Anahid Hojjati

Shutruk,

Shutruk: "In countries where absolute gender equality has been practiced, women are not fulflling their  basic duties as mothers and wives and the population is falling into social and numerical decline - just look at Germany."

So, in other words, and at least in your mind, women-and not just Iranian women-are supposed to be live up to a stereotype that is forced upon them?

If your answer to this question is "YES," then, if you ask me, that answer explains why you feel that Iranian women aren't treated as second-class citizens since being wives and/or mothers is something you expect from Iranian women.

Shutruk, your last comment shows where you come from

Your mindset is shown in your last comment where you whitewash all injustice to women in Iran.

yolanda, thanks for the quotes particularly the legal one

yolanda in the AN quote that you provided, it says:

On Women, September 2007 
“Women are respected in Iran… Women are respected more than men are.
They are exempt from many responsibilities. Many of the legal
responsibilities rest on the shoulders of men in our society because of
the respect culturally given to women, to the future mothers.” 

AN says that legal responsibilities rest on the shoulders of men in our society, as if Iranian women are lazy.  Iranian women are not afraid of responsibility, and they fight for being able to be reponsible in society in many different areas.

Thanks yolanda again for helping to expose AN and IRI's lies.

.................

But the majority of Iranian women accept that these restrictions are necessary for the good of society........by Shutruk

*****************************

It sounds like a lie to me! I felt like I was reading something on Press TV!

AN said Iranian women enjoy the highest freedom .....but it is all BS!

********************************

//notoahmadinejad.net/quotes.html

Quotes from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

On Freedom, September 2007 
“Those in Iran are genuine true freedoms. The Iranian people are free. Women in Iran enjoy the highest levels of freedoms.” 

On Women, September 2007 
“Women are respected in Iran… Women are respected more than men are. They are exempt from many responsibilities. Many of the legal responsibilities rest on the shoulders of men in our society because of the respect culturally given to women, to the future mothers.” 

Raoul, no, most of them are not going to live there, but

Raoul, no they are not going to live there, but my American born relative travels to Iran as an Iranian citizen while another relative, because her dad is American born can not be Iranian citizen.

Raoul, issue is unfairness of laws. The fact that German women even if they are married to Iranian men, do not live in Iran is because of how bad IRI is.Your line of reasoning is weak, and you need to focus so you can understand arguments better. You seem to concentrate on how to respond rather than really understanding what I write.

Shutruk

In presenting a stronger case for the islamic nations please post the stats for German women immigrating to Iran or other islamic nations in search of a more fulfilling life as mothers and wives.

Imam Raoul

More self-hating nonsense

The author claims that Iranian women are "second-class citizens" in the IRI This is deeply insulting to Iranian women living inside Iran. 

Why? Because Iranian women would never allow themselves to be treated as chattel with no rights! They are, instead, assertive of their rights and also of their responsibilities to the family and society.

The fact is that Iranian women participate at all levels in Iran: they dirve cars, own property, hold good jobs, dominate higher education, ,compete in sport and art, vote and are also found in the government itself as Majlis deputies, ministers and vice-presidents.

There are some contentious issues pertaining to Islamic law that women's rights groups protest - such as over divorce, inheritance, custody of kids. the dress code and so on. But the majority of Iranian women accept that these restrictions are necessary for the good of society. In countries where absolute gender equality has been practiced, women are not fulflling their  basic duties as mothers and wives and the population is falling into social and numerical decline - just look at Germany.

This piece is written by someone who does not know anything about the status of women in Iran and is prepared to condemn all Iranian men in the process.

Dear G. Rahmanian and Pahlevan, thanks for your comments

Dear Rahmanian, Sometimes from some of my friends I hear why I left Iran and came to US. Recently someone who had received these same questions, turned around and asked few friends who were in Iran during 1980s and 1990s that how come Muslims did not support Bahais during those years, how come men let women be treated like that and still do?

Dear Rahmanian, these are valid questions. If someone is benefitting from unjust laws, it can happen that they do not mind them. Truth is that in Iran because people were executed, some jailed and some people had to leave Iran, women were treated worse, bahais were denied education and jobs, because of all these and also those who died in war, because of all these,  those remaining in Iran who were educated got to have more opportunities. A friend commented a while ago on IC to me that my generation is thriving in Iran. Yes, and part of the reason that they are thriving (but many are atill leaving Iran or want to) is because so many others were mistreated, jailed, killed in war or as political prisoners, or left the country.

Any way, we need to be honest with ourselves. I am sure many men do not like this blog. However, I did get couple e-mails and facebook messages from men who  pointed me to the groups that they are a member in which they actually agree with what I wrote and they thanked me for this blog. So even some guys agree with this.

