Feminism

In the Eye of the Storm by Erika Friedl et al

Brandon Digman

Erika Friedl is an award winning author and the professor of anthropology at Western Michigan University. Many of her publications and contributions revolve around women and religion, specifically Islam. She and her contributors wrote the book, “In the Eye of the Storm: Women in Post-revolutionary Iran,” which highlights, as the title states, women’s lives in post-revolutionary Iran. The scope of this book takes place after 1979 and into the late 1900s, providing key factors of change to women’s lives that inadvertently decreased their social standing in many areas of life such as domestic life, life in the workforce, life in the media, etc. A significant thing to note is that the content also examines women’s protest in Iran post-revolution, and how their demands for more freedom in society have been answered to an extent. The main takeaway I want for this source to highlight in my essay is to provide post-revolutionary details, and any positive or negative outcomes. This source is also helpful as it contains information that is universal in the sense that it can be included in either my thesis or the counter-thesis to support it. 

  • 1 – “Since an Islamic society needs women in occupations such as medicine, education, and law, and since the Constitution calls on the government to facilitate and provide for the development of women, this bill would permit women to work and look after their families at the same time. Mr. Forughi believed that if women wanted fully to accept their responsibilities as described in the Quran, they should not work outside the house” (Friedl et al).
  • 2 – “On the other hand, comparison over time indicates that the situation has been improving during the decade of the Islamic Republic. The gender age gap in literacy has decreased from 23 percentage points to 19 percentage points overall, and among youths of 15 to 19 years of age it has decreased from 26 percentage points to 16 percentage points. The female proportion of the school enrollment has also increased in the last 15 years, and figures for the last five years show that the increase has continued quite steadily under the Islamic Republic” (Friedl et al).

Populism and Feminism in Iran by Haideh Moghissi

Brandon Digman

Moghissi, Haideh. Populism and Feminism in Iran. Cuny-Si.primo.exlibrisgroup, 2016

Hadieh Moghissi is an Iranian-Born sociologist, working as an Emerita Professor for York University in Toronto. She was also the founder of the Iranian National Union of Women, and had experienced the Islamic Revolution first hand. She wrote the academic journal, “Populism and Feminism in Iran,” which discusses the timeline of the women’s question in the country around the time of the revolution. The content of the journal addresses many instances of changes to law that had affected Iranian women, female counter-attacks of such laws, and analysis/explanation of them. Moghissi argues that the hindrance towards female progressiveness in Iran is attributed to the dictatorial power of the Islamic Regime. As such, the revolution had sparked many gender awareness ideas to fly around the country as women were being stripped of so much in society. This source will be important to include during the analysis and pre-analysis of my thesis as it shows the female reaction toward the revolution, as well as providing some reasoning as to why the Islamic Revolution changed women’s social life the way that they did.

  • 1 – “Both Islamist and socialist forces engaged in frequent criticism of feminists and feminist ideas. In these areas, the left contributed to the saliency and acceptance of Islamic populist themes. So male-centered were their views of social change and their definitions of democracy that they left no space for women’s democratic rights and voices” (Moghissi 2)
  • 2 – “A key factor in understanding this pattern, I will argue, is the central importance of female sexuality and sexual control in Islamic culture. It helps explain why the homogenizing forces of Islamic culture  are expressed with utmost clarity and strength in the assertion of male control and authority over women’s lives and in the uniformity of policies in the areas of women’s rights and status” (Moghissi 13).