D25 01 Two Islamist Women

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WLUML Dossier 25 October 2003

DOSSIER 25

October 2003

Portraits of Two Islamist Women: Escape from

ree!om or from Tra!ition"1

Janet Afary

In the last two decades as the political landscape of the Middle East, North Africa,and Southeast Asia increasingly has become identified with conservative Islamistdiscourses, a number of feminist historians have tried to probe the contradictionsin an attempt to understand the underlying reasons for the growth of Islamism.Most of these studies, including writings by this author, have adopted a broadhistorical, political, or sociological lens through which gender relations and theconcerns of women of the region have been analyzed. In this article on Islamist

women of Iran, however, I wish to adopt a somewhat different perspective. I amnot looing at ran!and!file women who, willingly or not, ac"uiesced to theIslamist movement after the #$%$ &evolution. &ather, I am interested in a moreintimate, almost personal, e'ploration of the lives of two women who assumedleadership roles in the Islamist movement before the &evolution.

1(his article is a revised version of papers presented in August )**# at the+ellagio onference on Women and Gender in the Middle East: A Multidisciplinary

Assessment of the State of Theory & Research, the April #$$$ Annual &esearchonference of the -oint enter for International Studies Milwauee!Madison/,and the August )*** annual meeting of the American Sociological Association

0ashington, 1. ./. Special thans to Mar (essler, Michael hamberlain, 2auren2angman, Azar Nafisi, Abar Mahdi, +arma Sameian, Sherifa 3uhur, AmandaNeridge, Suad -oseph, and 4evin Anderson for their helpful comments, to5irmand 5assas, who provided me with valuable information from Iran on 3ahra&ahnavard, and to Saeed 1amadi for copies of Payam-e an and other 6ersianperiodicals. (he literature on gender relations is simply too broad to list here andincludes writings in English and 6ersian by numerous Iranian feminists, includingamong others Shahla 5aeri, 7al Moghadam, 5aideh Moghissi, Afsaneh Na8mabadi,and Nayereh (ohidi. 9or a more recent discussion of gender and the religious rightin the Middle East and the point of view of several historians, see the special issueof -ournal of 0omen:s 5istory; Women and !"th #entury Reli$ious Politics:%eyond undamentalism, vol. #*, no. < 0inter #$$$/. In particular see the

articles by Nii &. 4eddie, (he New &eligious 6olitics and 0omen 0orldwide; Aomparative Study,= pp. ##!>


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My point is that religious fundamentalist movements often have women inprominent positions, and their role is to help develop and popularize themovement:s gender ideology. (hese women are hardly subordinate in the obvioussense. Many 8oin the movement as a result of a complicated series of motivations,including a desire to end their own sense of loneliness and lac of power, a wishto appropriate certain aspects of modernity without alienating their traditional

milieu, or to gain authority over others.

(his type of study has been e'plored for other historical periods, and othercountries, as will be seen below. 5owever, it has not been easy for Iranianacademic feminists to carry out because of political considerations inside Iran.Cutside Iran, it has been emotionally wrenching due to the wide ideological,political and geographical/ gulf that has separated us for over twenty years. Andyet the changes that have been going on in Iran since #$$%, the emergence of astrong &eformist movement that includes many advocates of women:s rights whohave ties to the Islamist movement, and the new discourse on Islamic feminism,all mae it imperative to conduct precisely this type of study.

I also wish to draw on the particular insight I have gained from years of studyingand teaching Erich 9romm and other theorists of the 9ranfurt School. I believethat 9romm:s analysis of authoritarianism in the #$>*s and #$


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of the father in the modern family was a contributing factor to the growth offascism in several ways. 9irst, it contributed to an an'iety over rapid downwardmobility as well as anger toward those deemed responsible for this social andeconomic loss. Second, the loss of status of the traditional patriarch, due to amyriad of socio!economic factors, helped fascist movements because they couldclaim to be the defenders of traditional patriarchy. (hey symbolically too the

place of the father by calling for a restoration of national @pride and dignity.=3

(he basic human desire for identity and rootedness now manifested itself ine'treme forms of nationalism and fascism. Cne type of response for individualswas @to become one with the world by submission to a person, to a group, to an

institution, to od.=4It was to transcend one:s loneliness and individual e'istence

@by becoming part of some body or something bigger than= oneself.5A secondway was to e'press one:s desire for connectedness by moving in the oppositedirection, toward domination over others. An individual could @try to unite himselfwith the world by having power over it, by maing others a part of thisconstructed world and thus transcending a sense of individual e'istence through

domination.=

6

(hrough this symbiotic relation of submissionHdomination, a form ofsadomasochism, the individual gained a sense of attachment, direction, and

power, though not necessarily a sense of integrity.7

Andrea 1worin and Elinor +urett, who have studied right!wing women in theDnited States, suggest a similar pattern of uprootedness, loss of integrity, andultimately symbiotic attachment to a conservative movement. (he individualcompletely submits to a higher principal, while also dominating others. 1worinargues that women who have been ept @ignorant of technology, economics, mostof the practical sills to function autonomously= find themselves mystified inmarried life, especially in an abusive and lonely one. 0omen such as MarableMorgan and Anita +ryant, who later became stars in the religious right, regularly

lectured on how they transformed their sense of helplessness by total submissionto -esus the church/. At the same time, their new responsibilities and their needto travel, preach, and @carry out the wor of od= relieved them from manydomestic chores, additional pregnancies, and even a confining marriage, but

without e'periencing divorce and its stigma.8

My focus in this article is the comple' underlying patterns ofsubmissionHdomination that compelled two Iranian women, 3ahra &ahnavard andMarziyeh 1abbagh, to become followers of Ayatollah &uhollah 4homeini and 8oin

the leadership of the religious right before the #$%$ &evolution.9 I am not

32auren 2angman, ' (ate, Therefore ' Am, Social (hought and &esearch, vol. )#,

nos. #!) #$$/; #G$.49romm, Escape from reedom, p. #BG.

