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Women: International
obvious difference.
Women are seen on the
streets wearing veils,
some happily, some not,
many indifferently. And
for many journalists who
travel to Iran, who visit
with middle- and upperclass
families, the issue
of compulsory veiling
and other limitations on
women’s rights are often
the first things that are
discussed.
It is thus rare to read a
news report about the social
and cultural situation
in Iran without a mention
of veiled women. In
these reports, a veil is
used to either demonstrate
a person’s conservative
viewpoint or to
show the opposite—that
despite the veil, a woman
holds views close to our own more
liberal, democratic ones. A recent article
in The New York Times’s “Week in
Review” clearly demonstrates this
point: While in one section the article
states that Iranian women’s wearing of
the veil has led to their loss of freedom
and rights, in another the writer notes
the important role women have played
in Iran’s recent politics, “their covered
heads and bodies notwithstanding.”
The problem, of course, is that because
veiling is compulsory in Iran it is hard
to use it as an indicator of any
individual’s political views.
There are many women—some
more vocal proponents of women’s
rights in Iran—who would still wear a
veil regardless of the law and who are
against it being compulsory. Some of
the country’s more politically and socially
active women are practicing Muslims;
their objection to compulsory
veiling stems not from their belief that
the veil itself is oppressive, but rather
from knowing that a law deprives
women of their freedom to choose
their clothing. These women, therefore,
are not a moderating or reformist
force “despite their veil.” The veil, itself,
has very little to do with their
political stance.
“This young woman is totally veiled and studies at the niversity of Irbid,
Jordan. It always surprised me to see women in such clothes, because in Jordan
there is no law that forces women to be veiled like in Iran. But some of them
do it because they are convinced that it is the right way of life for themselves.”—Katharina
Eglau. Photo by Katharina Eglau.©
Since 1997, there has been a shift
toward articles that focus on the numerous
women journalists, activists,
parliamentarians and other public figures
in Iran. There is also an increasing
number of articles about Iranian youth,
with special emphasis on younger
women as the strongest force for reform
in contemporary Iran. This shift is
an important and welcomed one, reflecting
the changing situation in Iran
and the increased access of Western
journalists to it.
Despite this positive change, a good
number of articles still operate within
a conventional framework and utilize
stereotypes. The success of female public
figures in Iran and the presence of
Iranian women in the streets are often
presented against the backdrop of the
readers’ (and sometimes the journalists’)
expectation that because the
women are veiled and living in a Muslim
country, they lack certain rights,
behave in certain (traditional/conservative)
ways, and hold certain views.
This juxtaposition of look, beliefs and
actions provides such reports with a
sensationalist, shocking, or “newsworthy”
quality: See the traditional woman
act in modern ways.
Gender inequality is now the most
common window
through which the
West reports on Iran.
Yet other issues are
of concern to Iranian
women, and these
concerns are ones
that journalists could
report on and other
media could do a better
job of portraying.
But to do so means
moving beyond the
customary model for
reporting on Iranian
women.
Considering the
constraints placed on
journalists traveling
to and reporting on
Iran, how can the coverage
of Iranian
women in the international
media be improved?
Here are four interconnected suggestions:
1. Don’t start reporting with preconceived
assumptions. The framework
within which stories about
women are sought and written about
needs to change. If we start with the
assumption that Iranian women are
some of the most repressed women in
the world, then anything that counters
that image will be seen as heroic, subversive
and unusual. The rise of Islamic
movements in different parts of the
Middle East in the 1990’s and the
Taliban in Afghanistan have for now
fixed in the international mind the idea
of Muslim women (marked by their
veil) as oppressed by a Muslim patriarchy.
It is against this image that much
of the coverage of Iranian women occurs
and many articles are read. The
prevalent assumption that treats all
women living in Muslim countries the
same (regardless of country, social,
economic and cultural factors)—an
assumption that does not correspond
to reality—is the cause of some of the
problematic reporting we see.
2. Don’t think in terms of “Iranian
women.” Ask how relevant the
broad category “Iranian woman” is to
Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 111