Iran

In 1925, Reza Shah took control of Iran following a coup d'etat, and women became a central symbol of his efforts to modernize Iran.  His son Mohammad, who assumed the throne in 1941, continued his father's efforts.  During the 1960s, women were given full citizenship, the right to vote, and the opportunity to run for office.  The religious clergy were the greatest opponents to these changes, believing that granting women such rights was against Islamic values and threatened the family structure.  The Iranian Revolution of 1979 brought the clergy to power and established a state based on Islamic ideology, and the clergy revoked the many rights of women that had been established under the Shah's regime.  During the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) and in its aftermath, women began to speak out against legal discrimination and the lack of state support for family needs.  Today, women are active in all spheres of Iranian society, expressing their views and raising their voices for democracy.

Inclusive Security Publications
Women's Rights and Democracy: Peaceful Transformation in Iran

Media
Iran's Hard Line Begins at Home
by Azadeh Moaveni, Time
August 27, 2006

Conflict Background
BBC Country Profile 
International Crisis Group

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