7Ibid. 9or a discussion of this for contemporary society, see 2ynn S. hancer,romm, Sadomasochism, and #ontemporary American #rime, pp. >#!/, p. )$?and Elinor +urett, The Ri$ht Women: A *ourney Throu$h the (eart of#onser+ati+e America New For; Simon and Schuster, #$$$/.

9Elsewhere I have looed at the historical, as well as social and political reasonsfor the rise of Islamism in Iran and the Middle East in the last two decades. Morerecently I have written on the new feminist movement that gradually is

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Payam-e an is not the only women:s 8ournal of Iran, nor is it an enormouslypopular one. 5owever, the 8ournal does not have to rely on subscriptions oradvertising to sustain itself, since the government amply funds it. +ut Payam-ean has to compete for readers with the more popular women:s 8ournals such asan-e Ru0 (oday:s 0oman/, which has a greater variety of articles, andespecially with the more independent anan 0oman/, which publishes writings

by 0estern and Iranian feminists. In contrast to these latter 8ournals, Payam-ean has adhered to two principles throughout its e'istence. 9irst, it sees feminismas an e'pression of 0estern immorality because it recognizes a woman:s right tose'ual pleasure and challenges a husband:s uncontested right to en8oy his wife:sbody at will. Second, it claims 0estern imperialism has used feminism to invadeand destroy Muslim societies. 9or e'ample, a #$$> article,A )oo/ at the 1ri$insof #ultural 'n+asion, argues that; 0hat colonialism and its laceys haveaccomplished Jin the Muslim worldK is the unveiling of women, along withdebauchery, inappropriate Jgender relationsK, together with foolish freedoms ofthe modern woman. All of these are gifts of Europe. (o accomplish these deedsand to fight ethics and virtue, colonialism has used the most dangerous weapon,women. (he great 6rophet of Islam is said to have predicted that, @after Jmy

deathK women will be the cause of great sedition JfetnahK among men.=11A #$$Barticle, eminism: A Repeat of ailed E2periences, states that;

9eminists argue that a distinction should be made between se' for pleasure andse' for procreation, which means that they now JclaimK the right to se'ualpleasure. J(hey also believe thatK birth control and a woman:s right to abortionare necessary in order for women to gain se'ual pleasure; (he other issue ...they raise is women:s readiness and willingness Jfor se'K. (hey say a husbanddoes not have the right to en8oy his wife whenever he pleases. 5is wife alsoshould be willing. +ased on this argument, feminists have demanded the abolition

of marriage because marriage is an obstacle to Jwomen:sK seeing pleasure.12

After the election of reformist 6resident Mohammad 4hatami in #$$%, Payam-ean edged away from the above hard!line positions. (he 8ournal began to publisharticles by leading Muslim 8urists in defense of women:s greater participation in

society, including the right to become 8udges.13(he 8ournal also has publishedarticles on gender discrimination around the world. And it has condemnedtogether with many others in the Islamic &epublic/ the policies of the (alibanregime, which have forced women out of public life in Afghanistan. Nevertheless,Payam-e an remains "uite conservative by contemporary standards, even withinIran.

In the late #$$*s, a new generation of theologians, secular intellectuals, andfeminists has called for a reform of the orthodo' conservative interpretation ofShia Islam and its reconciliation with democratic principles. 5uman rights lawyersMehrangiz 4ar and Shirin Ebadi and feminist poet Simin +ehbahani 8oinedfilmmaers (ahmineh Milani and &ahshan +ani E:temad to challenge thenumerous gender ine"uities in the Islamic &epublic. anan, edited by ShahlaSheret, is part of this growing effort by women writers and 8ournalists. (his newgeneration of feminists is fighting for an end to polygny, for a woman:s right tosue for divorce, her rights to retain custody of minor children and share commonmarriage property upon divorce, and civil liberties for both women and men.anan is a literary and cultural magazine with an e'plicitly feminist agenda and

11Payam-e an, vol. ), no. G Shahrivar #>%) JAugustHSeptember #$$>K/; #*.12Payam-e an, vol. %< JMarchHApril #$$BK/; #%.13Payam-e an, vol. B, no. #) Esfand #>%B J9ebruaryHMarch #$$%K/;


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has regular features on divorce, se'ual violence, and child custody. anan also

translates articles from 8ournals such as Ms3 Ma$a0ine in the Dnited States.14

In contrast, while some of the writers of Payam-e an8oined the camp of Muslimfeminists after the election of 4hatami in #$$%, the editorial board has continuedto defend the chief religious authority, or fa"ih, LAli 4hamenehi, who is believed tooppose such reforms. (he 8ournal has remained e"ually unrelenting in itsdenunciations of the Dnited States, Israel, and 0estern cultural values as a

whole.15Nonetheless Payam-e an is a uni"ue source for learning about womenwho are in the leadership of the Islamic &epublic.