Shirin Ebadi betrayed Iranian women in 1979

Shirin Ebadi, a communist, betrayed Iranian women in 1979 when she put her chador on and followed Mr. Khomeini. The Pahlavi government showered this woman with all kinds of amenities as well as first female judge inspite of her communist ideology. But it wasn't enough.  This bitch took to the streets and cried "Death to Shah" and followed a radical terrorist.  These are the women who betrayed both Iranian women and men. Why is she getting the nobel prize instead of our Queen Farah Pahlavi? What does this tell you about Europeans? They supported the overthrow of the Pahlavi MOnarchy and helped install a radical terrorist regime in Iran so that they could take 90% of Iran's oil and gas revenue.Who is the enemy of iranian people? the greedy racist Europeans. Iranians are now second class citizens.Thanks to Ms. Ebadi, Mr. Milani, Mr. Dabashi, and othe Islamic Luminaries. These are the traitors to Iran.

ma mard nistim!

Khanom ma mard nistim to roo moon khat bekesh! parchamo begir khodet besho raees-e jonbesh! ... ma keh az mardi mordim laa-aghal to zan bash, yekam az oon atr-e gheiratet roo ma ham bepash! (Shahin Najafi)

Of Men & Women!

One's logic becomes unforgivably fallacious when one chooses false premises. Men cannot be "collectively" at fault simply because they have not "collectively" made the laws, rules and regulations that guide the "collective" behavior of Iranians, in general, and Iranian men, in particular. Atomistic or reductionistic view of social phenomena is neither beffitting the well-reasoned mind of a true scholar nor can it benefit the solicitous converts to democracy, thus curtailing our abilities to arrive at unerring verdicts. In order to seek more relevant responses, Ms. Hojjati needs to realize that Iranian men are victims of a brutal theocracy in the same manner as women are. Her line of questioning, instead of seeking to analyze the real causes of the current situation in Iran, inadvertently, puts the blame on the victims of the inhuman and undemocractic policies of the ruling autocracy.

Iran will never progress as

Iran will never progress as long as Mullahs and Islam is ruling it.

thanks vildemose for the article, i wish I remembered more

My most recollection of that day is when at the end some women were bused by some kind of religious police, komite, whatever. In my bus, there were progressive women and the women who had much makeup and were very ghertee. The young guys pro regime who were in charge in the bus seemed poor. I noticed the class contrast between the young guys and many of the women. However, I don't have good recolletion of the march itself, as I write this, some scenes come to me, it is amazing, like a walk into the past.

How Women in Iran were

How Women in Iran were Silenced and enchained by the Mullahs after the Regressive Revolution of 1979.

Right to choose
First protests against mandatory hijab

Compiled by Pedram Missaghi
March 7, 2000
iranian.com

After the fall of the Pahlavi regime in February 1979, Iran's religious leaders imposed strict rules on women's clothing in public. The following is a chronology of women's protests in the early days. From In the Shadow of Islam by Azar Tabari and Nahid Yeganeh. See photos here. Also see video at Rahai-Zan TV.

10-11 Feb 1979
Overthrow of the government of Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtias and establishment of the first Islamic government administration under the premiership of Mehdi Bazargan.

26 Feb. 1979

...

 read the rest below

//iranian.com/History/2000/March/Women/index.html

thanks Mehdi and Vildemose for your most recent comments

Dear vildemose, rather thought provoking passage, thanks for sharing.

Mehdi, you wrote:"BTW, women in Iran are NOT in as bad a shape that they are advertised to be. " I don't know whose advertisement you are talking. Women in Iran may be ahead of women in some other countries in the region but they have fought hard for it.  Also remember that compared to Shah's time, in some areas (not all), we have gone backwards and going backwards is not acceptable. For instance,  I don't believe a woman needed her husband's approval for travel in Shah's time.

Another repressive law is that if an Iranian woman marries a foreign man, the child will not be considered an Iranian citizen but when an Iranian man marries a foreign woman, not only, the child will be considered Iranian citizen but the foreign woman will be granted Iranian citizenship.

Dear readers, I am not going to argue with every opposing view

I think rather than me trying to argue with every commentator that i find their comments not to my liking, it is better if we just have more people state their ideas and others either respond to them or have their own comments. Important issue is to have these discussions and see how various men and women see this. From comment to comment,I might discuss a few but please do not assume that because i don't address a commentator, that means I agree with their comments. I am just glad that people are commenting and expressing what they think that should be done by both men and women.

The load that you

My dear brothers.

Put the loads you carry down for a little while.

For the space of time you sit at my table, be easy: you are safe.

You think I do not notice that you are exhausted when I open the door. You smile, I am barefoot and you tug on my braided hair; to see me this way is, for you, home. I define your inviolable space. This does not offend me; I am happy to give you peace. But I am troubled by the exhaustion you bring to my door.  The life you lead beyond this threshold should not be so hard. But it is.

There is so much for you to reconcile. I fight for my rights; you fight for something much more abstract. The blank-eyed men want to cover me up, cut me, keep me out of the way, but it is your impulses they demonize; your desires they call satanic, your gaze they use as an excuse to smother me within the walls of my house. You hate me for my weakness because I remind you of yours. In making you a slave to my body, the blank-eyed men are slowly eroding your dignity, as surely as they have acquired mine for their own use. I am trapped between religion and the undefined space that is the future; you are trapped between religion and me.

You think I don’t see how this hurts you, but I do.

