Why Are Women’s Rights Organizations Quiet on Women’s Rights in Iran?
Iranian women deserve the same attention as all other women in our global fight for women’s rights
When was the last time you read or watched something on USA media about an American women’s rights organization campaigning against Iranian child-brides? The last time an American women’s rights organization stood up against the discrimination Iranian women are facing every day, threats of rape they endure while in prison?
Iranian women are one of the world’s most educated and one of the most violated groups when it comes to their rights. Women in Iran have just recently seen their reproductive rights diminish, as a new law restricts access to contraceptives and abortion. In Iran, women need their husbands’ permission, in writing, to obtain a passport or to travel outside the country. Wives can divorce their husbands under very strict conditions while he can just announce the divorce. If divorced, women are cut off from their rights to food, shelter, clothing, and lose custody of their children seven years or older.
Now, imagine being arrested because you posted a picture of yourself dancing, without a headscarf, in the privacy of your own home. This is exactly what happened to Maedeh Hojabri. Although major US newspapers like The Washington Post and The New York Times published articles about Hojabri and her arrest in 2018, there was no reaction from any American women’s rights organizations. Amnesty International, headquartered in the UK, joined the backlash movement inside and outside Iran #DanceisNotaCrime (in Farsi), an online campaign in support of Hojabri. The New York Times picked up on this hashtag in its article, but American women rights’ organizations did not. For years now, Iranian women have been peacefully protesting against the mandatory hijab. They stand in the streets taking pictures of themselves without a head cover, waving the hijab and posting it on social media. This movement coined three online campaigns for the same cause #whitewednesdays, #GirlsOfTheRevolutionaryStreet and #MyStealthyFreedom. These hashtags spread around Europe and Asia in a show of support.
Some supporters of Iranian women’s right to choose to wear the hijab have criticized Western Muslim women for their lack of support. Like critics of US House Representative Ilhan Omar, who did not address the difference between a compulsory and a choice to wear the hijab, as she enjoys this freedom. Women in Iran are protesting the mandate not against the hijab itself. All they are protesting for is their freedom to choose.
According to Amnesty International, about 50 women and women’s rights activists have been arrested and/or sentenced since 2018 for peacefully protesting against the mandatory hijab. Among them is Nasrin Sotoudeh. Nasrin Sotoudeh is an Iranian-bar-certified, human rights lawyer who defended some of these protesters before she was arrested in 2010–2013 and again in 2018. Nasrin was initially imprisoned in Evin and later was sent to Qarchak women prison: A structure that was an industrial cattle barn before it became a women’s prison. Latest reports state it houses 2000 women, some with their young kids who were born there and never saw the world outside. If that is not enough, there are testimonies of women being threatened with rape and death. Sexual harassment, including groping and sexual games, are part of the interrogations some of the women endure. Younger detainees are subjected to virginity exams by prison staff. This is in addition to other forms of physical and psychological abuse. The UN Special Rapporteur has produced a few annual reports about the inhumane conditions and treatment of women in Iran’s prisons. Somehow, these reports, which are available to all, did not make any impact on American Women rights organization.
In Iran, the official age of marriage for girls is 13, but in practice, fathers can marry their daughters at a younger age. Due to increased poverty, this practice has been growing and fathers often sell their young daughters for marriage. Child marriage in Iran has increased 30 percent in 2021 “with 9,750 girls aged 10–14 officially wed in a three-month period.”
In November 2021, CNN (USA) reported the heartbreaking story of a 9-year-old Afghan child bride, Parwana. A few weeks later we were happily informed she was rescued back to her family after an American NGO worked tirelessly for her rapid release. Too Young to Wed, the American-based NGO works in different countries, including Yemen, Nepal and Ethiopia but not in Iran, according to their website. Therefore, the same organization did not budge in regards to child brides in Iran, nor any other USA organization or media.
American women’s rights organizations are fighting for women in Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen. They work in African nations, but somehow American women rights organizations are silent regarding Iranian women’s rights. Don’t get me wrong: I am happy American organizations are helping women across the globe. My question is: Why not in Iran?
Why do American women’s rights organizations promote those rights in other Muslim countries, including next door neighbor Afghanistan, but not in Iran? Why in African countries, some of which are Muslim too, but not in Iran? Jason Razaian, an Iranian-American journalist, author and a former Evin prisoner, is asking too: Why won’t we give Iranian women the help they need?
A 2013 poll from the Pew Research Center showed 83% of Americans think that the Iranian government does not respect the personal freedoms of their citizens. In other words, ignorance is not the reason American women’s rights organizations are mute. Why are Americans are helping Afghan women but not Iranian women? Is it as simple as “we don’t like them”? A 2020 Gallup opinion poll showed 88% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Iran and 81% unfavorable of Afghanistan. It seems we like them, or rather dislike them both the same.
Do Americans feel guilty, responsible, obligated maybe, towards Afghans, especially after the USA’s recent chaotic exit? If so, the guilty feeling or responsibility Americans feel is very fresh and therefore likely strong. When it comes to supporting and empowering women in Africa, where American women’s organizations are highly involved, those guilty feelings and a sense of responsibility is deeply rooted in American history. There is no such equivalent when it comes to Iran. Is that the reason for the lack of activism, support from USA women’s rights organizations? It looks like that, to me.
Some may suggest the nuclear re-negotiations should take precedence to women’s rights. Other experts on Iran suggest returning to the negotiating table is a perfect time for that. President Biden, as a leader of the free world, has an obligation to include women’s rights in the Vienna talks. Lifting sanctions without it will be devastating, a loss of a great opportunity for Iranian women’s rights.
American women’s rights organizations must separate Iranian women from their leaders. We must help them, support them, show them they are not forgotten. Women’s rights groups should speak up and lobby for them in Congress. If guilty feelings or a sense of responsibility is what American women’s organizations are missing, then it is time to develop such feelings for neglecting Iranian women. It is time for us to include them in our global fight for women’s rights. Simply said, it is either we believe in all women’s rights, or we don’t.
To use the words of Azadeh Moaveni, a journalist, author, expert on Iran and Crisis Group’s Gender Project Director: “If women’s rights are important only at certain political times and certain locations then it is arguably destructing the cause instead of helping.”
