Nayereh Tohidi
Today, there is an unyielding atmosphere prevailing
in Iran, the Middle East and the international arena—an atmosphere of
militarism, violence and repression. An atmosphere that strengthens the spirit
of militarism, perpetuates the cycle of violence, and produces violent and
militant images of men and women, strengthening in turn the brutal culture of
patriarchy and victimization of women and children. In spite of it, Middle
Eastern women and activists have not surrendered to this atmosphere of fear.
They have not wavered in their determination to seek novel, more effective and
efficient methods to improve their legal and social status through a process of
trial and error. These efforts surely will impact their societies and status of
men as well as women positively.
Among the most hopeful efforts are the creative
initiatives taken by Iranian women’s rights activists. The women’s movement in
Iran is comprised of diverse groups, various activities and tactics. Some are
engaged in organizing anti-violence workshops and anti-war activities as “Zanan
Solh” (Women of Peace); some focus on feminist consciousness raising and
egalitarian cultural production through print journals such as “Zanan” and
“Hoquq-e Zanan,” some are doing this through internet journals such as Zanestan
http://www.herlandmag.org “Hastia Andish ;
Kannon-e Zanan Iran http://www.irwomen.com, “Meydan
and the Women’s Committee of the Office to Foster Unity and the
Alumni Organization of Iran (Advare Tahkime Vahdat, Sazemane Daneshamookhtegane
Iran)—both student organizations—. One of the most recent
initiatives seeks “Change for Equality” (“Barabary ); through
the collection of one million signatures demanding changes to discriminatory
laws against women in Iran.
Pragmatic Realism
The “One Million Signatures” campaign, which is
designed to help reform discriminatory laws, resulted from and is a continuation
of the women’s peaceful gatherings on the 12th of June in 2005 and 2006 that
ended by violent attacks of the police and security forces. From both tactical
and strategic points of view, this latest campaign is in line with an envisioned
future where powers, opportunities and social goods are not divided based on
gender differences or sexual orientation. Primarily initiated by the younger
generation of women’s rights activists, this campaign seems to be turning into a
point of convergence among many groups and individual activists in different
parts of Iran. This campaign seems to have surpassed ideological, sectarian and
religious boundaries and limitations. Instead of seeking grand ideals and
abstract solutions to women’s problems, it is struggling on to achieve defined
and tangible goals through practical means and methods. This movement has
distanced itself from the more prevalent masculine and elitist perceptions that
assume only a handful of avant-garde intellectuals, having discovered the “Whole
Truth” are the sole proprietors of solutions, who through personal sacrifice
would impart the knowledge, bring freedom and ‘save the souls of the ignorant
and oppressed masses.’
The aim and strategy of this campaign rests on direct
contact between the activists and ordinary women that would involve two-way
conversation, dialogue, understanding, negotiation and education. In this model,
the activist or the intellectual moves beyond the concept and framework of the
one who knows it all and does it all expert and becomes one of the many
thousands of active participants, involved in the process of change. The final
achievement of this movement results directly from this process of dialectical
interaction. Here the civil society activist does not bear all the costs
associated with the effort, and ordinary people are no longer passive or silent
spectators.
By employing door-to-door and face-to-face
educational strategy, the One Million Signatures Campaign will teach our
activists a lot about social realities on the ground. In light of these
teachings, instead of throwing themselves in the harms way and carrying the
brunt of reform costs, separate from people, the women’s movement’s activists
will be able to have a wider and more practical impact in unison with people,
one that is accompanied by pressure from people and their full participation. In
return more will share the cost, and more people and forces will have a stake in
the outcome. This wise and creative move will finally add to the depth and
breadth of the reforms.
As evident from the writings of the activists in this
campaign, unlike political parties, the women’s movement has neither the
intention of over-throwing the government, nor of seizing the state power. They
reach beyond governments and aim at transforming the dominant cultural, social,
economical, and political relations to achieve greater equality. Women’s
struggle in today’s Iran is primarily a cultural and legal one, which is fought
in a historical context rather than a battlefield. This struggle starts inside
the homes (in the kitchens, bedrooms, and living rooms) and flows and spreads
through workplaces (factories, workshops and offices), schools and universities,
mosques, synagogues, and churches, streets and alleys, taxis and buses, stores
and restaurants, parks, stadiums and recreation sites, parliaments and
courtrooms, and reaches the general public through educational texts, books,
newspapers and magazines, games and toys, poems, stories and lyrics, movies,
radio and television programs, the internet, and everywhere and anywhere that
gender dynamics are present and social relations between men and women
exist.
