Tired of Violence, Women are Demanding Change

The prominent role of women, and the attention given to their demands, has become a salient feature in the run-up to the presidential elections in Iran. This issue takes on even greater importance when we consider the fact that, over the past thirty years, the turnout of women at elections has always been greater than that of men, even though this high turnout has not necessarily translated into the advancement of women's interests. Had this been the case, today women would enjoy a higher administrative and decision-making status and their demands would have reached greater heights by now. Over the past few years, the Iranian women’s movement has strived to spread awareness and raise the level of consciousness and social participation among women. These efforts have borne fruit in the current election campaign, and it is expected that votes cast by women this time will be purposeful and influential in achieving their demands.

Has the Iranian women's movement been successful in garnering the female vote in support of its cause? Will women's turnout  at the polls make a difference for the realization of women's demands? Parvin Bakhtiarnejad, a journalist and Iranian women's rights activist, provides answers to these and other questions in the following interview. She believes that the female vote in this round of elections will be in favor of change for equality and she says that Iranian women have come to realize that participation in elections, and the election of a candidate who believes in women's rights, can go a long way in helping to advance their cause.

How do you analyze the present groupings in the women's movement and their approach to elections?

Fortunately, in the forthcoming elections, the women’s movement has come to a consensus on the two main demands they will attempt to push forward. They have unified under an umbrella group, the Convergence of Women, in order to capitalize on the present situation to table their demands. In this election, women are pushing for the reform of discriminatory articles of the Constitution and for Iran’s membership to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)."

The approach of the women's movement in the elections is to press for demands in a clear and consistent manner and to support reformist candidates. We have not endorsed any one reformist candidate because we believe that both Karrubi and Mussavi would effectively respond to our demands. It is necessary here to mention that the Society of Reformist Women is backing the candidacy of Mirhossein Musavi. This society is made up of women aligned with the Participation Party (Hezb-e Mosharekat). Their decision is independent of the Convergence of Women’s efforts to put forward demands. We have decided not to endorse any one candidate because our coalition consists of people from different intellectual, religious, and political persuasions, ranging from secular to religious, Muslim to Zoroastrian, and others.

When you speak of changing the Constitution, which principles do you have in mind?

We are asking for a change to the discriminatory principles of the Constitution, including articles 19, 20, 21 and 115. For example, Article 19 states that all people of Iran, from any race or religion, are equal; it is necessary to add the term sex to this article as well so that the law stresses the equality of men and women.

In other articles and civil laws, the emphasis is placed on the role of women as mothers; we are demanding it be recognized that a woman is, first and foremost, a woman.

Article 115 stipulates that in order to qualify for presidential candidacy one must be among the “rejaal-e siyaasi,” which may be taken to mean “established politicians,” but which literally means “men of politics.” As a result, the Council of Guardians has deprived women of the right to candidacy; we are resolutely demanding that this principle be changed.

But didn’t the spokesperson of the Council of Guardians recently state that the Council had never interpreted the term in question as men and that the reason women had been disqualified was that they did not meet the conditions for candidacy?

The performance of the Council of Guardians for the last thirty years indicates that their interpretation of the term has been the literal one: "men." Over these thirty years many women have applied for candidacy and been disqualified, such as Ms. A`zam Taleghani and Ms. Raf`at Bayat, both of whom had previously served as Majles delegates. The general competency of these women was no less than many men who were deemed qualified. This very erroneous interpretation of the law has deterred many capable and qualified women such as Shirin Ebadi, Ms. Kula'i, Ms. Ebtekar and dozens of other successful women from entering this arena because they have been certain that they would be disqualified. The Convergence of Women Coalition considers this interpretation to be seriously detrimental to the political participation of women and is resolutely demanding a change in this article of the Constitution.

What is the strategy adopted by the Women's Coalition to realize these two demands? Do you have any solid plans to fulfill your demands or are you just focused on tabling the issue?

We are attempting to hold a meeting with the presidential candidates in order to elaborate on the demands made by the Iranian women's movement and to learn about their plans to respond to these demands. To do so, we have had meetings with Mr. Mehdi Karrubi, with Ms. Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mr. Mirhossain Musavi, and have also spoken with some of the advisors of these two candidates. You know, the important point here is that women activists in Iran have, for the first time, been able to agree on two major issues. Never before have women participated so extensively or played such an important role in the election. This is a great success. So at this stage what is important to us is to bring the subject of women’s issues to the table, but whatever the outcome, we are not going to take the results for. Furthermore, we have planned to form a committee to follow up with our demands and announced to the candidate that this committee will become active after the elections.

What has been the response by Mr. Karrubi and Mr. Musavi? Have they made any clear promises to  respond to women's demands?