+etween #$$) and )***, Payam-e an conducted a series of interviews withnearly one hundred women, including parliamentary deputies, heads of variousgovernment agencies, 8ournalists, and other professionals who wor closely withthe government of the Islamic &epublic. Among others, these included; Ma8lisIranian 6arliament/ deputy Marziyeh 1abbagh? 1irector of the 0omen:sMobilization J+asi8K Crganization Mohtaram -amali? leaders of the 0omen:s

Society of the Islamic &epublic such as 3ahra &ahnavard and 9ereshteh Irani? +I6member Czra Ansari? 1irector of the 0omen:s +ureau Shahla 5abibi? 1irector ofthe 9amily 6rogram for the 7oice J&adioK of the Islamic &epublic Simin Ahmadi?1irector of the 5ouse of 3ahra Jan educational institute in 4ashanK 9atemahNahid? 1irector of the 9oundation for the Martyrs of the Islamic &epublic 9atemah4arubi? and various women theologians, women war veterans, mothers andsisters of veterans, village activists, teachers, and worers. (heir ideologicalcredentials are approved by the most conservative wing of the government, andannually many of them are awarded such titles as teacher or worer of the year.

(he lengthy interviews sometimes appear in two to three instalments. (hey focuson the respondents: personal lives parents, level of education, marriage andfamily/ and political accomplishments. In evaluating these interviews, one shouldconsider the fact that those who are interviewed as well as the 8ournalists whoconducted them and the editors who published them/ are constructing narrativesthat fit the 8ournal:s model of a proper Islamist woman. (he stories often seem toembellish the women:s previous religiosity and political commitment ande'aggerate their economic deprivation before the &evolution. 5owever, at thesame time the interviews seem accurately to portray many personal details of thewomen:s lives. Somewhat parado'ically, they present the respondents as activemembers of society, although most of whom hardly fit the image of docile andfull!time mothers and housewives, the very image that the Islamic &epublic has

propagated during the last two decades.16

At least two distinct types of stories emerge from these interviews. (hey includeyounger respondents who, at the time of the &evolution, were in their twentiesand tended to belong to urban lower middle class families. Many were the first intheir families to attend colleges and universities. Members of this group 8oinedthe Islamist movement as a reaction against the modern and secular values theyencountered at school and at wor and hoped to maintain the traditional ethicalvalues they had learned at home. (he way in which they embraced conservativemores could be considered a form of @escape from freedom.= At the same time,they remained committed to an advanced education and to professionalemployment for women, even after the &evolution. 0hen these students realized

14Afary, The War A$ainst eminism, p. ##*.15

Payam-e an, vol. %, no. #* 1ey #>%% J1ecember #$$H-anuary #$$$K/; .

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that the new government was unwilling or incapable of realizing their ideal notionof a 8ust Muslim society for both men and women, some shifted their attentionspecifically to women:s issues. (he second group is comprised of women who, atthe time of the &evolution, were in their thirties and forties, and most were frommore traditional or rural bacgrounds. Several had entered an arranged marriageat a young age and moved to larger cities with their husband, where they were

e'posed to new gender relations and e'pectations. -oining the Islamistmovement offered them social mobility, and for the truly committed, somefreedom from the traditional roles of mother and housewife. (hese highlyconservative women became political activists, lived outside their homes, andeven traveled abroad without e'periencing the conventional stigma of separationand divorce. +ecause they owed their newly found freedoms to 4homeini:sadvocacy of an activist and militant Islam, many became his most ardentsupporters.

5owever, their commitment to women:s rights always remained nominal at best.(hey were first and foremost committed to creating an Islamist state and wereinterested in recruiting women in order to attain their ideological goals. Ironically,

members of both groups gained their initial standing in the Islamic &epublic bytelling other women that their loyalty first and foremost should be to theirhusbands, children, and Islamic family values, something they themselves havenot practiced either before or after the &evolution. Nearly all the womeninterviewed by Payam-e an come across as astonishingly busy. (hey hold full!time 8obs, are responsible for a variety of volunteer committees andorganizations, and often attend graduate school.Immediately the "uestion is raised; 0ho is taing care of their husbands andchildren while these women dedicate themselves to propagating the foundationalideology of the Islamic &epublic that a woman:s first responsibility is to herhusband and family (he fact is that none of them, whether single, married, or

divorced is a traditional mother or housewife.17 9ereshteh Erabi, editor of the

conservative women:s 8ournal Neda says that she is an active member of theentral ouncil of the 0omen:s Association of the Islamic &epublic. 6reviously,she held the position of public relations officer in the organization, and is noweditor of several other publications as well. Erabi is married with three school!

aged children.18Simin Ahmadi graduated with a degree in sociology, wors at&adio 7oice of the Islamic &epublic, and runs its family programs. She plans tocontinue her education and receive an advanced degree in sociology. She is also

the mother of three children.19(ayebeh Sultani heads the 5ouse of 3ahra 6ublicityAssociation. (his organization offers a variety of classes in arts and Islamiceducation for women. (ayebeh is partly disabled. She has two children and is

preparing herself to tae the very difficult university entrance e'aminations. 201espite their hectic lives, all repeat the slogan of the hard!liners that women

must not spend much of their time away from home and abandon their childrento the care of others.

If the respondents are married, the magazine ased them fairly detailed"uestions about their daily lives and how they 8uggle their responsibilities to

17Margot +adran writes of a somewhat similar phenomenon in the earlier Arabwomen:s 8ournals, when, @portraits of women famous for their publicachievements, undermined the press:s own cult of domesticity.= See hereminists, 'slam, and the .ation: Gender and the Ma/in$ of Modern E$ypt.6rinceton; 6rinceton Dniversity 6ress, #$$B/, GB.

18Payam-e an, vol.), no. > Mordad #>%) J-uly!August #$$>K/; #%) J-uly!August #$$>K/; #G!BB.20Payam-e an, vol. ), no. B Mordad #>%) J-uly!August #$$>K/; )*!>>.

