Women Before And After The Iranian Revolution Cultural Studies Essay

Women ahead And After The Persian Revolution Cultural Studies EssayCurrent Persian women must adhere to strictures of rationalize and regulation, including the veil (hijab) and full body coer song (chador). Yet this was not always the case. Prior to the Persian renewal the Shah began modernising the mooringulate of Iran and introducing womans rights. However, m whatsoever religious factions strongly disagreed with what they saw as a misdemeanor of Islamic culture. When the Islamic Re in the public eye(predicate) took over the monarch in 1979, they began to abrogate the tilts do to womens rights. This essay hopes to explain how education has contri howevered to the aw arness of many another(prenominal) urban Persian women to their oppressive state. It will explain Iranian women both pre and post Iranian revolution and will draw upon the different viewpoints Iranian women adjudge of Islam to emphasise the current state of Iranian rules of order. Finally it will not ion upon the Universal firmness of purpose of Human Rights and discuss how scholars of gender view the base of Iranian Woman.As noted by Elton Daniels, in Iran, strict ethnic rules and religious regulations dictate and govern the actions of Iranian woman in the public atomic number 18na. This is because Iranian women, especially married women, atomic number 18 seen as stay oning the honour of a family so, individual desires are often sacrificed to centre the husband and children as first responsibility. The Islamic majority rule incurs this role seriously and to ensure that women do uphold family honour, Iranian women must be chaper matchlessd by their husbands or male relatives at all times, lone women are either fined or imprisoned. Women are seen as the guardians of Irans moral code and in that locationfore there is much less exemption allowed to them and they must be constantly monitoring their public behaviour. umteen urban Iranian women feel themselves restricted b y oppressive attitudes and blamed for any misfortune that befalls Irans time-worn union. This tension is developing mainly in urban womens circles and is likely due to the increase of educated women who are becoming progressively aware of their situation.According to Daniels, in a bid to open itself up to the rest of the world during the 1930s (Pre-Iranian revolution), Iran was becoming an increasingly modernised state, therefore relaxing the religious and social strictures that bound and alienated Iranian women. more than schools and higher forms of education and governmental employment (especially in hospitals and schools) were being introduced to urban women and even after the Islamic Republic took over, they could not quell the ripening education of women. Urbanisation and the expansion of education offered women, mostly urban women, the chance to send their daughters to school. In 1936, the chador was banned in public places, which provided the change that was necessary f or encouraging women to participate openly in public life. semipolitical developments began to follow, including that of the White Revolution (1963), in which an act was passed that allowed Iranian women to participate politically. Furthermore, in the years between the White Revolution and the Iranian Revolution, several women were elected to the parliament and ministry of education.However, there was unrest between the growing modernising ideologies and the more traditionalistic rural Islamic views. The Shah was ruling autocratically and had alienated many sectors of society this eventually leading to his overthrow. The bourgeois continued to feel restricted by the lack of career and intellectual opportunities available to them and the religious sectors of Iran ru take by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini began to accuse the Shah of a corruption and distilling Islamic beliefs. The unhappiness that Iranians felt against the Shah led to a religious revival among Iranian society and the d estruction of the modernisation of Iranian culture. During revolt against the Shah, secular urban women and tradition rural women worked unitedly to protest absolute monarchy and many urban women donned the chador out of maintain for the traditional women.Yet, when the Iranian Revolution (1979) proved successful, and Islamic Republic took over as the existing form of government, the budding rights and freedoms for women were smothered. Khomeini decreed that wearing the chadar was now law many women lost their government jobs and it also became mandate to segregate both males and females in the public arena. Morality police were charge in place to ensure that such laws were stuck to. This marked a prodigious change for Iranian culture because onwards the Iranian revolution Islamic modesty was adhered to as religious sympathy, never before had such commands been made law.The current attitudes faced by many urban Iranian women are dictated by the edicts put in place post- Irania n Revolution. Many urban Women feel stifled by these laws and still remember a time when their life was not mandated. Although there have been cases of women receiving political bed between 1979 and 2011, many of those women were set up to appease the feminist battlefront and have no power within the government. Realising this, an increased number of Iranian women deploy secular feminist movements such as protesting their grievances through public mediums like the media and press, and civil insubordination. For example, deliberate improper wearing of the veil and Chador is practised by many young Iranian Women and is called bad hejabi. severely hejabi consists of wearing the veil differently than society norms, such as brilliantly coloured Chadors and crooked hijab, with hair showing. An interview with a young Iranian women explains the nature of bad hejabi Because of these (conservative) people and their aggressive thinking, I believe I am vulnerable to attack if I dont wear the hijab. If I was quick in a place where people could respect individual woof and not do me any harm, certainly I wouldnt wear it. I want to show I dont approve. Wearing bad-hejabi proves the desire felt by many young Iranian women to be free of their restricting patriarchal establishment and the religious control that they feel has no place in their lives.Contrary to bad-hejabi are the traditional women who see wearing Islamic dress as a matter of pride and representation of their religious society. Women that are pro-Islamic Republic believe that the laws surrounding women were based around the teachings of Mohammed in the Koran. mocking these laws would be questioning the foundations upon which many Iranian women live their life. The female professor Barzin Maknoun in charge of woman issues at the Institute for Cultural look and Studies states in Iran The problems have come up because women in the west are trying to be the same as men. Women work outside the home, but they al so have to take care of the children, because by nature shes the one who bears the children. The whole burden rests on women now, because theyre trying to be equal to men. and Islam says no to all this. Islam says the best thing for a woman is to be a wife and mother. That doesnt stop her having a job or a profession- she can do that if her husband agrees, but her first job is to take care of her children. And its the job of the man to take care of her. professionalfessor Maknoun represents the views held by many conservative Iranian women.However, the Islamic Republics attitude toward women seems to contradict the rights for women utter in Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The point of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was to ensure that every persons dignity was upheld worldwide. In relation to this view, many scholars of gender are mostly working in the west and there seems to be more interest in pro-feminism in academic circles. Pro feminist studies include Rebec ca Barlows article, prospects for feminism in the Islamic Republic of Iran, or from a analysis point of view similar to Mahnaz Koushas article, predictors of life pleasure among urban Iranian Women and Mitra K Shavarinis article, the feminisation of Iranian Higher commandment which deals with overall unhappiness and dissatisfaction of Iranian women. This research indicates an interest in the feminisation and oppression of Iranian women and less interest on the Islamic Republic as a legitimate form of government. Professor Marknoun was the only pro- Islamic Republic scholar found.In decision many urban Iranian women feel restricted by the hijab and chador due to the oppressive society they represent. Although there are circles of traditional women who view these forms of dress as a symbol of honour and family, wearing the hijab and chador, was originally a personal choice. However, this was before the Islamic Republic made many religious traditions into law upon the conclusion of the Iranian Revolution. A study of Iranian women pre and post Iranian revolution shows that the progressive education of women has contributed to the urban dissatisfaction of a Womens place in Iranian Society and that many scholars of Iranian Women take pro feminist angles.