THE ROOTS OF FEMINIST INVOCATIONS IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY IRAN Nina Ansary

262 Pages·2013·0.84 MB·English

by  Richard Bulliet

THE ROOTS OF FEMINIST INVOCATIONS IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY IRAN

Nina Ansary
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in the Graduate School of the Arts and Sciences
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
2013
© 2013
Nina Ansary
All rights reserved
ABSTRACT
The Roots of Feminist Invocations in Post-Revolutionary Iran
Nina Ansary
Studies of the transformation of Iranian society after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and
its impact on the position of the Iranian woman have revealed that three and a half decades of
efforts by the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) to institutionalize an archaic image of the ideal
Muslim woman have produced results contrary to what was intended. The expansion of women’s
education in post-revolutionary Iran identified as an unintended consequence of the revolution
has been empowering women against the IRI’s misogynistic ideology. A feminist movement
based on the evolution of female consciousness and an unprecedented solidarity among
previously divided secular and religious women has emerged as another medium of resistance.
This study augments the research in this field by examining modifications in the
education system following the revolution. A critical content analysis of elementary school
textbooks issued by the Pahlavi and the IRI assesses the way in which each regime sought to
impart its gender ideology to young girls.
The eradication of coeducation and institution of single-sex schooling at the pre-
university level is investigated as a factor in combating the constraints imposed by patriarchal
laws on the female population. The conclusion is offered that the IRI may have unwittingly
undermined its own agenda for women in promulgating such seemingly outdated decrees.
Finally, this dissertation examines women’s publications of the Pahlavi and IRI periods,
emphasizing the pioneering role of one particular feminist publication in presenting a universal
feminist ideology.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1!
CHAPTER ONE The Origins of Women’s Awakening in Iran.....................................................4!
CHAPTER TWO Women and Education: Paradoxical Trends and Emerging Voices...............48!
Elementary Textbooks of the Islamic Republic......................................................................67!
Elementary Textbooks of the Pahlavi Monarchy....................................................................73!
Analysis of Pre- and Post-Revolutionary Elementary Textbooks:.........................................74!
Education and the Veil............................................................................................................78!
CHAPTER THREE Single-Sex Schools and Women’s Empowerment......................................87!
CHAPTER FOUR Islamic Feminism and the Path for Reform.................................................125!
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................215!
BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................................................226!

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1
INTRODUCTION
The historical processes surrounding the intricate labyrinth of the “woman question” in
Iran have delineated the paradoxical contours and opaque resolutions of a fallacy defrauding the
female gender of its right to humanity. Over a century ago, an enlightened avant garde boldly
disseminated the seeds of a feminist itinerary by protesting a deplorable status entrenched in
archaic mores. In the aftermath of this era, the Pahlavi monarchy momentarily impeded the
trajectory of an egregious misdiagnosis only to have it dismantled by Ayatollah Khomeini in an
enigmatic tour de force reinforcing patriarchal norms in Iranian society. The abolition of the
Monarchy in the late 20th century precipitated the regression of a nation perched on the
threshold of modernization, extinguishing a multitude of initiatives of which a fundamental
component entailed the emancipation of the Iranian woman. The legacy of a calamitous
disruption has been a theocracy based on Ayatollah Khomeini’s “Islamic Government,” and a
misogynistic regimen embedded in a constitution reinforcing the primacy of the shari‘a (Islamic
law) over civil law and the absolute leadership of a Shi‘ite jurist over popular sovereignty.
Nevertheless, three and a half decades of a concerted effort to indoctrinate the Iranian population
with an antiquated portraiture of the quintessential Muslim woman, has generated results
antithetical to the envisioned objective.
The transformation of Iranian society in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution,
and its enormous impact on the overall status of women has been the focus of much scholarly
assessment, exposing the conflicting undulations fueling the incessant discord among forces of
tradition and modernity. The myriad of analytical literature discloses an unprecedented surge in
female literacy and a burgeoning feminist movement in opposition to the established order.
2
The following dissertation goes beyond the current discourse by distinguishing separate
components adversely impacting the socialization of young women against the dominant order.
Its underlying premise maintains that the aggregate of ostensibly gender biased policies initiated
during the first revolutionary phase (1979-1989) collided both with the idealistic conceptions of
the preceding dynastic order (1941-1979) and with the substantive amendments of the reformist
period (1997-2005), to produce the foundational principles of a unique covenant nourishing an
era of monumental regeneration among the disempowered female segment of the population.
Implicit to this hypothesis are modifications in the educational arena and the role of the
women’s press, which will be extensively evaluated as part of the concealed components
seemingly complicit in the propagation of “norms” against the boundaries of traditionalist
religious prescription. Integral to this is the enigma of a revolution that was explicitly
antagonistic to the modernizing initiatives of the previous order, yet had the capacity to engender
a society distinguished by greater female education, the extension of powerful female voices, and
at least in limited instances enhanced opportunities for the protection of women. While the
overall premise of this argument may be counterintuitive from the predominant theoretical
standpoint distinguishing Islamic assertion as fundamentally retrogressive, its implications
nonetheless require additional research in order to discern the extent to which the spirit of the
Pahlavis may have infiltrated popular class women, even as numerous laws and institutions
originating with the Monarchy were eradicated by the Republic. Given that historians have
exhaustively deliberated on this fascinating yet anomalous passage, empirical evidence may in
fact reveal that “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” (the more things change, the more
they are the same), an expression aptly coined by Jean Baptiste Alphonse Karr in 1848,
suggesting the “curious paradox of historical consciousness, whereby structuralism invokes
3
actions of the past — privileging the determination of the pre-existing order, rather than the
modifications ensuing from practice….”1

