The status of women in Iran since 1979: explaining the changes driven by the Revolution and Globalisation 2/3

Temps de lecture : 5 minutes

The Iranian government’s positions towards women: a constant oscillation between concessions and prohibitions

Illustrateur Nato Tardieu
August 28, 2019
Written by Deborah Rouach
Translated by Anaïs Loye-Marangone
The ambiguity of the postures defended by the Iranian regime and their strategies for controlling the status of women reveal the tensions that tear Iranian society apart. In this respect, it is important to take into account the diversity of the centres of power as well as the intertwining of political and religious powers which complicate and delay the evolution of the status of Iranian women, prisoners of this ambivalent system.
The government, a veritable police state, imposes a stifling system that suffocates the aspirations of society and maintains a climate of oppression against those who challenge the system, in order to maintain a monopoly on cultural progress. The dual legitimacy of the Iranian system, political and religious, democratic and authoritarian, blurs “the line between what is simultaneously public law, Islamic law and tradition^[1]ADELKHAH Fariba, Les paradoxes de l’Iran : idées reçues sur la République islamique, le Cavalier bleu, 2016. p. 29.”. This institutional complexity is a powerful weapon of governance that allows the Iranian regime to lock in its hold on society and works in favour of the conservatives of the Council of Guardians of the Constitution and the morality police, who are the true defenders of the word of the Leader.
If the issue of women’s status is central in Iran, it is because it plays a key role in the mullahs’ utopian vision of Muslim society, in which they have taken it upon themselves to define the role of women. The mullahs claim to be the guardians of women’s dignity and men’s honour, while they have circumscribed women to their gendered nature and the opportunity for temptation that they represent. In their conception of society, Iranian women embody the guardians of the country’s identity, and the discriminatory rules imposed on them thus represent the last bastion maintained by the Islamic Republic between a more Islamic than republican regime. “The fate of women is thus united with that of the republic^[2]KIAN-THIÉBAUT Azadeh, Les femmes iraniennes entre Islam, Etat et famille, Maisonneuve & Larose, 2002. p.100.”, as the conservatives are aware, and they are against the modernisation of the status of women in order to guarantee the respect of patriarchal authority in the private and public spheres and to avoid any democratisation of society. They claim that too rapid a modernisation would lead to disorder and chaos and would undermine national and religious cohesion and stability. They describe women’s demands as transgressions that are at the root of contemporary social ills, which is only a way of avoiding a challenge to the ‘marital harmony based on male dominance^[3]KIAN-THIÉBAUT Azadeh,« L’islam, les femmes et la citoyenneté », Pouvoirs, vol. 104, n°1, 2003, p. 71-84.”.
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic shows the prevalence of the religious^[4]Les articles 4, 8 et 20 de la Constitution traduite par PAPAN-MATIN Firoozeh, “The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1989 Edition)”, Iranian Studies, 47:1, 2014, p. 159-200. over the political, embodying absolute authority that advocates gender equality “but conditions it on compliance with religious precepts^[5]KIAN-THIÉBAUT Azadeh, Les femmes iraniennes entre Islam, État et famille, Maisonneuve & Larose, 2002, p. 78.”. Most of the clergy who interpreted these precepts favoured a conservative and obscurantist vision of Islam on the pretext that “God had deprived them [women] of certain rights and that no authority in this world could change this^[6]HOODFAR Homa et SADR Shadi, « Iran : politiques islamiques et femmes en quête d’égalité », Cahiers du Genre, vol. hs 3, n° 3, 2012, p. 47-67.” . In a country where the penal code is based on the interpretation of Sharia law, which legitimises their separation in the name of safeguarding a virtuous Muslim society devoid of decadence and corruption, gender equality is illusory. Religious identity prevails over the freedom of women whose duty is to raise their children in accordance with religion. Yet, as Chahla Chafiq argues, the religion is misogynistic and based on “the hierarchisation of the sexes [which] provides Islamism with the backbone of an order based on obedience^[7]Entretien de CHAFIQ Chahla mené par KACI Mina, « Les intégristes sont obsédés par le corps des femmes », L’Humanité, 21/11/2016, available on: … Continue reading ».