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husband and family with their political commitments and organizationalobligations. If the respondents are widows, and especially if the husbands areconsidered martyrs either because they were illed in the Iran!Ira" 0ar or weretargets of a terrorist bombing/, there is detailed discussion of their married livesbefore the tragedy and a close e'amination of the difficulties that they faceraising their children alone. 5owever, in a fair number of cases, the reporters

never ased the standard "uestions about husband, children, and householdduties. (his omission suggests that the respondents very liely may be single ordivorced. Fet readers never learn how these highly prominent women, who areoften over thirty, negotiate their daily lives or with whom they live. 1id they get adivorce, and if so, why And why have they chosen to remain single after adivorce or even after the death of their husband In such cases no personal"uestions are ased. In fact some of the women who are in leadership positionsare single, divorced, or widowed. (heir commitment is almost entirely to theideological goals of the Islamic &epublic, rather than to husbands and familymembers, but Payam-e an does not openly acnowledge this fact. Among thosewho did share their personal stories, the narratives of 3ahra &ahnavard andMarziyeh 1abbagh, two women prominent during the most conservative period of

the Islamic &epublic and members of two different generations, are particularlyinformative. (he remainder of this paper will focus on their stories, which suggestthat between rebellion against traditional patriarchal values and adherence tomodern feminist ones lay many alternatives.

Rahnavard and the Retreat from Modernism and Secularism

1r. 3ahra &ahnavard is married to Mir 5osain Musavi, a protg of 4homeini inthe early years of the Islamic &epublic, and a former 6rime Minister. She has anMA in the arts and a 6h.1. in politics. She is the author of a number ofpublications on art, literature, poetry, religion, and politics. 5er writings havebeen translated into (urish, Arabic, Drdu, and English. (hese include essays withtitles such as, @The 5prisin$ of Moses,6 7The #olonial Moti+es for the 5n+eilin$ ofWomen,6 7The %eauty of the 8eil, and the 8eil of %eauty,6 7The Philosophy of'slamic Art,6 7'slam, Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Arts,6 and @Women,

'slam, and eminism in 'mam 9homeinis Thou$ht3=21&ahnavard also has heldseveral e'hibits of her artistic wors. 5er large sculpture, @Mother,= is situated

prominently in the middle of a busy (ehran s"uare.22In -anuary #$$$ she becamepresident of the influential al!3ahra 0omen:s ollege in (ehran previously called

Madreseh!ye Ali!ye 1ohtaran/, at present the only women:s university in Iran.23

&ahnavard was born in a religious family with Sufi inclinations and defines her life

as a constant struggle between @modern and traditional= values.24

She grew up inthe early #$B*s in a large e'tended family where forty to fifty relatives O unclesand aunts, nieces and nephews, parents and grandparents O all lived in one largehouse. +oth her powerful grandmother, who headed the clan after her

grandfather:s death, and her mother were intensely religious.25Crthodo' Shi:ismis a religion of rituals and one:s piety is measured by one:s observance of suchrituals. &ahnavard describes her grandmother as a scrupulous observer of the

219or a list of &ahnavard:s publications, I am grateful to 5irmand 5assass.

22(he statue has been controversial among modern architects and artists. 9or acriticism, see Sima 4uban, Tehran ers-e pedar-e /asi nist, 4etab!e (ahran, vol. %.

23See Payam-e an, vol. %, no. $ Azar #>%% JNovemberH1ecember #$$K/; )$.24Payam-e an, vol. >, no. B Mordad #>%> J-ulyHAugust #$$


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religious rituals of pollution and purification. She was a constant presence in theirlives and insisted that the grandchildren follow her e'ample. She also too themto visit the shrines of Shia saints; @(hrough religious narratives she repeated the

lessons of ritual purity and cleanliness over and over.=26&ahnavard:s mother camefrom an artisan family. She believed that all actions on earth were preordained byod and were a daily response to the worldly sins we committed; @If my foot hitthe door accidentally and hurt she would immediately as, L0hat sin have you

committed: She constantly reminded us of od:s punishments.=27

&ahnavard:s father was a military instructor at the 0ar Academy who was tornbetween his religious devotions, his tribal affiliations, and his commitment to themilitary and the nation. 5is resentment toward American military officers in Iran

eventually led to his forced retirement at age forty. 28 5e then began to giveclandestine military instructions to religious dissidents who had 8oined the campof 4homeini. Cn the maternal side, &ahnavard:s family claimed to be related toNavvab Safavi #$)>!BG/ the influential religious leader of the militant 9eda:iyan!e Islam, the group responsible for the assassination of the prominent historian,

Ahmad 4asravi, in #$, no. B Mordad #>%> J-ulyHAugust #$$


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what they considered to be her irrational, simple, and mystical beliefs.33 Shereports that at the (eachers: (raining ollege of (ehran, one of her teachersaccused Muslims who participated in the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and circledthe shrine of the 4a:bah of actually being @idol= worshippers, something severely

proscribed by Islam.34

Iranian society had e'perienced a period of greater political freedom from #$. A number of liberal and left!wing political parties, such as the socialdemocratic National 9ront or the pro!Soviet (udeh 6arty were formed in thisperiod and attracted tens of thousands of young students to their rans. After theprogressive nationalist government of 1r. Mohammad Mosade" was overthrown ina D.S.!+ritish orchestrated coup in August #$B>, the reinstated Mohammad &ezaShah 6ahlavi banned political parties and set up an e'tremely authoritarianpolitical system. Many leftwing and liberal activists of the #$


