Feminist road trip

For its debut edition three years ago, Bad Jens covered the first public and overcapacity International Women’s Day celebration since 1980, held in Tehran.  Every year since has seen a steady increase and normalization of such celebrations.  This year, both religious and secular women planned and participated in six International Women’s Day events throughout Tehran.

Some of the women who gathered to plan that first affair in 1999 have since formed the Women’s Cultural Center. Opting to skip the capital this year, the Center decided to do outreach, and collaborate with individual women and groups throughout the country to hold celebrations in the cities of Varameen, Semnan, Zanjan, Isfahan, Tabriz, and Sanandaj instead.  The Center lent support by bringing reading materials, selling books, and sharing the stage with various performers and speakers who spoke about feminism, women’s legal and social issues, literature, and art.  It also heightened awareness about the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, discussed its upcoming debate in the Majlis, and collected signatures to petition the government to join without reservations [See “Joining on the Condition to Discriminate” for a full discussion in this edition]. An informal network of support and collaboration has since been developed where women across the country share news, exchange information, and contribute writings.  In Sanandaj, a young women’s group was borne out of the collaboration and is now functioning with the support of the Women’s Cultural Center.

This is what we heard happened in some of the cities.

Varameen

35 km southeast of Tehran lies the city of Varameen, whose Friday prayer imam has declared music performances as haraam (prohibited), which while not exactly legally binding, holds great weight, especially in smaller cities.  A group of girls and young women were the first to publicly defy the injunction at the March 8 event.  When they began playing their violins, dafs, and sitars, several of the more conservative and religious men in attendance walked out.  The playing was so popular and well-received that a couple of the scheduled speeches (probably something about women’s resistance and challenging power) had to be scratched to allow the playing to continue.  .     

Semnan

In Semnan, “one of the main provinces of ancient Iran,” members of the student associations, the Anjoman-e Islami Daneshjuyan and Majma’e Islami were in attendance.  During the open mike question and answer period, a man from Anjoman-e Islami took over the stage to deliver a 20-minute oratory about feminism’s destructive effects in the West and Islam’s generous and respectful treatment of women.  In his coverage of the event for the association’s newsletter, the writer made sure to note that some of the Tehrani women were bad hejab.   

Sanandaj

The capital of Kurdestan province, Sanandaj held two International Women’s Day events.  One of the events was being sponsored by Simin Chaichee, a well-known Kurdish poet.  The Women’s Cultural Center was supposed to speak, but after members of the Ministry of Intelligence paid a visit to Ms. Chaichee, she told the Center that “it would be better” if they did not.  Nevertheless, the women from Sanandaj were some of the most well-prepared and enthusiastic.  They printed pamphlets for the event, and went on to establish a young woman’s group to work collaboratively with the Center. 

Tabriz

Held in a women’s prison, some prisoners helped run the event, while others staged a performance of Chekhov’s “The Proposal.”  There was also a fundraising drive to provide the deeyeh (payment of compensation) of some prisoners who could subsequently be set free.  The male warden delivered a speech about the necessity in helping prisoners eventually re-assimilate in society by teaching them literacy and other skills while still in prison.  Unexpectedly, the visiting women were not required to don the chador and were allowed inside wearing only a headscarf and overcoat, a first for visitors to Iranian prisons. 

MS

Back to top