My dear brothers, I owe you an apology: I have been complicit in my own oppression. When your anger and frustration, the narrowing space in which you are expected to live, made you a tyrant over me, I did not help you, I did not comfort you, and I did not confront you: instead, I made excuses for your behavior. I retreated farther and farther into myself. When you were hostile to me in the street, I covered my hair; when you were aggressive toward me in the mosque, I covered my face; when your helplessness spilled into our home, I agreed never to leave it. I agreed.

Under the scrutiny of outsiders, I defend anything you do. Though I might ache from the confines of my cage, I become furious in defense of its builder; though you take wives behind my back, though you humiliate me, I am passive. To be anything else is to admit that I have let chance after chance to right the wrongs between us slip through my fingers. I have been wronged. But I have also wronged myself. And in doing so, I have wronged you.

The damage we have done is all the greater because we have shared in its creation.

Do not rescue me. I have a little strength left. Cross the threshold and set your burden down, and in the inviolable space I have created for you, be honest with me. In this place, there are no outsiders. There is no one to watch you here but me, and I have put away my weapons. I do not sit in judgement, though I demand change. You are safe here. I will rescue you.

—————-

I had originally found this piece on this blog://eteraz.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/to-my-dear-brothers/#comment-12096. Sadly the site has been deleted and I have no further reference.

Anahid:

Raoul's comment should shed some more light on what I wanted to relay. You are blaming. If someone wanted to improve his/her condition, he/she would need to take responsibility for how he/she allowed his/her condition to deteriorate in the first place. The essence of your question is fine but the way you are looking at it is as if you are looking for someone to blame and you feel no responsibility whatsoever in this. That's why I found it a little funny. 

BTW, women in Iran are NOT in as bad a shape that they are advertised to be. 

thanks Simorgh for the link.

thanks Simorgh for the link about female Commander of the Persian Royal Navy.

Raoul, laws are against independence of women from men in Iran

Raoul, how can women in Iran be independent of men when the system treats them like second class citizens and all laws are against them? Maybe if they inherited as much as their brothers, that would help in their independence but that is not what happens. At every stage, the laws are against women. How can women be independent of men when they can not stay one night in hotel if they are on their own how can they be independent of men when they need husband's approval to leave the country? these are just some examples.

And yes, pen is mightier than gun, witness what is happening in Tunisia and other counties. Some day Iran's turn will arrive too but it will not happen with white wash when people like you expect women of Iran to be independent as IRI is subjecting them to the worst unjust laws. Couple of you guys sure try to defend your IRI brothers by putting the blame on women. Yes, let's try to blame victim. Just like how in some Islamic countries, women are punished for being raped and the rapist gets away with it.

Anahid:

Couple of simple observations:
1) I can't think of any pen being more powerful than a real gun.  Can you imagine police officers carry pens instead of guns?  LOL

2) The title of your blog clearly expresses your view that Iranian women are dependent on [Iranian] men.  Do you think that it reflects the typical middle eastern mindset?

Mehdi, I don't get your comment

Mehdi, in spirit of remembering our fallen; I can't call him friend (Sargord), I have to say that I don't get your comment.

I do not agree with you divaneh

Women have been opposing IRI more than Iranian men have. Men have not done their part and it may be because they benefit from the inequality. You just writing a comment does not make it that way.

No!

At first I thought, yeah, maybe Iranian men are in fact betraying Iranian women. Then I thought, wait a minute! While that may be true, but we can also see that Iranian women are betraying Iranian men for letting the men betray them! Oh, this is very sneaky. Then I had another revelation. Wouldn't it be true that the Iranian men are in fact betraying Iranian women for letting them to allow the men betray the women who in turn let the women betray the men and in turn again, they betray the women?

Oh, this is very sneaky indeed! It's gonna take me some time to untangle who we can finally blame it all on so that we can avoid responsibility very nicely. I'll figure it out. Stay tuned... 

Wrong

Women are as much responsible for this situation as men. I bet you the woman whose right has been trampled will teach her son that he has more rights than his wife. All those stick wielding basijis and fati commandos are brought up by mothers who are promoting women slavery in Iran. They all need educating, men and women.

Also look at the women movement in the West. It was women who successfully claimed their rights through a long struggle. The same struggle now seems to have started in Iran and it will soon or later succeed.

The spirit of Iranian women

//wn.com/Female_Commander_of_the_Persian_Royal_Navy_480BC__ARTEMIS

The spirit of Iranian women

//wn.com/Female_Commander_of_the_Persian_Royal_Navy_480BC__ARTEMIS

Yes, but I believe they are betraying themselves first

By allowing/empowering this brutal and dictatorial regime to bring so much misery to their family.

And I rather like the comment by kingreze here.

Mehrdad

hamsade, Vildemose, Moosir, thanks for your comments & links

hamsade, thanks so much for lyrics. Impressive.  

dear vildemose,  I was in that day's demonstrations. very interesting. I remember that our family friend's duaghter; almost my age, who used to have hijab before 1979 even though her family was not religious, She also marched against hijab that day. Then they interviewed her and it was shown on TV that this 15 year old bahijab girl was marching against forced hijab. That sent a good message.

thanks Moosir for reading the blog and also for the link.

Iranian Women's March

Iranian Women's March against Hijab in March 8th, 1979

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=odmlfa986mk