Book review: Leila Alikarimi,Women & Equality in Iran: Law,Society and Activism

As more and more countries across the world relentlessly hurtle towards one form of right-wing regime or the other, the aspect of religious domination in them has acquired even more relevance. Historically, in Iran, the ‘women’s question’ became central to the move towards Westernization, initiated by the Pahlavi dynasty in the early 20th century. These reforms included the forced unveiling of women. Though many reforms eased some existing patriarchal norms, they were generally top-down reforms and often coercively imposed by the state. This forced Westernization in the garb of modernization and the scuttling of democracy under the regime led to a mass movement against the Shah, which resulted in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. Significantly, different sections of society, including women, were at the forefront of this revolution against the Shah. In fact, during the revolution, the veil became a powerful symbol of resistance against the Shah. Women from different ideological hues joined the protests and donned the veil as a move for defying the ban on the veil.

After the revolution, much to the dismay of many of these revolutionaries, an ultra-conservative Islamic government was formed. This new regime under the leadership of Shia cleric Aytoollah Khomeni imposed legal restrictions on women. Iran under Khomeini presented itself as representing an Islamic counterculture that opposed the cultural degradation and alleged ‘Westoxification’ perpetuated during the rule of the Westernized Pahlavi Dynasty. Once again women’s bodies and women’s rights became the grounds on which the discursive battle of domination and control was fought. The authoritarian government’s quashing of women’s rights on the grounds of ‘preserving national security’ and the consequent strategies adopted by the women’s movement is powerfully described by Leila Alikarami in Women & Equality in Iran: Law, Society and Activism. It has a chilling resonance in our times.

One of the main focal points of this book is the struggle to bring about the accession by the Iranian state to UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). ¹ In the case of Iran, this abstention has been combined with the introduction of a highly misogynistic legal code in the name of Islam and sharia as part of the larger Islamization project. These patriarchal codes deprive women equality in most aspects of life. As the work shows, all these reforms were undertaken in the name of Islam, on the basis of a narrow, regressive and reductive interpretation of the sharia. The work also examines women’s struggles for legal equality in post-revolutionary Iran, with particular emphasis on their human rights and CEDAW. The ‘One Billion Signature Campaign’, in which the author was an active participant and a legal attorney, is also analysed here thoroughly. This first hand insights of the author into the deliberations involved in the prolonged process of negotiations, discussions and contestation over the issue of the ratification of CEDAW by Iran, marks the significance of the work. It also powerfully illustrates the impact of the ‘One Million Signature Campaign’, ² and challenges posed by women’s rights activists which eventually lead to greater public sympathy for their cause. Highlighting the significance of this campaign, Alikarami construes it as being successful as a bottom-up grassroots effort as women from varied ideological spectrum come together to mainstream the debate on gender justice and legal equality. While discussing the multiple impediments faced by women’s rights activists, the author focuses on the politics of interpretation of Islamic law and the internal politics of the country. The work foregrounds the debate on women’s legal equality within the particular socio-legal context of Iran. The focus is on the ‘new phase’ of women’s activism through the lens of feminist legal theory that developed in the wake of the reforms ushered in under the liberal reformist leadership of Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005).

The book provides a detailed analysis of the political and legal systems in Iran in a historical context and the author skilfully illustrates the changes which began in the 1990s with the new political leadership as new spaces opened up in civil society. But the political fluidity that followed can be seen as a sort of a roller coaster ride for the women’s movement in Iran with its ebbs and flows. It examines the prospect of women’s rights and gender justice within an Islamic and national framework in the post-Khomeini years, with the dynamic nature of the sharia. The author shows how feminist activists and scholars have adopted innovative strategies of interpretation of the sharia, through a feminist press and other forms of activism. This approach in turn led to the innovative use of jurisdictional tools available within Islamic jurisprudence, such as ejtehad based on a more egalitarian understanding of Islam. ³

Women & Equality in Iran: Law, Society and Activism powerfully highlights that despite constant deadlocks faced by the women’s movement, the women of Iran have managed to gain some concessions and modifications through their innovative approach towards sharia-based mechanisms. Hence, an important point that can be deduced from this book is that despite all the set-backs, there still existed a vibrant women’s movement in Iran. Alikarami makes a significant point by emphasizing that the gender bias of the Iranian legal system has been successfully challenged and has lost its legitimacy on account of the constant and unrelenting pressure mounted by women’s rights’ activists, the feminist press, scholars and feminists from different ideological hues. While rich details about the domestic context and particular dynamics of Iranian society are extremely useful, the book could have benefited more by placing these within a broader geopolitical framework exploring how global patriarchy gets entrenched and reproduced. It would have been illuminating to explore the reasons behind the fact that both USA and Iran are conspicuously among only a handful of countries that have still not ratified CEDAW. It could have shown how political elites on both sides feed off each other in their propaganda war, and in particular, in the problematic ‘clash of civilizations’ discourse. Moreover, certain questions remain unanswered; For instance, why is Iran resisting the ratification of the CEDAW even when counties like Saudi Arabia have done so? Apart from the overt and superficial reasons given by the Iranian State despite the legal flexibility and space given to state parties at the time of ratification of the convention, nothing more is known.

There are four points that could also have been dealt with by the author: first, the multiple marginalization of Iranian women need to be further contextualized within the intersectionality of gender, international politics and national power politics—and not narrowly within the Muslim context alone. Second, the Eurocentric framework of UN human rights’ law could be critiqued. Third, there is a need to assess the workings of CEDAW and other human rights mechanisms, given the fact that CEDAW is the international convention with the maximum number of recorded reservations. Lastly, the effectiveness of the UN human rights mechanisms in the protection of human rights should also be taken into account.

To sum up, this work unravels the social and political churning taking place in a Muslim country where women are at the forefront of counter-hegemonic struggles. This book should be read as a work that helps dispel the popular misconceptions of Muslim women being silent, voiceless victims of Islamic law, in need of being saved. The work illustrates that, despite the obstacles faced by Iranian women, they have actively challenged and questioned their legal subordination by campaigning at multiple levels.