Women's Day Celebration in Tehran

For the first time in years, the International Women's day was celebrated in public. About 200 people were expected to attend an event at the Shahr-e Ketab (Book City) Center, organized by a coalition of women's groups and independent women which called itself "Komite-ye bargozar konande". About twice as many showed up, and the place was packed. People were qeueing on both staircases, or forcefully squeezing themselves past each other ("bebakhshid khanum, khanum bebakhshid"), up and down the tiny aisles connecting the auditorium, the bookstand, and the room with the live video monitor projecting the talks. What was perhaps most impressive was that the three-hour marathon of speeches - interrupted only occasionally, by live music - failed to put anyone off. People actually stayed.

Topics ranged from the history of Iranian feminism, to ecofeminism, to women's movements in Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

One of the highlights of the event was Zeenat Daryaee, a recently elected member of the local government council in Salakh, a village on the island of Gheshm in southern Iran.

The following are excerpts from her talk:
I want to speak of women in the south. They are perhaps more subject to the imposition of traditional values than are women of other regions. But southern women, in spite of their difficulties, never surrendered, and are not defeated. Even when they were less present in society, they were never less than men.

Even in the past, when they were more confined to the home, they were very active in their own lives, and were actively involved in their children's, and in their husbands' lives as well. For example, where there was a man who was a fisherman, there was his wife who was the net weaver. If there was a carpenter, then most definitely there was a woman who made handicrafts and sewed the gold embroidery to be sold in the bazaar, to help with expenses.

Aside from domestic work such as running the household - which I still don't know why the government does not formally recognize as women's work and grant it the protections and the benefits such as insurance, to which professionals are entitled (outburst of applause) - even aside from this work, in all aspects of society, women have been a powerful force. There is the story of Sakeeneh Delghe'es, who during the occupation of Gheshm by the Portuguese, and after numerous failed attempts by Persian soldiers, came up with a plan for the penetration of the blockades surrounding the island. She gathered all the women and headed toward the enemy fortress where they distracted the Portuguese and made so much noise through their drum beating and singing and dancing that the Persian soldiers were able to enter the island unnoticed, and reclaim the island.

Our girls have shown so much overwhelming intelligence and courage that many families are now thankful when they have daughters.... And when I see the boys and young men who grow their long and pierce their ears to beautify themselves, I think, look, they're modeling themselves after the girls. And why not? There's nothing wrong with raising our boys to be more like our girls, both mentally and emotionally so they can be more sensitive and less aggressive and overbearing.

My friends in the audience have asked me to speak of my own life. I've only studied as far as 5th grade, but since the age of 11, I've been providing primary health care to villagers - midwifery, first-aid, vaccinations and so on - though I never took any money, I enjoyed doing it. At one point, a doctor came to the village and told me I could no longer practice in this traditional way. He suggested I join the 'behvarzi' program (training as a health professional). Despite having two kids and a household to run, I loved the work. The problem was, I needed to take off my borghe (a traditional facial mask worn in the south of Iran). Back in 1985, if a woman took off her borghe, she may as well have stripped off her clothes and paraded naked. For two years, noone noticed, since I would only take it off in school, on the mainland. Later, when I started working again in the village, I was obliged by the director to take it off.

At first, people didn't recognize my face, which was so much the better, since I was very embarrassed. But once they did, everyone, including my family and friends, isolated me within the village. Some called me names and threw stones at me. For ten years, I was completely alone and I swear, if my husband didn't need me, he probably would have left me too. But I lived through my work.

Gradually, however, they noticed the good that I was doing, and how devoted I was. They grew to accept me, and in the last elections, those very people who cursed me, voted me into the local council - I came in first among all the male candidates. I won 90% of the vote.