Women in Egyptian and Iranian History

In general, the fundamental discord between the movement for women’s progress and their attempt to maintain cultural authenticity is a conflict that pits modernity/Western value systems against tradition/Islam. In studying the relationship, it is important to consider the players in the context of their historical development.

Women were important to the nationalist struggle for Egyptian independence in 1922 (Badran, 13) as women’s rights were at the center of nationalist debates, a “manifestation of polarization between secularists and religionists, between reformers and revolutionists, and between internally and externally directed women (Badran, 111).” Yet after the 1922 independence from Britain, the feminists in Egypt found that the nationalist leaders were not as like-minded as they had thought – the nat

The new constitution was finalized in December 1979. It contained 175 articles, but only four were devoted to women. The government completely excluded single women from the study abroad scholarship program. Parliament ratified the Part-Time Work Law, which allowed/ordered women to work only part time in order to devote themselves more fully to their husbands and children (Esfandiari, 40). This policy was aimed at encouraging women to drop out of the work force and return to the house. In an attempt to stop people from un-Islamic interaction, authorities advocated sigheh, or temporary marriages, through which a man and a woman agree to a marriage contract for a specific time period, ranging from an hour to years. After the expiration of the contract, the “husband” had no responsibility toward his temporary wife (Esfandiari, 40).

The apparent 1960’s advancement in women’s rights in Egypt culminated in a drastic change in their religious practices. In Egypt, Nasser introduced the charter of 1962, which stated that women were equal to men, granted women’s suffrage, and the right to serve in the national assembly. This led to a nationalization of the economy creating an increase in public-sector jobs, many of which were filled by women (Cleveland, 311). As a result, women entering the government jobs tended to shed the veil, replacing it with more westernized garb, which spawned resentment eventually (Cleveland, 311). When combined with the Egyptian government’s confiscation of the ulema’s traditional power hold, such as the waqf and shari’a courts, an Islamic backlash seemed inevitable.

The return of Khomeini from exile in February 1979 marked the beginning of what was undoubtedly the darkest period for Iranian women. Soon after the Shah’s abdication, great numbers of women answered Khomeini’s call to vote in favor of the national referenda establishing an Islamic Republic, which was overwhelmingly ratified (Esfandiari, 41). The onslaught of “reform” was sudden and severe, including the immediate removal of all female judges and the declaration of compulsory veiling of all women. The educated women who chose to wear the veil during the revolutionary period of 1978 as a symbol of cultural identity and “revolutionary solidarity surely did not anticipate that they would later be subject to laws that required them to wear those same garments or face arrest and a year in jail (Cleveland, 423).” 20,000 women resisted the imposition of the veil in the form of mass demonstrations in 1979, but the only response they received was from religious thugs in the form of beatings and stabbings (Omid, 183).

In Iran, on the other hand Islamic opposition was actually led by prominent politicized ulema, namely Khomeini, who argued against the “westoxification” of Iran and general corruption for years prior to the upheaval against the Pahlavi regime. Their main criticism of the monarchy was its promotion of a capitalist and imperialist culture of consumerism, both of which relied on the selling of women’s labor. They felt that these changes resulted in fesad (moral degeneration) and the breakdown of family values (Poya, 3).

Some topics in this essay:
Imbaba Cairo, Islamic Republic, Rights Despite, Part-Time Law, Egypt Women, Iranian History, Egypt Nasser, Reza Shah’s, Hidden Imam, White Revolution, women’s rights, islamic republic, islamic movement, islamic law, wear veil, iranian women, revolutionary movement, traditional social constraints, women’s suffrage, social constraints, esfandiari 40,