Teaching Comparative

Iranian women jailed

A comparative case study using historical and contemporary examples?

What would a comparison of the British women's suffrage movement and the Iranian women's rights movement show? It's a complex topic that would probably require students to research small topics individually and then share results to complete the comparisons and draw conclusions.

Here are some articles to begin research on the topic in Iran.

The Washington Post reported 33 Activist Women Arrested in Tehran

"Amnesty International yesterday demanded the swift and unconditional release of 33 prominent Iranian female activists arrested last weekend and jailed in Tehran's notorious high-security Evin prison. The women were arrested after peacefully protesting the trial of five other activists and grass-roots organizers against discrimination in the legal system...

"'Practically the entire top layer of the women's movement in Iran, except for Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, who happens to be in Italy, is in jail,' said Hadi Ghaemi of Human Rights Watch in New York..."

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Activists Arrested Ahead Of International Women's Day

"More than 30 Iranian women have been arrested in Tehran for protesting against government pressure being put on women's rights activists...

"The arrests are the culmination of a year of increasing pressure on women's rights activists, who have been arrested, summoned to court, threatened, and harassed. Their protests have also been disrupted -- in some cases violently -- and their websites have been blocked...

"Azadeh Kian, a lecturer in political science and an Iran researcher at France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) [said], 'The goal of women's rights activists is to gain the support of women from different classes who are in favor of changing the laws but have so far not joined the women's movement, This leads to concern among some of those in power in Iran about the implications of these actions. I see the arrests of activists [on March 4] in this relation; it shows that more and more women want changes in laws and also that women's issues are in fact becoming more and more political.'"

The monarchist web site Payvand, reported Shedding Crocodile Tears

"On Sunday March 4th 2007, more than thirty two women's rights activists were arrested after they had peacefully gathered in front of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran to protest the trial of five of their fellow activists...

"As it is known to most observes and citizens of Iran, the Islamic Republic is a horrendous gender apartheid state, one where within family law in particular women are treated as second rate beings, are discriminated against culturally, and in the repressive political atmosphere, both feminists as well as civil rights activists are continuously censored, arrested, harassed and even murdered. The Islamic Republic is responsible for the torture and killing of tens of thousands of dissidents since it came to power in 1979 through the militant repression of all other political movements that have an equal claim on the Iranian polity (nationalists, socialists and feminists). This particular persecution, harassment, and incarceration of women's rights activists is yet another indication of the violent criminalisation of dissent within the state apparatus of the Islamic Republic. But at the same time it is a clear indication that what we are witnessing in Iran is a grass-roots movement of unprecedented dimensions..."

ISN (International Relations and Security Network, based in Switzerland, is a free public service that... encourage[s] the exchange of information among international relations and security professionals worldwide) reported Women in Iran: Repression and resistance

"On Sunday 4 March, around thirty-three Iranian women - as far removed from Ahmadinejad as you can get - were arrested in Tehran. These women had gathered outside Tehran's revolutionary court in solidarity with five of their friends, charged with organizing a rally in June 2006 against discriminatory laws against women...

"Women have transformed Iran since the revolution. A third of all doctors, 60 percent of civil servants and 80 percent of all teachers in Iran are women. Some people believe the regime is immune to change, but many others, especially women, are experts at finding ways round the constraints of the patriarchal system. These women activists are less interested in whether or not to wear the veil and more concerned with gaining access to education, wider employment opportunities, equality at work and better health care for their families..."

Adnkronos International, an Italian news service reported on 6 March, JAILED WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ON HUNGER STRIKE

"All the women arrested on Sunday as they were staging a rally in front of a court house in Tehran are on hunger strike in the Evin jail where they are currently detained...

"[The arrested women's] attorney Nasrin Sotudeh said the women, whom he says were violently beaten on their arrest, are likely to be charged with subversive activities and taking part in an illegal rally though they have not yet been formally accused of anything.

"'In the Islamic Republic, fighting for equal gender rights is considered a subversive act threatening national security,' the lawyer told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Monday.

"Meanwhile all students' associations in Iran have been notified by university authorities that they will not be allowed to organise any rally or university meeting before 8 March on feminism or women's rights..."

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Labels: Iran, participation, pedagogy, politics

posted by Ken Wedding @ 5:40 AM