statesmen and foreign meddling.

Second, despite all ebbs and flows of women’s rights in the past century, gender consciousness has been incessantly on the rise. Rather than an overnight uproar against the confinement chains of Hijab or household, the recent massive presence of women proves the role of long-term progressive, grassroots movements to educate women as equal, politically-informed citizens. If the government is afraid of Iranian women, as suggested by Western media, it is not afraid of enraged emotions over dress code. It instead fears the unity of minds and hearts who are well capable of showing mercy on their enemies when they save a militiaman with a motorcycle set on fire or one Basiji who has fallen into people’s hands. It is such a unity of political positions that defies any gender (or class, religion, age, ethnicity, and political orientation) divide in pursuit of the most basic demands of a decent life for every Iranian citizen.

This is the message of the green resistance movement, unanticipated by Mousavi or any other reformist. It is the message of Neda, as it is of Ashkan Sohrabi’s –the 18 year-old male victim who was shot three times in the chest, of Kaveh’s –the 19 year-old male whose low-income father was asked to pay more than he could afford as bullet fee to collect his body, but of many more whose fate didn’t make it to the cameras. This is a message that pushes identity politics and all other perennial ideological differences back to dusty bookshelves.

Balatarin
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more from desideratum.anthropomorphized anonymous000
 
mdh82

Iranian women and gender politics

by mdh82 on Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:44 PM PDT


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John

Women will always lead

by John on Thu Jul 23, 2009 08:48 AM PDT

I've thought for some time now, viewing Iran as an outsider, that when the IRI theocracy is finally toppled it will be largely due to the actions and influence of the female population.  I see two main reasons for this: first, that women, as the undervalued and oppressed gender, have much more to gain from a more enlightened regime than do men;  second, that women (in general) are much more aware than men are about what is right vs. wrong and about what actions need to be taken to achieve a specific goal.

I have been struck while watching many of the videos at how often women are taking a leading role, whether by being in the front lines of the demonstrations or by seeming to be organizers and leaders.  In fact, if I was an Iranian man I might be a little bit embarrassed at how the women, even though they are smaller of stature and physically weaker, are seemingly much braver.

It may seem an impossibility at the present time, but I definitely foresee a day when the new Iran will have a woman leading it politically.  If I'm not mistaken, the majority of Iranian university students are female, and as the expression says: "knowlege is power".


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Anonymouse

Very true. "It is

by Anonymouse on Thu Jul 23, 2009 05:39 AM PDT

Very true.

"It is such a unity of political positions that defies any gender (or class, religion, age, ethnicity, and political orientation) divide in pursuit of the most basic demands of a decent life for every Iranian citizen."

As far as political orientation, I believe many who voted for Ahmadi have since joined the green movement for a better Iran.  I believe this is more of a Civil Rights movement than a revolution. Although if it achieves any positive response to rights that were taken away, it will be a revolution in and of itself.  It will take some time though and Iranian people are taking big steps. 

Everything is sacred.


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desideratum.anthropomorphized anonymous000

Nazy Jjan, and Mr. Gilani

by desideratum.anthropomorph... on Thu Jul 23, 2009 05:29 AM PDT

 

A big thank-you to you, Nazy jan, who as always with your inspiring creativity, called for the strike of the pen.  The clip is telling of this struggle, as you say, for what could be gathered from the image and sound.  

 How can I not understand the pain of disillusionment and disappointment, especially when I se it in my parents’ generation whom for long I considered a model of progressive spirit.  Perhaps the generation of my younger brother, only a decade or so junior in age, is also just as much pained by what they see in my generation as rather passivity compared to the admirable courage of an average 18-25YO in today’s Iran.  Amusingly, that generation sometimes calls us khanom/agha mo’aallem who in their view is just sitting back and theorizing when there’s time for action!  But that said, perhaps disenchantment of each previous generation only fires up the rebellion in the next one more.   

Mr. Gilani, I, too, hope that a variety of leadership positions in more visible ways are filled with competent women not just in Iran but in the whole Middle East and the world in general.  Obviously, the higher on the ladder of decision-making of the socio-political structure, the more visible influence women will have.  But the point of this blog is precisely that the role of women in the Iranian recent history has not been obscured to those who have open eyes and minds to probe beneath the surface.  If it is, it is to the cursory onlookers, who find all of this a result of a mushroom-like growth of rage against what you call sexism rather than the work of the children of a post-Revolutionary Iran, with all its discriminatory laws (gender discrimination being just one of many) and the undeniable educational opportunities they have had.  


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Mort Gilani

Their Importance Cannot Be Obscured This Time

by Mort Gilani on Wed Jul 22, 2009 09:59 PM PDT

I hope as the movement gains greater impetus, more women emerge from the background and seek, or even vie for formal leadership roles. Welcoming women's presence in leadership will be advantageous and perhaps necessary in getting rid of the savage and sexist Islamic laws that IR is based on.


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Nazy Kaviani

Everyone knows Dear Desi-Anthro,

by Nazy Kaviani on Wed Jul 22, 2009 05:44 PM PDT

that the new generation of Iranian women have come a long way from my time and my generation, "the girls of the White Revolution," gullible and naive, only to become disillusioned and disappointed later.

I agree with your analysis and send you kudos for bringing to light a topic of discussion which must be researched and explored further. I would like to share something with you which has sat in my mind since the day I saw it on June 24, 2009. Here is a video clip of a group of protesters on a Tehran street, during the mayhem of those few horrible days when people had no idea what kind of violence or cruelty they might encouner on Tehran streets, yet they kept coming out to protest. This clip shows a group of young people pulling iron fence pieces of a park and dragging them into the street, setting up barricades against the police and thugs who were confronting them with orders to shoot and kill. It looks like a war zone.

From the little that is audible and visible on this short clip, it is a young woman who is directing the men on what to do and helping them to remove the fence. At 00:36, we can catch a glimpse of the young woman leaving the men, dusting her clothes and checking her finger nails for chips. At least that's what I think is happening in that video clip. The image and the idea have engaged my imagination for a whole month Desi-Anthro Jan. Thanks for putting words next to the image in my mind.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MWh2jAHEHY

Thank you very much for accepting the call my friend.


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