[lbo-talk] Women in Iran since 1979

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 5/10/07, tfast <tfast at yorku.ca> wrote:
> The point is Mr Timberlake, that I have always read both Chris and Yoshie to
> be saying, both in the case of Russia and Iran respectively, that life in
> both countries has improved for the citizens in those countries.  Note: I am
> even in less of a position to argue about Iran because I have no information
> about what actually matters (that is how the courts are run, oversight over
> local officials etc etc.)  And this is key.  In order to have any kind of
> meaningful discussion about the state of life in either country we need to
> know what day to day life looks like for the average citizen trying to get
> on with their life.  What both Chris and Yoshie it seems have been reacting
> to is the constant barrage of sensational instances being presented as the
> norm.

It is a striking fact that rarely in discourse on the left in the West
does one find any detailed information about how things have changed
in Iran over time since the Islamic Revolution, though an abundance of
information is available from scholarly literature.  Here's an
excellent overview of changes that women have made in the Islamic
Republic of Iran, regarding law, labor, religion, education, birth
control, sports, etc., by one of the best scholars in Middle East
Studies:

FULL TEXT available at
<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_2_67/ai_63787337/print>
Social Research, Summer 2000
Women in Iran Since 1979
Nikki R. Keddie

Nikki R. Keddie is Professor Emerita at the University of
California-Los Angeles. She has published widely on Iran and the
Muslim world, including, most recently, Qajar Iran and the Rise of
Reza Khan (1999). She is currently working on articles and an AHA
pamphlet on women in Middle Eastern History. She is co-editing (with
Rudi Matthee) the proceedings of the UCLA conference, "Iran and the
Surrounding World since 1500: Cultural Influences and Interactions."
-- 
Yoshie