Our skilled and well-informed women have learned from
experience that male-domination is a multi-layered system, a deep-rooted and
complex establishment, which will not fundamentally change through simply change
in the state. This realization should however not serve to underestimate the
critical role of the state in affecting women’s status within society. A simple
comparison of facts and figures related to human development indicators (and
empowerment indicators) in different countries, gives us credible documentation
that in societies where political and governmental structures are democratic,
non-ideological and non-religious, where economy experiences healthy growth and
material resources and social goods are fairly distributed, where national
resources are used to create strong social welfare support systems, provide
education and healthcare instead of spending much on militarism, women enjoy a
longer lifespan, and better physical and emotional health. Further, women in
these societies benefit from greater equality and equal rights, a higher social
status, higher education levels, greater economic power, widespread social and
political participation and enjoy greater safety and security from domestic
violence.
The Importance of the Law and the Necessity of Laws
that Guarantee Equality
The aim of the “One Million Signatures Campaign” is
to change and reform laws that discriminate against women. At first glance it
may appear that legal and rights issues are not the most pressing and important
of concerns for the majority of the Iranian women, rather inflation,
unemployment, and lack of housing are issues most women struggle with on a daily
basis. But men may struggle with the latter issues as much as women do. What
insults and injures women, simply because they are women, and makes them more
vulnerable, is the existence of discriminatory laws that in many cases degrade
women and reduce them to second class citizens and place values on them which
are half those of men. Experienced and active women know only too well that
having equal legal rights may not be a sufficient solution to women’s problems,
but still they recognize that equality under the law is indeed a necessity.
Without legal support, any attempt by women for self-empowerment, civil
society-building, or cultural production and creative activity in the social and
domestic arenas, will be blocked by limitations and hurdles. This point is
underscored when one notes that many laws governing family, sexuality and gender
relations in Iran lag behind modern changes, new attitudes, and new realities in
Iran of today.
The Local-Global Interplay
The innovative and courageous method employed by the
activists involved in the “One Million Signatures Campaign,” is not only
well-rooted in the specific historical, cultural, religious, and geopolitical
realities of Iran, but it is also in step with the most progressive and current
discourses, laws and universal values. Furthermore, the aims of this campaign
are respected and in line with values and goals espoused by international
institutions such as the United Nations and well respected international human
rights organizations. Iranian activists are not following some abstract theory
in defining and developing their strategy for change; rather they are basing
these strategies on the available resources as well as tangible, concrete, and
immediate realities. This choice of strategy demonstrates their understanding
and knowledge of the daily-ness of women’s struggle, feminist theories and
principles, and also of their involvement, connection and cooperation with
trans-national feminist organizations in the region and beyond. These women
understand that lofty goals will be difficult to achieve under the present
repressive atmosphere, as such they have chosen to utilize deliberate and
practical methods, with a persistent approach in-line with a woman-centered and
feminist approach to culture-building.
Today, Iranian women’s rights activists are armed
with lessons learned form women’s struggles around the world as well as those
learned from the history and the experiences of their mothers and grandmothers
in Iran. They have resolved not to take a passive approach, one that relies on
the support of the West or promises of salvation through bombs and
mortal-shells. Nor have they taken defensive stand in favor of the ruling
patriarchy because of its defiance to the West. Rather they are taking practical
steps toward democracy and equal rights, demarcating the women’s movement from
both the native Islamist and Western imperial patriarchies. Likewise, they are
not pinning their hopes on national political groups and parties that only give
credence to women and their issues at election time or during political turmoil.
These women are not waiting passively for the politicians’ promised “communist
ideal” or the “secular democracy” or the “Islamic democracy,” as a means to
guaranteeing them their human rights. Instead these women feel compelled to
organize and network among themselves, and in a culture building exercise, grow
in their self-confidence, and help get rid of superstitious beliefs and
unhealthy and violent sexual prejudices that plague both men and
women.
The Traditional-Modern Interplay
One of the special characteristics of the “One
Million Signatures Campaign” may be the fact that in its creative course, this
effort takes advantage of indigenous or traditional approaches that are familiar
in Iran’s context as well as the latest modern international technologies
offered by the information age. On the one hand, in order to gather signatures
the campaign relies on collecting signatures through the “face-to-face” and
“alley-to-alley” methods. This method that can offer the highest quality of
human communication and connection and can produce a wealth of social capital,
is reminder of ‘petitioning,’ a well-known tactic in Iran’s repertoire of civic
and political struggles. On the other hand, by using the internet and virtual
spaces such as websites and web-logs, the process of collecting signatures and
networking is expedited. Furthermore, their distribution of educational
pamphlets on the law to the general public on the streets would enhance the
mutual but ephemeral face-to-face experience.
