Iranian Government

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).

Part 3: Iranian Laws on Women by Andrew Hanna

Brandon Digman

Hanna, Andrew. “Part 3: Iranian Laws on Women.” The Iran Primer, 10 Dec 2020

Andrew Hanna is a legislative and policy analyst for the U.S Senate, as well as a member of the Committee of Foreign Relations. He wrote the article, “Part 3: Iranian Laws on Women,” for the Iran Primer, a news website dedicated to all things related to Iranian affairs. In this article, Hanna provides a timeline of the many rules and regulations set in place by Iran’s government for its women to abide by whilst living in the country. Afterwards, notable activists that have tried to resist these regulations are listed. As Hanna states these rules, he labels them to be discriminatory laws, and then goes in depth on each one for the rest of the article. This article is beneficial for providing claims that can be used for the thesis and even the opposing thesis, given the content of the quote used. This source will also provide a deeper understanding on what women’s rights are like in Iran. 

  • 1 – “The second constitution, written by Islamic revolutionaries and passed overwhelmingly in a referendum in 1979, specifically stipulated that women were “equally protected.” But in practice, it gave women fewer social rights and personal liberties” (Hanna).
  • 2 – “Female activists and civil society organizations faced “harassment, intimidation, detention, and smear campaigns,” the State Department reported in 2019. Iranian courts have imposed harsh sentences on dozens of activists who challenged compulsory hijab laws” (Hanna).

Inside the Islamic Republic by Mahmood Monshipouri

Brandon Digman

Monshipouri, Mahmood. Inside the Islamic Republic. Google Books, Oxford University Press,  

15 Dec 2015

Mahmood Monshipouri is an Iranian-Born author and educator. He teaches international relations as a professor at San Francisco University. His book, “Inside the Islamic Republic,” discusses Iran after the 1979 Revolution in the new Islamic government. Mainly, he states and analyzes the major changes in Iran’s post-revolution, and how it has led to dramatic shifts within the society. Monshipouri also makes arguments that changes during post-revolution Iran have been deleterious on many occasions. This article is useful as it can provide a more broad context of Iran’s background, which will first generate an understanding that will eventually lead to the conflict surrounding women through the use of other sources. It is important for this source to be used in the beginning of my essay for context.

  • 1 -“It is worth noting that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini depicted the 1979 Revolution as an Islamic rather than an exceptionally Iranian one, conferring further legitimacy on it as an anti-imperialist and anti-West movement capable of spreading. Both symbolically and substantively, this moved fueled pan-Islamism throughout the region and led to an increased disdain toward foreign influence” (Monshipouri 2).
  • 2 -“More broadly, these factors have led to cumulative uncertainties and policy failures in the wake of the dramatic socioeconomic, cultural, and political changes that the country has recently undergone, making it increasingly imperative to define and understand the broader contours of social and cultural change in Iran” (Monshipouri 2).