1 Sahlins, M. Cultural and Practical Reasons. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976, 21
4
CHAPTER ONE
THE ORIGINS OF WOMEN’S AWAKENING IN IRAN
This chapter provides comprehensive historical coverage of the social and political
transactions impacting the ebb and flow of contradictory currents revelatory of the web of
interdependence disseminating the artifacts of a “paradigm shift,” culminating in the feminist
reformist movement in post-revolutionary Iran.2
In 1912, Morgan Shuster, the American Treasurer General of Persia observed:
All honor to the veiled women of Persia with the constraining traditions of the past
around them; with the idea of absolute dependence upon the fancy and caprice of men
ever before them; deprived of all opportunity to educate themselves along modern
ideals; watched, guarded and rebuffed, they drank deep from the cup of freedoms desire
and offered up their daily contribution to their country’s cause.3
Despite the paucity of historical narratives documenting the position of women prior to the
advent of Islam in 7th century AD, some chronicles suggest an often prestigious and revered
status for them in ancient and medieval Persia.4 Achaemenid (550-331 BC) and Sassanid (224-
650 AD) sources showcase the service of high-ranking commanders Pantea Arteshbod (559 BC)
and Apranik (632 AD), and the brief reign of Queens Pourandokht and Azarmidokht over the
vast Persian Empire.5 In this milieu, the intrinsic ideology of the predominant Zoroastrian faith

2 The term “paradigm shift” is used by Thomas Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
in order to indicate change from one way of thinking to another. According to the author,
transformations do not simply occur, but are rather induced and driven by agents of social
change. Kuhn, T. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1970 (1962) 10
3 Shuster, M.W. The Strangling of Persia. New York: The Century Co., 1912, 198-199
4 Brosius, M. Women in Ancient Persia (559-331 BC). Oxford: Clarendon Press 1996
5 Afshar, H. “Competing Interests: Democracy, Islamization, and Women Politicians in Iran,” in
Afshar, H. (ed.) Women and Fluid Identities: Strategic and Practical Pathways Selected by
Women. U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, 172-173
5
accordingly reflected the equality of men and women, preserved in the divine “primal creation”
of six immortal beings:
The sky, metal, and fire are male, and are never otherwise;
The water, earth, plants, and fish are female, and never otherwise;
The remaining creatures consist of male and female.…6
“Education” during this period was strictly conceived as a ritual closely linked to the
socialization process, with the family and community at large assuming the primary
responsibility for the ethical and moral guidance of its youth.7
The Arab invasion of Persia significantly transformed the premise of egalitarian creeds,
as Islam emphasized strengthening and safeguarding the family unit by assigning guardianship
and authority to the male head of the household.8 The gradual decline of Zoroastrianism and the
eventual penetration of the Muslim religion embellished many features of the social
infrastructure with Islamic mores; entrusting the ulama (religious clergy) with the fundamental
task of presiding over judicial, political, educational and social matters of the nation. The
principal form of elementary tuition was the maktab system (Arabic for elementary schooling),
institutions primarily funded by private contributions or religious foundations commonly
affiliated with a mosque.9 Anchored in moral and sacred pedagogy, the instructional format

6 Mueller, F.M. The Sacred Books of the East. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880, 61
7 Arasteh, R. Education and Social Awakening in Iran. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1962, 2-5
8 Frye, R. The Golden Age of Persia. London: Phoenix Press, 1975, 54-7; Frye, R. (ed.) The Arab
Conquest of Iran and its Aftermath: From the Arab Invasion to the Seljuqs (The Cambridge
History of Iran, Vol. 4), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, 1-56
9 Arasteh, R. Man and Society in Iran. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1970, 23; Kolayi, J.R. “Foreign
Education, the Women’s Press, and the Discourse of Scientific Domesticity in Early Twentieth-
Century Iran,” in Keddie, N.R. and Mathee, R.P. (eds.) Iran and the Surrounding World:
Interactions in Culture and Politics. Seattle & London: University of Washington Press, 2002,
183.