The creative juxtaposition of direct contact and
interaction between activists and the general public on the one hand and virtual
connections through the internet, works to reduce the gap between the real and
virtual spaces. This would strengthen the progression and social and cultural
dynamic of this campaign in particular and the women’s movement in general. It
should be noted that one of the negative side effects of the internet,
particularly web-logging is the potential for the individualization and the
creation of isolated islands within civil society. If a large number of
activists limit themselves to virtual spaces and virtual connections, overtime
they may lose their ability to communicate and debate in actual spaces and the
real world. Social energy and capital will in this situation be used for
isolated and self-centered efforts with a limited sphere of effectiveness, which
in the long run will not work to strengthen civil activism such as the women’s
movement. However, positive and deliberate use of the internet in creative
combination with traditional methods carried out in the public space and real
realms, can bring about the most effective and altering outcome.
Neither Elitism, nor Populism
The last point I would like to address is the
negative perception of the role of the elites, which seems to be somewhat
evident in the writings of some of the campaign members. This viewpoint, and the
lack of active participation of elites and experts may in fact be a point of
weakness rather than strength for the campaign. In their description of the
strategy of the campaign, some campaign members have praised this campaign for
staying away from the elites, from lobbying, and any top-down efforts. They have
valued only the merit of the followings: “bottom-up approach; from people’s
homes to the street; and from streets to homes; from virtual spaces to actual
spaces; etc.” But I believe while these are indeed part of the strengths of this
campaign, they can be much more effective if combined by participation and
support of the members of the elites and experts as well.
We do not want to be elitist, but we do not need to
be populist and anti-elite either. We need both the grassroots or bottom-up and
the top-down efforts to change the law in favor of women’s rights. It will not
serve our purpose to devalue or appear hostile to those experts or elite members
who work on some top-down projects toward reform. All these efforts can be
indeed complimentary. Social, cultural and political struggles from around the
world have owed much of their success to the cooperation, deliberation and
coordination carried out by elites and experts (even at times these included
some members of the ruling elites) alongside the masses and grassroots
organizations of the civil society. Obviously, efforts at reform led solely by
experts and elites who do not sufficiently involve and acknowledge the role of
the people should be avoided. Likewise, grassroots efforts at reform can reach
their goals when they succeed in bringing along increasing number of elite
members and experts. Lobbying, negotiation and advocacy, while may be beyond the
capability or inclination of some of the activists involved in the campaign, are
nevertheless indispensable tools and strategies for ensuring the continuation of
this effort and achievement of its goals. It is the dialectical interaction,
cooperation and convergence between the elites and the people that will
ultimately bring about change.
Just as slavery was once considered a natural and
even divinely ordered phenomenon, but today belongs to a dark and embarrassing
chapter of history, the era of patriarchy and sexism (in modern as well as
traditional pre-modern forms) will come to an end sooner or later. Today, we are
confronted with those who are still trying to justify male-domination and
perpetuate patriarchy and violence against women by resorting to patriarchal
constructs of religion and male-centered interpretations of scriptures as some
religious proponents of slavery did in the past. But the women’s movements and
global feminism, despite its young age, have made important inroads in many
realms of culture and society. Purposeful convergence of diverse groups of women
at both grassroots and elite levels can only expedite the process of change
toward equality, justice and peace.
I eagerly anticipate progress for this movement from
which I am sure I can learn new ideas and rethink my own theories and
understandings of feminist strategies and tactics. I shall do my share to
support this effort at the regional, international, and trans-national levels.
This campaign is an important part of the rights-seeking, civil, humanitarian
and timely movement of Iranian women that deserve all the support at national
and international levels. Even if this campaign does not result directly and
immediately in the changing of laws, the process involved in it, in and of
itself, is positive. This campaign is already contributing to feminist
culture-building, the configuration of a common identity among many activists,
and the enlightenment and consciousness raising about women’s rights in the
society at large.
This article originally written in Persian (Farsi) by
Nayereh Tohidi appeared in a number of women’s sites in Iran. This English
version has been translated by Taraneh Amin and edited by Sussan Tahmasebi and
Nayereh Tohidi. It wa first published by http://www.we-change.org.
Nayereh Tohidi, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the
Women’s Studies Department at California State University, Northridge and
Research Associate at the Center for Near Eastern Studies at UCLA