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verses everywhere ... if someone, in describing an event, said that such and suchan incident was good, I would be baffled by their ability to 8udge. ood and badwere ambiguous terms to me. I would as, Pby what measure is it good or bad:and my friends would laugh at me... I only had one clear classification in mymind. +ased on my old teachings in the family I divided all events and things intotwo types; 0orldly and odly. 9oods, ob8ects, colors, accidents, people, shapes,

even times of the day, clothing, directions, were either of a material, worldlynature or of a godly nature.37

&ahnavard, who was brought up in a strict religious environment, whereeverything and everyone had its proper place, had entered a new phase of herlife. She was being influenced by her teachers and her more modernistclassmates to abandon some of her basic religious beliefs, re!evaluate others, anddevelop a new secular concept of ethics that was in more harmony with thee'pectations of a modern world. Dnable to do so, she initially withdrew intoherself and her studies, while her sense of isolation from others intensified.Eventually, she turned to religious studies. +y the late #$G*s, &ahnavard hadfound a group of lie!minded friends, both inside and outside the university, and

had become an Islamist political activist. In #$G$, she married Mir 5usseinMusavi, who shared her strong religious devotion and criticism of 0estern culturalvalues; @I thought he was a godly person whose eyes were focused on the

heavenly horizon. (here was something in him other than materiality.=38 (heymarried in a very simple ceremony. She wore no wedding gown and there was nocustomary feast for friends; @0e were not happy. 5ow could one be happy whenthe fully armed government tortured the youth= It was @8ust the union of twopeople who were moving in the same JpoliticalK direction,= a struggle to the point

of @martyrdom.=39In this description of her marriage, she, therefore, plays downany se'ual or emotional feelings and also the fact that this was a non!traditionalmarriage, hardly arranged.

Eventually, &ahnavard 8oined the circle of Ali Shariati, the Sorbonne educatedMuslim theologian, whose lectures at the 5oseiniyeh Ershad (heologicalSeminary, as well as his publications, helped to galvanize a new generation ofstudents. Shariati called for a revolutionary interpretation of Shi:ism, one thatwas based on social 8ustice and concern for others. 5e advised the acceptance of0estern technology and science, but re8ected much of the rest of 0estern

culture, particularly its se'ual mores.40In the early #$%*s, &ahnavard began toteach art to women at the 5oseiniyeh Ershad. +y #$%#.

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the Islamist wing. She returned to Iran shortly before the &evolution and through

Musavi:s personal ac"uaintances, 8oined the circle of 4homeini supporters.42

Erich 9romm had turned to 1ostoyevsy:s The %rothers 9arama0o+ to e'press acommon human sentiment, wherein a person has @no more pressing need thanthe one to find someone to whom he can surrender, as "uicly as possible, that

gift of freedom which, he, the unfortunate creature was born with.=43Eliminatingthe self!reduced burden of freedom. 9romm argued that, for some individuals,

@moral aloneness= and @lac of relatedness to values, symbols, and patterns=were as @intolerable as psychical aloneness.= As a result, human beings turned to

@religion or nationalism for refuge from what man most dreads; isolation.=442iewise a generation of Iranian students though not all/ willingly placed theirfate, and that of their nation, in 4homeini:s hands. (he radical intellectual rupturewith modernity and the tas of rebuilding Iran after the Shah:s departure weresimply awesome pro8ects. Many un"uestioningly followed 4homeini:s leadership,claiming he could build an entirely different society by returning to traditionalreligious values and breaing decisively with the cultural legacy of the 0est. As a

young urban Iranian woman who lived in Iran in the #$%*s, I also remember theintense sense of alienation that my classmates and I e'perienced. (he newreforms in education, health, and hygiene, the possibility of attending college anddelaying marriage, and the new mass media that e'posed us to the more opengender roles of the 0est, all alerted us to new social and economic choicesavailable to women. (hese changes had begun to redefine gender relations,family values, and the whole concept of se'ual morality. &ahnavard belonged tothis generation of Iranian women who attended modern schools, went to theuniversity, and lived a life that seemed to offer many new choices, certainly morethan those available to her mother and grandmother. +y becoming a politicalactivist in the Islamist movement, &ahnavard found a compromise solution. Sheretained many of the old ethical principals, without abandoning her desire for newones, such as an advanced education or professional and economic progress for

women.

Mariyeh Da!!agh" Esca#e from $radition $hrough Militant Shi%ism

In contrast to &ahnavard, Marziyeh 5adidchi 1abbagh belongs to an oldergeneration of women who became politically active years after marriage.Although she does not acnowledge it, her activism allowed her to brea throughthe limitations of tradition and channel her energy and creativity into newdirections. In the process, 1abbagh crafted a very different identity for herself,though she seemed to have convinced herself and others that it was all for the

sae of 4homeini and Islam, rather than any autonomy developed on her part.

1abbagh was a confidante of 4homeini in 6aris in #$% and also served as one ofhis bodyguards. She participated in the Iran!Ira" 0ar #$#!#$/, serving as amilitary commander on the battleground. She later served four terms in the Ma8lisuntil )***. In the late #$*s she went to Moscow, as part of a delegation to

42(hans to 1r. Abar Mahdi for information on &ahnavard:s activities in theDnited States in #$%G!%%.

