A San Francisco protester holds a photo of "Neda," via Flickr user Steve RhodesThe video circulating of the death of "Neda," the Iranian woman shot through the heart protesting in Tehran on Saturday, further cements women's faces as symbols of this uprising. The mullahs are aware that feminist fervor and frustration is, in part, behind the outpouring of pro-democratic sentiment, and they are responding: Iran's state propaganda apparatus is beginning to defend its abysmal record on women's rights. Mehri Souizi, head of Iran's Interior Ministry department for women and family affairs, offers the line that since 1979, "women’s involvement in social, cultural, and political arenas has increased by 170 percent."Wherever that "170 percent" number comes from, it doesn't come close to telling the real story of Iranian women. Only 13 percent of Iranian women participate in the paid work force, compared to over 25 percent of women in Turkey and over 38 percent in Indonesia. With the permission of a court, fathers can arrange marriages for daughters under age 13. Polygamy is legal, and under Ahmadinejad, Parliament even tried to ease restrictions on the practice. Women cannot run for president, and family law discriminates against them when it comes to divorce, child custody, and inheritance. Dozens of feminist political leaders have been arrested and detained since 2006, when police violently attacked a women's rights demonstration in Tehran, leading to the founding of the One Million Signatures Campaign for women's legal equality. Even more so than men, women are on the line in Iran. If the Ahmadineajd government returns to power, women will be subjected to ever-stricter "modesty" laws and caps on their enrollment in higher education. There will be harsh crackdowns on the feminist movement that offered so much support to Mousavi. Women in Iran understand the alternative and dread it -- and that is why so many of them are in the streets. --Dana Goldstein THE FEMALE FACE OF THE IRANIAN PROTEST MOVEMENT.
A San Francisco protester holds a photo of "Neda," via Flickr user Steve RhodesThe video circulating of the death of "Neda," the Iranian woman shot through the heart protesting in Tehran on Saturday, further cements women's faces as symbols of this uprising. The mullahs are aware that feminist fervor and frustration is, in part, behind the outpouring of pro-democratic sentiment, and they are responding: Iran's state propaganda apparatus is beginning to defend its abysmal record on women's rights. Mehri Souizi, head of Iran's Interior Ministry department for women and family affairs, offers the line that since 1979, "women’s involvement in social, cultural, and political arenas has increased by 170 percent."Wherever that "170 percent" number comes from, it doesn't come close to telling the real story of Iranian women. Only 13 percent of Iranian women participate in the paid work force, compared to over 25 percent of women in Turkey and over 38 percent in Indonesia. With the permission of a court, fathers can arrange marriages for daughters under age 13. Polygamy is legal, and under Ahmadinejad, Parliament even tried to ease restrictions on the practice. Women cannot run for president, and family law discriminates against them when it comes to divorce, child custody, and inheritance. Dozens of feminist political leaders have been arrested and detained since 2006, when police violently attacked a women's rights demonstration in Tehran, leading to the founding of the One Million Signatures Campaign for women's legal equality. Even more so than men, women are on the line in Iran. If the Ahmadineajd government returns to power, women will be subjected to ever-stricter "modesty" laws and caps on their enrollment in higher education. There will be harsh crackdowns on the feminist movement that offered so much support to Mousavi. Women in Iran understand the alternative and dread it -- and that is why so many of them are in the streets. --Dana Goldstein 
