There
are about 40 million women in Iran, over half under age 30, UPI reported. At a
time when women in the West have achieved political, economic, personal and
social equality, Iranian women are among the most repressed in the world, ruled
by a regime dominated by elderly, bearded misogynists, said Struan
Stevenson, the coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change.
It is little
wonder that the nationwide protests, which have continued in almost every town
and city in Iran for the past 14 months, have often been led by or involved the
participation of thousands of women.
Female
teachers, medical staff, students, factory workers and pensioners have taken to
the streets to demand an end to corruption, an end to discrimination and
repression and an end to the clerical regime's aggressive military adventurism
across the Middle East.
The
chants of the protesters now openly call for regime change. It is clear that
many of these courageous women have been inspired by Iran's main organized
resistance movement, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), a
part of the political coalition, National Council of Resistance of Iran, headed
by its charismatic female leader Maryam Rajavi.
Indeed,
many of the key leadership positions within the MEK are held by powerful and
resilient women.
The
theocratic dictatorship in Iran has a history of targeting women with
oppressive laws that would not be tolerated in the West, or indeed in most
countries in the world.
In
Iran, women are considered the property of their closest male relative and have
no legal rights. Girls of nine can be married off by their parents.
A
woman's evidence in court is worth only half that of a man's. Women may not
seek to have a man charged with rape unless they have four independent
witnesses. All family relationships are strictly controlled by the regime's
laws.
Homosexual
behavior, adultery, sex outside marriage, are all prohibited. Women accused of
such behavior can incur severe punishments, including beatings and death, sometimes
by stoning. This is what gender equality looks like in Iran today.
Seventeen
years before the 1979 revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini wrote to the shah saying that the "interests of the state are better
served by preserving the religious teachings of Islam and calmness of the
heart."
He
concluded the letter by advising the shah that the right for women to vote
should not be allowed. Khomeini stated that equality between women and men was
"in fundamental violation of some of the most crucial rulings of Islam and
in defiance of some of the explicit commandments of the Quran."
Immediately
following the revolution, Khomeini abolished the "Family Protection
Law" that gave women family rights.
He
also canceled social services for women and abolished the role of female judges
in Iran's justice system. There are only 17 female members of parliament out of
a total of 290 MPs.
It is
perhaps not surprising that they recently passed a law banning women from
riding bicycles.
Women's
dress codes are also under constant scrutiny. They must wear the hijab and
"morality police" are on constant patrol to enforce the law.
Women,
particularly young women, are singled out for brutal attacks for the
"crime" of mal-veiling.
Girls
who were deemed to be improperly dressed in the street have suffered horrific
acid attacks and stabbings, in assaults openly condoned by the mullahs.
Teenage
girls, arrested for the offense of posting videos of themselves dancing or
singing on social media, have been publicly flogged. Young female students
attending end-of-term parties have been fined and beaten.
