Iranian women were at the forefront of the revolution. But after the Shah was deposed and Ayatollah Khomeini returned to the country, the new regime turned against them and everything they had fought for. CBC Radio producer Donya Ziaee, interviewed three participants about their thoughts and actions in that time. Her one-hour documentary, first broadcast on "Ideas," forms a two-part series for WINGS. Minoo Jalali is a women's rights activist, retired lawyer and chair of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants in London, UK. She fled Iran in 1983. Haideh Daragahi was a professor of English Literature at Tehran University when Khomeini took power. She has lived in Sweden since 1984 and worked as an academic, women's rights activist and journalist. Shahin Navai is an activist in the women's movement and a researcher in the field of Entomology. She fled Iran in 1984 and has since lived in Berlin, Germany.
Host(s): Paul Kennedy, Donya Ziaee. Production for CBC and adaptation for WINGS by Donya Ziaee, with voice-over help from Tina Verma, and archival help from Keith Hart, Zoe Barraclough and Greg Hobbs. Archival footage made possible by the CBC, Associated Press and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University. Host of Ideas for this episode, Paul Kennedy. Find the current one-hour version of this documentary here: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/iran-women-protests-1979-revolution-1.6605982
New remarks by the producer: Since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 in Tehran, tens of thousands of women have taken over the streets in dozens of cities across Iran chanting "Women, life, freedom."
Those protests are part of a long history of feminist resistance in Iran " and the continuation of a struggle that began in 1979.
"The struggle against mandatory veiling and women's basic rights and freedoms has really been 43 years in the making. It began on day one, as soon as Islamic forces declared victory in the revolution that overthrew the Shah," said IDEAS contributor Donya Ziaee.
"It was led, in large part, by women who themselves participated in the revolution and wanted the shah overthrown, but refused to let their revolution be overtaken by regressive forces that now wanted to deny them their rights."
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service has been covering the global women's movement and related issues for community radio since 1986. Contact: wings@wings.org
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