43 uoted in Neil Mc2aughlin, Nazism, Nationalism, and the Sociology of

Emotions; Escape from 9reedom &evisited, Sociological (heory, vol. ##$$G/; )


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negotiate with Mihail orbachev. 9or much of the last two decades, she has

headed the Islamist 0omen:s Society, which is affiliated with the government.45

1abbagh, was raised in a very strict and traditional family in the western city of5amadan in the early #$


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when 4homeini was e'iled Jto Ira"K not much later, I truly became ill. 9or about


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In #$%), the Sava arrested 1abbagh, who then was in her thirties, and severely

tortured her.55After a second detention, when her health clearly began to fail,Sava officers decided to release her. It was not politically prudent to have amother of eight seven girls and a boy by this time/ martyred in the Shah:sprisons. Soon 1abbagh left Iran for Europe? she traveled to England and 9rancewhere she participated in hunger stries on behalf of Iranian prisoners. She wentto Saudi Arabia and distributed 4homeini:s clandestine fliers among Muslimpilgrims in Mecca. In Syria, she helped set up a military camp where anti!Shahcombatants were trained. 0ith the help of dissident Shia cleric Imam Musa Sadr,a 6alestinian commando Abu!-ihad/, and the activist 1r. Mustafa hamran,1abbagh trained a new generation of young Iranian combatants in paramilitarytactics. She recounts that @after completion of guerrilla and destruction tactics=they secretly were sent bac to Iran via the 6ersian ulf, often armed with

e'plosives.561uring these years, her parents and her married oldest daughterraised her children. 1abbagh tells us that her husband, who was supportive of herpolitical activities, played only a nominal role in the life of the children. 5e held a

8ob in the southern city of Ahwaz, away from the family, and visited only everytwo or three months. (hus, in effect, neither the mother nor the father of

1abbagh:s children was living with them in the seven years before the&evolution.57

In #$%, after 4homeini was e'pelled from Ira" and went to 9rance, 1abbaghfinally got her wish. She 8oined him in 6aris and became his close advisor,bodyguard, and houseeeper. 1abbagh, who had adored 4homeini for much ofher adult life, remembered a special night in 6aris as the best memory of her life;

(he best and the most beautiful night of my life was the night I entered the houseof the Imam Jin 9ranceK and I was given the responsibility of running it. I trulycould not go to sleep until morning? I ept saying to myself, PMarziyeh, is it youould it be that od had been so ind as to place on your shoulders theresponsibility of being a slave JenizK at the house of the Imam: Afterperforming my prayers I was sitting and thining when I heard the rattling of teaglasses in the itchen. I "uicly went to the itchen and saw that the reat Imamhad brewed tea. 5e had placed a tea glass and a saucer in a tray and with hisblessed hands was carrying it to his room. I said, P5a8i A"a, why you: 5e said,PI wanted to lend a hand to my wife.: I too the tray from his hands and carried it

myself to the room. I will never forget this memory.58

1abbagh, the revolutionary woman who left her husband and children to the careof her parents and her older daughter, who lived a clandestine life for years, andwho travelled abroad to train commandos, has two passionate memories in herlife; the night in #$G> when she first dreamt of 4homeini and received her

@calling,= and the night in #$% when she e'changed common words with him in a6aris itchen. Even years after his death, the adoring sentiments that 1abbaghe'presses toward 4homeini are very similar to what 9romm terms theauthoritarian character. 9ollowers were told repeatedly that @the individual isnothing and does not count. (he individual should accept his personalinsignificance, dissolve himself in a higher power, and then feel proud in thestrength and glory of this higher power.= (heir idealism should lead them to

willingly become a @dust particle= in this higher order.591abbagh e'presses this

55Ibid., pp. )B!)G.56Ibid., p. ).

57Ibid.58Ibid., p. %B.599romm, Escape from reedom, p. )>#.

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same desire for total annihilation in morbid terms, @I always wished someone cutme up and made a carpet of me for under his feet. My feelings about him werethe same until his death and will always remain the same. I wish we died and he

lived and led society.=60

$he Islamic Re#u!lic& $'enty (ears )ater

+oth &ahnavard and 1abbagh held important positions in Iran, and both headedwomen:s organizations. 1espite their similarities, in many ways they represent adichotomy that e'ists in the leadership of the Islamic &epublic and hasmanifested itself more clearly since Mohammad 4hatami was first electedpresident in #$$%. &ahnavard and other highly educated Islamist women, fore'ample, had hoped that their early devotion to the &evolution would assurethem leadership roles in the post!revolutionary society. Soon after the &evolution,&ahnavard became a founder of the 0omen:s Society of the Islamic &epublic0SI&/, along with Azam (ale"ani daughter of Ayatollah Mahmoud (ale"ani/,

and also a founder of the Islamist 0omen:s Society. She was an editor of Rah-eayna, a popular women:s 8ournal that before the &evolution was calledEttelaat-e %anuan J0omen:s NewsK. +ut when 0SI& criticized the hard!linerswithin the government because of their policy of forced Islamization, including themandatory observance of hi8ab by women and girls, the government clampeddown on her and other Islamist advocates of women:s rights? Islamic &epublican6arty I&6/ supporters attaced chapters of the 0SI& in (ehran and several other

cities in May #$#.61

More orthodo' members of the I&6/, such as 1abbagh, were given greaterauthority in women:s affairs. (hese were women whose primary dedication wasdirectly to 4homeini. (hey mobilized women in his service and for the Islamist

movement, rather than for women:s issues. It too over a decade before&ahnavard:s embrace of a few feminist concerns matched her political leadershipin women:s organizations.