This exploitation of religion shows that the debate on the evolution of the status of women is above all political. The definition of the rights and prohibitions of Iranian women is a strategic issue exploited by the state, which adapts its discourse according to political circumstances such as electoral periods or periods of social tension. Debates on the status of women reveal the divisions within the religio-political landscape between reformers who want to move society towards greater modernisation and conservatives who defend a religious national identity whose perpetuation is partly based on restrictive norms against women. Under President Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989-1997), the divorce law was revised, women judges were reinstated in the family courts and the Office of Women’s Affairs was re-established. Under Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), there is a relaxation of the control of the morality police and “a change in the perception of the reforming elite^[8]KIAN-THIÉBAUT Azadeh, Les femmes iraniennes entre Islam, État et famille, Maisonneuve & Larose, 2002, p. 96.” regarding women’s capabilities.
In order to mitigate the demands, the government allows women to work while respecting a gendered segregation of public space that reinforces patriarchal domination. As Azadeh Kian-Thiébaut explains, “the form and nature of interactions between women and the authorities vary according to the issue at stake, the type of demands and the category of women who express them, and the support that the female population reserves for these initiatives^[9]KIAN-THIÉBAUT Azadeh, Les femmes iraniennes entre Islam, État et famille, Maisonneuve & Larose, 2002, p. 231.”. The pragmatism of the government is also described by Amélie Chelly^[10]Interview with Ms CHELLY Amélie, conducted on 05 June 2018 through the priority given to its credibility in ensuring that society remains under the authority of the Islamic Republic. Bernard Hourcade considers that one of the secrets of the regime’s longevity lies ‘in its capacity to understand what is happening and to be able, through repression and compromise, to find solutions to try to last over time^[11]DELORME Florian, with SALAMATIAN Ahmad, HOURCADE Bernard, CHAFIQ Chahla, Iran : 40 ans de révolution (1/4), Une théocratie qui plie mais ne rompt pas, France culture, February 4, 2019, 58’”. This attitude is essential given the “gap between the visible presence of women in society and their inferiority as expressed in the laws^[12]CHAFIQ Chahla, « L’islamisme à l’épreuve du genre », Islam politique, sexe et genre, Presses Universitaires de France, 2011, p. 151-184.”.
Government measures against Iranian women also depend on the country’s international relations, the way Iran thinks about its relationship with the world and the image the country wants to convey. This is illustrated by the importance of Iranian women in international bodies, which is supposed to strengthen the country’s diplomatic image. With the Iranian nuclear agreement, President Hassan Rohani wanted to attract foreign investment to boost the country’s economy. He had also promised to adopt a more flexible policy towards women^[13]KIAN-THIÉBAUT Azadeh, « Présidentielle en Iran : les femmes à l’offensive », The Conversation, 15/05/2017, available on: … Continue reading. However, his will is caught between two antagonistic dynamics, on the one hand his female electorate and on the other the conservatives in power who can oust him if he goes too far. The reaction of Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, president of the Council of Guardians, says a lot about the fears of the conservatives regarding the deepening of the country’s openness: “Be careful that the question of women and gender equality is not raised tomorrow!^[14]BEAUGÉ Florence, « Rien n’arrêtera les Iraniennes », Manière de voir, December 2016/January 2017, n°150, p. 24.”. Controlling the status of women is therefore a key issue for the authorities, who feel that giving women some leeway could trigger a general liberalisation movement that would reduce their scope for intervention. Indeed, the injustice of their condition and the violence of their repression has encouraged the birth of a solidarity between women who promote their rights to more freedom and autonomy, to the great displeasure of the government, which is not impervious to it.

To cite this article: Deborah Rouach, ” Comprendre les mutations qui affectent l’Iran à travers la question de la condition des femmes”, Mémoire de master, under the direction of Mr Thierry Coville, Iris Sup’, 2019, 56 p.