Women of Iran publicly mobilize against
Iran's fundamentalist Constitution
The following text was received from
Please note Dr. Roya Toloui, an
individual signatory below, has been arrested since
Our
Protest Against Violations of Women's Rights in the Iranian Constitution
After years of
protesting against discriminations between women and men in different spheres
(such as unequal legal rights), we, women are still deprived of our fundamental
rights. Among us, we may locate the roots of the violations of our rights
differently: In the laws, in sexist interpretations, in customs and traditions,
or in hierarchical and dominant structures in
Principle 20 of
the Constitution states: "All citizens of the country, whether men or
women, equally enjoy the protection of the law and enjoy all human, political,
economic, social, and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic
criteria." It is important to note that in this principle "all
citizens, whether men or women," are considered equal not in terms of
their "rights" but in terms of the "protection" that the
law provides, based on Islamic criteria. Those who are endowed with the power
to interpret maintain that they pursue a "balance" of differing
rights and not "equal rights" between women and men. And this can be
seen throughout the Constitution.
Principle 21
views women strictly as mothers or women without household heads. And the right
they reserve under this definition of womanhood (motherhood) is the granting of
child custody to deserving women in the absence of the "Sharia-ordained
guardian" (men of the family).
The Constitution
views women in no role other than mother, and as such, presupposes male leaders
at the highest levels of political and social management. To run as a
Presidential candidate, the qualification of being a political
"rejal" is stipulated, which has been interpreted by higher
authorities as being a male person.
Another problem
with the existing Constitution as it relates to women (especially from the
perspective of those who view violations of women's rights as a problem of
sexist interpretations) is that all of its provisions are conditioned by
dominant interpretations of Islamic principles. It has been the case that those
who hold power are able to offer dominant interpretations and women, who are
amongst the weakest social strata, can never offer alternative interpretations
of any weight and influence. Needless to say, the depth and breadth of any
interpretation is contingent upon the powers, opportunities, and institutions
available to various groups in society. It is obvious that groups which hold
exclusive military and security power, control culture and information and
countless other resources, including the media, can impose their own
interpretations on society.
The Constitution
has reached a dead-end as it concerns women because the laws are not
self-derived but rather, are open to official interpretation and dependent upon
power-holders within the political structure and powerful official religious
institutions. Women, who are considered the weakest link in society's power
chain, cannot affect the necessary changes in the laws because the will of the
citizenry (especially third-class citizens like women) is overshadowed by
un-elected institutions, which hold interpretative power, as provided in the
Constitution.
Even if the
interpretation of official laws and individual and group rights were in the
hands of elected institutions (as is the case in democratic countries), women,
as a group with less access to power, would have great difficulty offering
their own interpretations of women's rights to elected officials, let alone to
un-elected appointed bodies. The more the relationship between un-elected state
institutions and the citizenry is pyramid-structured and vertical, the more
women and their rights are sidelined. And the more women will face an uphill
battle to change conditions and laws to their favour in comparison to men.
The women's
movement in
Although the
women's movement encompasses a wide and diverse spectrum of social, cultural,
and political activists, at the current juncture, they suffer a common injury:
belittlement of the citizen. The least of which was witnessed with the
elimination of women candidates for the presidency. More gravely, the
Constitution's belittlement of women as active social participants has blocked
their ability to secure their rights. We are forced to seek justice and show
our civil opposition at the current sensitive juncture by fulfilling our social
and gendered responsibility. Undoubtedly, we need each other's assistance to
make our voices clearer and our protests more effective.
Signed By:
|
Group Signatories |
Individuals |
|
Simin
Behbahani, Noushin
Ahmadi Khorasani, Parvin
Ardalan, Mahboubeh
Abbas-Gholizadeh, Mansoureh
Shojaee, Fatemeh
Farhangkhah, Homa
Zarafshan, Gohar
Shemirani, Marzieh
Morteza Langeroudi, Fatemeh
Govaraee, Nasrin
Sotoudeh, Nayereh
Tavakoli, Fariba
Davoudi Mohajer, Shahla
Lahiji, Mehrangiz
Kar, Shahla
Entezari, Shadi
Sadr, Manijeh
Hekmat, Rafat
Zein-ed-Din, Nasrin
Afzali, Jelveh
Javaheri, Sara
Loqmani, Nahid
Kamousi, Aqdas
Charvandeh, Tahmineh
Biazar, Parvaneh
Milani, Azarang
Jabari, Donya
Biazar, Mehrahang
Jabari, Jila
Bashiri, Mona
Mohamadzadeh, Nahid
Entesari, Khadijeh
Moqadam, Sima
Afshar, Roya
Toloui, Farideh
Entesari, Bita
Tahbaz, Maryam
Omy, Elham
Qamsari, Sharareh
Abdi, Layla
Moori, Negar
Bayat, Nahid
Mirhaj, Fakhri
Shadfar, Massoumeh
Loqmani, Firouzeh
Mohajer, Farnaz
Seify, Shirin
Mousavi, Samira
Kalhor, Fatemeh
Baban, Sanaz
Allah Bedashti, Masoumeh
Naseri, Parastou Dokouhaki, Nahid
Keshavarz, Jila
Baniyaqoub, Nahid
Tavassoli, Talat
Taghinia, Farzaneh
Taheri, Simin Marashi, Mahsa
Shekarloo, Tina
Golzarian, Lida
Bolouri. |