Progress Amid Resistance

•★iranby Nayereh TohidiPOPULATION: 73,244,000GNI PER CAPITA: US$3,998COUNTRY RATINGS 2004 1 2009NONDISCRIMINATION AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE: N/A 1.9AUTONOMY, SECURITY, AND FREEDOM OF THE PERSON: N/A 2.1ECONOMIC RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY: N/A 2.7POLITICAL RIGHTS AND CIVIC VOICE: N/A 2.1SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS: N/A 2.5(COUNTRY RATINGS ARE BASED ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5, WITH 1 REPRESENTING THE LOWEST AND 5 THEHIGHEST LEVEL OF FREEDOM WOMEN HAVE TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS)INTRODUCTIONA populist revolution in 1978–79 put an end to Iran’s long-standing traditionof monarchy, replacing it with a unique Islamic republic, wherein religiousclerics assumed political control under a supreme leader, AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini. Despite massive participation by women in the revolutionand a subsequent increase in the levels and forms of women’s socialpresence and educational achievements, the Islamic Republic broughtmany negative changes to women’s rights and personal freedoms. Sex segregationand compulsory veiling, discrimination in penal and civil codes,and setbacks in personal status and family law further institutionalizedpatriarchal gender relations and cultural attitudes.The discriminatory state ideology and policies of the Islamic Re publicrun against the modern socioeconomic and demographic realities inthe country, especially with respect to the growing number of urban,educated, middle-class women. Their quest for equal rights and collectiveaction to improve their status began during the ConstitutionalRevolution of 1906–11. Continuous pressure from women’s groups ledto government reforms concerning women’s education, employment,suffrage, and family law under the Pahlavi dynasty, which ruled from1925 until 1979.121