In the first decade after the &evolution, she used her considerable oratorical sillsand talents as writer to propagate Islamist values in Iran and abroad. In one ofher best!nown publications, a travelogue she wrote during her state visit toIndia in #$G when her husband was prime minister/, her polemics against5induism, 0estern feminism, and more liberal interpretations of Islam show her

intolerance toward other competing ideologies and religious perspectives.62

&ahnavard is concerned with the plight of India:s Muslims and the abuses that the

5indu upper!caste population has visited on Muslims and lower caste 5indus.&ahnavard also speas of the plight of Indian women. Cne finds scatteredreferences to @dowry burnings,= when wives who have not brought enough dowryto their husband:s house @accidentally= catch fire in the itchen and die. All of thiscould have made her a strong advocate of women:s rights. Cne could argue thatby calling attention to the plight of Indian women, she also is implicitly criticizingthe violence against women in Muslim societies. +ut one "uicly realizes that shedoes not develop a parallel understanding between the abuses that women andMuslims face in 5indu India, and those that dissident Muslim women and non!

60Payam-e an, vol. #, no. ## +ahman #>%# J-anuaryH9ebruary #$$>K/; %


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housewor, and that he is basically in charge of their daughters: affairs, leaving

her to pursue her intellectual and social interests.68In #$$$ her oldest daughterwas in graduate school studying nuclear medicine, the second one was graduating

with an MA in the arts, and the youngest one was in high school.69

Since #$$%, &ahnavard has adopted a more progressive stance on certainwomen:s issues, even if she continues to insist that the 0est commodifieswomen, while @true Islam= does not. In one of her latest interviews with thefeminist 8ournal anan, she complained that Iranian women are treated as the

@second se',= presumably a reference to Simone de +eauvoir:s boo by the sametitle. She now ass for laws to punish se'ual abuse, rape, and murder of womenby male relatives. She speas out against wife battery, demands that women begiven custody of their children after divorce, and celebrates the fact that in #$$a ma8ority of those who were admitted to the universities B).# percent/ were

women.70Seemingly, her views have undergone a significant change. 1abbaghhad a more prominent career after the &evolution. She too over the ueenMother:s 7olvo, thus symbolically anointing herself Mother of the &evolution, and

immediately became involved in repression of the opponents of the newtheocracy. She 8oined the 6asdaran paramilitary group and too an active role indestroying all rival organizations, from the 4urdish 4omeleh and 1emocrat partiesto the secret cells of the leftist 6eople:s 9eda:iyan and the left Islamist 6eople:s

Mo8ahedin organizations.71She was a founder of the 0omen:s Au'iliary branch ofthe +asi8 Mobilization/, a volunteer militia of mostly young men and boys whoare recruited to defend the values of the &evolution against e'ternal and internalenemies. 1abbagh:s women:s organization helped recruit these youth andprovided them with food and other basic necessities.

1abbagh also is proud that through her efforts scores of Islamist mothers andsisters betrayed their sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, who had 8oined

rival political organizations, such as the 6eople:s Mo8ahedin and the 6eople:s9eda:iyan.72Cn this activity, she said;

0e were able to gather these women from various communities and set upclasses for religious discussions for them in the Mos"ue. In this way we turnedthem into loyal informants. I ased them to report to us immediately when menin their family held meetings or invited JstrangersK to the home. I remember onenight that si' group homes Jof presumably the 9eda:iyan or Mo8ahedin dissidentsKwere revealed to us by the mothers and sisters of the JactivistsK themselves. Curtroops circled the houses and destroyed them. It was a very successful

e'perience that later was repeated in other provinces.73

In addition to serving as Ma8lis deputy for four terms, 1abbagh headed theconservative Islamist 0omen:s Society of the Islamic &epublic, the sameorganization that &ahnavard and the younger generation of women originally hadfounded. In the parliament and as leader of this association, 1abbagh proposedseveral laws related to women such as legal child custody rights for wives of

68Mir!5osain Musavi, &ahnavard:s husband, was criticized while he was primeminister because of her pre!revolutionary conduct? pictures of her dressed in aminisirt were reprinted in order to discredit him. Information from Azar Nafisi,personal communication, )***.695irmand 5assas, personal communication, #$$$.70anan, vol. %, no. B# 9arvardin #>% JMarchHApril #$$$K/; $.

71Payam-e an, vol. ), no. > 4hordad #>%) JMay!-une #$$>K/; % and ##!#).72Ibid., p. %.

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martyrs a right that under Islamic law is allocated to the paternal grandfather/,

and certain benefits for part!time female employees.74+ut her main concern hasremained the defense of 4homeini:s legacy and the Islamic &epublic to theoutside world. In #$$B, after the +ritish 6arliament published a human rightsreport on Iran that emphasized the status of Iranian women as second!classcitizens, 1abbagh claimed that as a military officer and active participant in the&evolution she had @never felt that women were behind men in achieving socialpositions?= she scoffed at reports of e'tensive domestic violence in Iran andargued that @unlie 0estern women, Iranian women are at the center of activityand decision maing in the family.= Nor, lie their 0estern sisters, she added, are

they @obligated to wor for a living lie men do.=75(wo years earlier, however, shehad complained publicly about the lac of respect toward her and other women inthe Ma8lis and e'pressed her frustration that for many deputies, women:s issues

were limited to @cooing, washing clothes, and sweeping.76

1abbagh:s commitment to the ideological legacy of 4homeini is also evident inher private life. In the years before the &evolution, she pulled her daughters out

of high school because 4homeini had recommended against male teachers ingirls: high schools; @Several of my daughters received their diploma after the&evolution... since Imam J4homeiniK had issued a fatwa Jthat warned usK aboutthe sanctity of education when the teachers were male. +ased on that fatwa I did

not allow Jmy daughtersK to continue their education=77after ninth grade. Cnlyafter the revolution did she allow her younger daughters to finish high school.