We have not met with Mr. Musavi but have visited his wife, Ms. Rahnavard, who emphasized that women's demands would be seriously pursued by her husband, but she did not make any particular promise they would be followed up on. Mr. Karrubi, however, has been a more outspoken advocate of women’s rights, and has even promised that he would appoint five women ministers. In fact, both these candidates have promised to strive to satisfy women's demands.

Has there also been any discussion on how to satisfy women's demands? As you know, both of the demands made by women fall outside of the president's scope of power.

We understand that as head of the Executive branch, the president can only enforce the laws passed by the Majles and other state institutions, but we believe that the president possesses the power to wield influence on other institutions. For example, the bill for Iran's membership in CEDAW, which was passed by the Sixth Majles, has been deactivated by the committee which determines the suitability of a bill (Majma`-e tashkhis-e maslehat-e nezam.) The president, as an influential member of the Majma`, can demand that this bill be put back on the agenda and can push for its ratification. Therefore, at this stage we have tried to get the presidential candidates to commit to satisfying this important demand.

The experience in the last elections has shown that more women take part in elections than men, but this extensive turnout has not led to the satisfaction of women's demands. What innovative measures have the leaders of the Iranian women's movement taken to attract the support of masses of women for voting in favor of the candidate who pays more attention to women's demands?

I believe that in this round of elections the participation of women will be different from the previous elections. What is new in this election is a strong determination among a large number of women to change the status quo in favor of women. The One Million Signatures Campaign has made a remarkable effort to spread awareness among women of their entitlements. In fact, many who went out among the public to collect signatures were trying to make women aware of their rights, and we hope that this awareness raising will enhance the quality of women's participation in the elections. We trust that any Iranian woman's vote will be cast in favor of change for equality.

However another point we should note is that over the past years, women have been up against many obstacles. Numerous imprisonments, summons, and arrests of women have been detrimental to our ability to think about innovation and creativity. Despite innumerable hurdles and unbearable pressures, we have managed to institutionalize the demand for equality in this country. Today, a large number of women follow this important issue. We can now claim that the demand for equality has taken root. Fortunately, a very strong potential for change exists among women.

When I traveled to the province of Ilam for my research on the subject of self-immolation, I saw that women were seeking equality and justice, but because they were unable to find a way to effect change in the system around them, they were resorting to self-harm. Because they find themselves unable to change the unjust norms of their family and society, they set themselves on fire. Despite numerous emotional pressures against it, the capability for change has formed among women. When such potential exists, women's rights activists can express their demands more easily.

How much do fundamentalist women help you towards your goal?

Due to political reasons, they do not have a clear relationship with the Convergence of Women. However, we do share many concerns. For example, in the course of the passage of the controversial Family Support Bill, which was brought before the Majles by the Ahmadinejad Administration, fundamentalist women also placed a lot of effort into eliminating the objectionable articles of this bill. They even threatened the Majles that they would hold a rally and a sit-in.

Political reasons, as well as group and party interests, do not allow fundamentalist women to act more openly in advocating their demands. They would rather find solutions to their problems through lobbying.

Is there any established link for the raising of common demands between the Convergence of Women and other social movements such as the students', teachers' and workers' movements?

The Convergence of Women is made up of women teachers, workers, university students, professors and writers. Therefore, strong bonds have formed between women and other social movements. The present interaction between women and various guilds is what allows us to gain the upper hand in fulfilling women's demands.

How do you assess the effect that the victory of each of the candidates will have on the society of Iranian women?

The victory of any of the reformist candidates will have positive effects on the women's movement and on the satisfaction of their demands. Our assessment is that if Mr. Karrubi wins the election, he will focus more than other candidates on the civil rights of women and will respond to part of our demands. While Mr. Mussavi will also pay attention to the rights of women, he will likely attend more to the economic problems facing women and will respond better to this particular part of our demands.

What would be the implications of an Ahmadinejad or Reza`i victory?

The four-year performance of Ahmadinejad’s Administration speaks enough for itself. Unfortunately, over the past four years, conditions for women have become very difficult. Women have remained deprived of most civil rights and have been caught in a deplorable social situation. Not only were our long-held demands denied, but we were also deprived the relative freedom we had gained in the previous reformist administration. In fact, violent acts directed at women during Ahmadinejad's term have made the women's movement become all the more determined to bring about change.

How much do you feel this resolution has formed among masses of women too?

The masses of women have been in direct touch with problems over these four years. During this time, women have had no freedom to act and have tasted the bitter cup of oppression, so they can't afford to remain apathetic in this election. To attend meetings of the Convergence, women come from different cities these days; they make it clear they are here for change. The level of women's participation in meetings of the Convergence proves their firm resolution is aimed at bringing about change.