Interview with Pooran Farrokhzad
Conducted and translated by MS

Pooran Farokhzad writer, poet, translator, playwright, and author of Encyclopedia of Women Culture Makers in Iran and in the World, the first comprehensive women's encyclopedia in Iran. A two-volume book that it is ambitious in scope, it provides a short description of each woman, and is a good introduction for those who are looking to familiarize themselves with women in Iran and in the world.

MS - Why did you write this book?

PF - This book took me 8 years to complete. I write a lot of poetry and fiction, but that requires a kind of inspiration that doesn't occur everyday. In the meantime, I work on other projects as well, one of which has been the study of culture. Combining my interest in women's issues led me to the writing of this book.

Plus, I just love working. Sometimes I think I do it for selfish reasons; so I leave something after I die.

MS - How did you compile the information for this encyclopedia?

PF - I've come to know many women through the preparation of this book- at least those in Tehran. There are many female professors, writers, poets, actresses, publishers and activists I became acquainted with. I called them, explained my book, and asked them to bring their biographies and photographs. They were all happy to oblige.

MS - How did you compile your information on non-Iranian women?

PF - I used various encyclopedias like Americana and Britannica. Others came from Germany, France, Mexico, China, Japan, India, Turkey, and Egypt. There were about twenty encyclopedias in all, many from Arab countries. Whenever someone went abroad, I asked them to bring me books about women from other countries.

I read the mythologies of various countries and included mythological figures and goddesses from Greece, Rome, India, China, and Egypt. I read short stories and poetry from Chinese and Japanese women, Roman and Greek mythologies, and the histories of past women leaders. I learned a great deal from all my reading.

MS - How did you decide whom to include in your encyclopedia?

PF - I picked women who were accomplished in their respective fields, and those who had made a social or political impact. I started from our ancient history until the present. I included female mythological figures from the Shahnameh. In ancient Persia, the number of female goddesses was equal to the number of male gods. As we move forward in time, their numbers increasingly decrease, until the arrival of Islam.

We have many fascinating and powerful queens in our history. Queen Atoosa Cyrus' daughter and Darius I's wife was extraordinarily powerful and influential. Her strength was unprecedented during the Achaemenian dynasty.

One day, I hope to write a script about Queen Khatoon of Kerman from the 7th century. Because there was no male heir, she was raised and trained like a boy. She had a step-brother who was in competition with her, and who considered her a threat to his future ambitions. Around the age of 15, she falls in love with a minister's son. However, when a Mongol general expresses his interest in marrying her, her mother gives her to him to consolidate the family's power. For the next fifteen years, she lives in his harem, and writes a great deal of poetry and thinks of her lost love. After her husband dies, Queen Khatoon is given to her late husband's brother. Right around this time, her mother dies in Kerman. To prevent her step-brother from getting the throne which she felt was rightfully hers, she gathers troops, and heads for Kerman. Along the way, she runs into her step-brother's forces, who is headed by her former love. When the two see each other, they realize how much they have both changed. She wins the battle, defeats her brother, and captures her former love. Even though she is no longer interested in her former love, she frees him. After she takes over the throne, she continues to write poetry, and provides encouragement and financial support for the poets and writers in Kerman. Her step-brother continually tries to remove her from power, and he is eventually killed, although it is never clear what role Queen Khatoon played, if any, in his death. Seeking revenge, his wife and daughter ally with the Mongols and attack Kerman. Queen Khatoon is captured and killed.

During the Mongol rule of Persia, there were also many great Mongol queens in Kerman, Yazd, and Shiraz. They converted to Islam, learned Persian, and wrote a great deal of poetry.

MS - What do you think women can gain from reading your encyclopedia?

PF - We had so many brave women in our history who sacrificed everything for their beliefs. Many of them were punished as a result. They did not act unknowingly- they knew what the potential consequences were, including death.

Ghorat-ol-Ayn, who lived about 170 years ago, was the first woman to publicly unveil in Iran. She was a highly educated and active woman who had divorced her husband. When Nasser-el Din Shah forced her to choose between marriage to him and death, she replied that she was not born for membership into any harem, for which he ordered her death.

Ghamar Malouk Vazeeri who lived 75 years ago, was the first woman to not only sing publicly, but without a veil. I love the story of her going to the Grand Hotel and boldly singing without a veil. She is one of our most important singers who tragically died in poverty.

When I think of all these brave women, who were risking their lives by engaging in such activities, I wonder about us today. We should learn from them and realize that we, too can act. I think it's important that we keep these women alive in our memories.

When I was growing up, most of the women I saw were very unhappy. They allowed the men in their lives to dominate and oftentimes, abuse them. I was in an unhappy marriage for many years, and when I finally left, I remember thinking of my mother, and wondering why she didn't have the strength to change her life. My mother married my father for love when she was 15 years old. My father was never faithful; he cheated on her as much as he could. I remember my parents' fights, my mother's tears, and me telling her to leave him. After years of his infidelities, he delivered the last blow by marrying another woman and moving her into the house next door. In hindsight, I think that act was perhaps the biggest source of pain for me and my siblings.

While I recognize the difficulties my mother would have faced if she left, I also think that she was weak- too weak to leave him. She puts it all to the sacrifices of motherhood of course, but she's lying to herself.

My parents are a good example of why I do not believe in the institution of marriage. My father was a lover and a player. He enjoyed being with many women, and I know that he did not want to intentionally hurt my mother. But he did, and she suffered a great deal as a result. I find marriage to be very stifling and I have yet to see one where the woman, especially, is not restricted as a result.

The good news is that times are changing, and women are increasingly becoming more active and assertive by the day. When I look at women today, I feel very hopeful. So many women are standing up for themselves, and they are much smarter than I ever was. In my own family, I see the inter-generational differences between myself and my daughter, and her daughter, and I feel very optimistic.

True that the laws are still unjust and oppressive, but women are changing within. Until a person changes within herself, no law or system can advance her.

I feel like I've aged 2000 years in the past 20 years. The revolution made me a much smarter, less naive person. I witnessed and experienced some terrible things- things that I never thought were possible. All of us Iranians did. But everything we have gone through and every regime that has risen to power has come from within us. Whatever we suffered from, we suffered from ourselves. That's why psychology is so interesting to me. We need to learn and analyze ourselves from psychological and sociological perspectives. We don't know democracy. We insist on criticizing and attacking each other. Attacking each other has nothing to do with the state. Each of us needs to change individually before we can affect change in our surroundings.

I don't know how Iranians are abroad, but I get the sense that they're not so different. I remember when my brother Fereydoun was in Los Angeles, he wrote to me, "It's a jungle here. I prefer the worst of Iran to this."

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