&ecent reports from Iran suggest that 1abbagh, who was not elected to thereformist Si'th Ma8lis, has gone into @retirement.= She has made few publicappearances. Evidently, she has not made the transition that &ahnavard hasmade by becoming more supportive of feminist concerns, and bacing the reform

movement.78

*onclusion"

(he differences between &ahnavard and 1abbagh help us to gain a more intimateview of the current conflicts within the leadership of the Islamic &epublic and thecomplicated "uestion of who is an advocate of women:s rights. +y 8oining theIslamist movement, 1abbagh was able to brea through numerous obstacles thatbind women in traditional marriages in Iran. 5er absolute submission to 4homeiniallowed her to e'ercise absolute power over many others. She owes her verye'istence as a political leader to the Islamist ideology of 4homeini rather than toher education, creative accomplishments, political affiliations, or classbacground/ and is committed to preserving it at all cost. 5owever, 1abbagh

actually prides herself on being a defender of women:s greater role in society. Sheopposed gender segregation during the war, supported unsuccessful bills in theMa8lis that would have limited the husbands uncontested right to divorce and

custody of the children.791abbagh speas well of her husband, who encouragedher political activities and is very angry with other men who prevent their wives,

74an-e Ru0, vol. )G 4hordad #>%B JMayH-une #$$GK/; .

75 Payam-e an, vol. >, no. #> Esfand #>%> J9ebruaryHMarch #$$B/; )G. 9orfurther information about domestic violence in Iran, see Mehrangiz 4ar,9hoshunat =aleyheh 0anan dar 'ran (ehran; &oshangaran va mutale:at!e zanan,)***/.76Payam-e an, vol. ), no. > 4hordad #>%) JMayH-une #$$>K/; #*.

77Idem, vol. #, no. ##, +ahman #>%# J-anuary!9ebruary #$$)K/; %B.78Idem, vol. >, no. #), Esfand #>%> J9ebruary!March #$$BK/; )G79Idem, vol. ), no. > 4hordad #>%) JMayH-une #$$>K/; #*.

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including highly educated ones, from holding socially responsible 8obs.801abbagheven refers to many e'amples of se'ism in the Ma8lis, such as the time when,despite her considerable e'pertise in military matters, she was e'cluded from the1efense ommission only because she was a woman, while men who had no

military e'perience were selected.81

None of these pronouncements or actions, however, maes her a feminist or anindividual with compassion for human rights, because the only reason 1abbaghwants women out of the house and involved in society and politics is for them tocontribute to her version of a militant Islamist society. She remains a swornenemy of any woman O feminist, leftist, or secular O who suggests that awoman:s education and employment should bring about her emancipation, giveher the choice to decide what to do with her life. In her view women are to beliberated from traditional life styles only to become soldiers and martyrs for thecause of Islamization. (hose who argue against this position and demand choice,including the right to live under a more secular state, deserve nothing but death.

+ut what about &ahnavard She was a budding intellectual and an artist whogave up the life of a modern woman to 8oin the Islamist &evolution, hoping toimprove the lives of poor women by abandoning the cultural imperialism of the0est. Since the &evolution, &ahnavard has witnessed many new restrictionsaffecting the lives of her three daughters. 1espite her continuing avowals ofsupport for 4homeini, her recent interviews suggest that she is re!e'aminingsome of her earlier perspectives. 5owever, she is still "uite uncomfortable withthe 0estern model of gender relations, ostensibly because it includes women:sbodily and se'ual freedoms, and not 8ust social and political ones. 5er youngeducated daughters are e'pected to observe strict hi8ab and this very act seemsto convince her that the younger generation has not completely sold out to the

0est.82+ut how far would she go today 0ould she allow, for e'ample, youngwomen, including her young daughters, the freedom to challenge and re8ect herIslamist principles an they choose not to wear the veil an they advocatesecular marriage and divorce laws 0ould &ahnavard be able to overcome herown intense religious pre8udices and allow, for e'ample, the +aha:is to practicetheir religion, or secular Muslims not to do so (hese are not hypothetical"uestions, since a new generation of Iranian feminists, including many children ofthe &evolution, is asing precisely such "uestions.

(he intellectual accomplishments of the new generation of feminists in Irancannot be underestimated even though it has yet to result in any significantpolitical transformations due to the hostility of the conservative wing of thegovernment to the reformers. Supporters of women:s rights have criticized thelac of civil liberties under the Islamic &epublic and have demanded a rewriting ofthe constitution. In the year )***, they helped prevent the re!election of manyconservative deputies to the Si'th Ma8lis, and in -une )**# they re!elected4hatami, giving him %G percent of the total vote. (he liberal religious thinerssuch as Mu8tahid Shabastari have condemned the narrow legalistic reading ofIslamic te'ts and called for a more tolerant interpretation of Shia Islam. 1espitenumerous obstacles, the educational and artistic accomplishments of Iranianwomen have been outstanding in the last decade. (he field of women:s studiesgradually has found its way into the universities and into woman:s magazines andnewspapers. In a steady stream of articles, writers, historians, and ma8or politicalfigures of the twentieth century are being "uestioned for their lac of concern orlimited perspectives on gender issues. (here is even a heated debate on cultural

80Idem, vol. ), no. G Shahrivar #>%) JAugustHSeptember #$$>K/; #%.81Idem, vol. ), no. > 4hordad #>%) JMay!-une #$$>K/;82Idem, vol. >, no. G Shahrivar #>%> JAugustHSeptember #$$


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-anet Afary teaches in the 1epartment of 5istory, 6urdue Dniversity, Indiana.Email; afaryQpurdu.edu

6ublished in Sociolo$ical Astracts, riti"ue, No. #$, 9all )**#, pp

Documents

D25 01 Two Islamist Women