Iran Archives – Women's eNews

I Made Music in Iran, Defying Laws

By Tooka Zokaie & Por Alison Bowen ● Arts & Culture ● December 12, 2014

When I went to Iran this summer, almost everything I participated in related to music was illegal. I played piano to male audiences, participated in underground concerts and danced without my headscarf to Persian pop music.

Latest in Iran

Fertility Push Viewed as Unsexy by Young Iranians

By Hajer Naili ● Health & Science ● August 5, 2014

Skeptics wrinkle their brows at the Ayatollah’s push for larger families and the government’s efforts to restrict family planning and provide incentives for childbirth. Iran’s youth want to be free, says a scholar of the Iranian women’s movement.

Iranians Move to Turkey to Press LGBT Liberation

By Léa Bouchoucha ● Arts & Culture ● July 7, 2014

Turkey’s 12th annual gay pride march on June 29 featured plenty of outrage over hate crimes and discrimination against lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender people. But for Iranians, the country is still a haven.

Iranian Women’s Magazine Zanan Makes Comeback

By Nina Ansary ● Uncategorized ● May 28, 2014

It’s re-launching May 29 in Iran. After being shut down by hardliners in 2008 the revival of this 16-year-old feminist publication is an event to celebrate as a defining moment for the resurgence of women’s rights in the post-Ahmadinejad era.

Iranian Slips Notes into Shourd’s Solitary Cell

By Sarah Shourd & Shane Bauer Josh Fattal ● Uncategorized ● May 17, 2014

Americans Sarah Shourd, Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer were arrested for crossing into Iran while hiking in 2009. Shourd spent 14 months in Iran’s Evin Prison. In this excerpt from “A Sliver of Light,” she recounts how another inmate temporarily relieved loneliness.

In Iran, Keep Your Eye on Jump in Female Literacy

By Nina Ansary ● Uncategorized ● March 29, 2014

The Islamization of society in Iran may have been designed to resurrect the image of the time-honored Muslim woman. But the single-sex schooling it brought about shows signs of enormous success and may have had an opposite and hugely empowering effect.

Military Law Changes; Syria’s Sex Violence Extreme

By WeNews Staff ● Uncategorized ● March 15, 2014

A defense to sexual assault in the military is now history; sexual violence against Syrian women may continue after conflict ends.

Iranian Women Give Nuclear Diplomacy Mixed Marks

By Hajer Naili ● Uncategorized ● February 18, 2014

Sanctions easing by the U.S. could lessen Iran’s isolation and help the country’s civil society groups. But some exiled women’s rights activists are pessimistic. Real human rights progress, they say, can’t be expected from a religious dictatorship.

Iran’s Rohani Didn’t Beat a Single Female Rival

By Solmaz Sharif ● Commentary ● June 20, 2013

That’s because he didn’t face any. In this interview, Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi explains how Iranian women keep registering as presidential candidates to protest the Guardian Council’s decision to disqualify women for not meeting its definition of “rejal.”

Metastatic Women Are Stranded in the Sea of Pink

By Pamela Grossman ● Uncategorized ● November 26, 2012

If the breast cancer you had comes back somewhere else in your body, you lose the “survivor recognition” stripes gained by years of good test results. Suddenly, you have something incurable that no one really wants to discuss.