MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES FALL 2009 MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM FALL OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES 2009 Introduction 1 Iran’s Presidential Elections: Women’s Role in the Pre- and Post-Election Politics 4 Quiet Leadership and Pressure from Below: Women’s Participation in Iranian Public Life 10 Women in the Iranian Election Campaign Women in Iran’s Green and Protest Movement: Their Role in the 2009 Presidential Introduction and called attention to the lack of progress on Election Protests 15 Kendra Heideman, Intern, Middle East Program regressive policies regarding women’s rights in Women played a prominent role throughout each Iran since Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005. The June Elections and the phase of Iran’s disputed June 2009 presidential Women were also active in the campaign, Change in Political election, including its aftermath. They were voted in large numbers, and later joined the Culture 18 actively courted by the candidates. Two candi- post-election protests despite the risk of arrest dates in particular, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and and in defiance of the batons, clubs, and guns of Mehdi Karroubi, promised to address women’s government security forces. The picture of Neda Reporting Chaos 20 rights issues and grant women cabinet seats if they Agha-Soltan, shot and bleeding to death on June were elected. In addition, Mousavi was joined 20, 2009 on a Tehran street, became the iconic by his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, on the campaign image of the protest movement. Another lasting trail in an act that underscored his commitment symbol was the use of the color green by mem- to a broad program for improving women’s bers of the Green Movement, a movement that rights, including his previous vow to review had started before the election and turned into laws that discriminate against women. In these a protest movement in response to the disputed largely unprecedented campaign moves directed election and government crackdown on post-elec- at women, the reformist candidates displayed tion protests, with significant participation from their recognition of women’s power to influence women and pro-women reformist candidates politics in Iran and specifically the June election. Mousavi and Karroubi. Leading women activists Such changes in campaigning on the reformist and journalists have been among the thousands side contrasted the traditional campaigning style arrested by the Iranian government in opposition 1 of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad protests since the election. Months after the June MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES FALL 2009 About the Middle East Program Director The Middle East Program was launched in February 1998 in light Dr. Haleh Esfandiari of increased U.S. engagement in the region and the profound changes sweeping across many Middle Eastern states. In addition to spotlighting Assistant day-to-day issues, the Program concentrates on long-term economic, social, Mona Youssef and political developments, as well as relations with the United States. The Middle East Program draws on domestic and foreign regional Special thanks experts for its meetings, conferences, and occasional papers. Conferences Special thanks to Mona and meetings assess the policy implications of all aspects of developments Youssef for coordinating within the region and individual states; the Middle East’s role in the inter- this publication; Kendra national arena; American interests in the region; the threat of terrorism; Heideman, Anna Van Hollen, arms proliferation; and strategic threats to and from the regional states. and Nader Mehran for their The Program pays special attention to the role of women, youth, extensive editing assistance; civil society institutions, Islam, and democratic and autocratic tenden- Lianne Hepler and her staff cies. In addition, the Middle East Program hosts meetings on cul- for designing the Occasional tural issues, including contemporary art and literature in the region. Paper Series; and David Hawxhurst for taking the • Gender Issues: The Middle East Program devotes considerable atten- photographs. tion to the role of women in advancing civil society and to the attitudes of governments and the clerical community toward women’s rights in the family and society at large. The Program examines employment pat- terns, education, legal rights, and political participation of women in the region. The Program also has a keen interest in exploring women’s increas- ing roles in conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction activities.. • Current Affairs: The Middle East Program emphasizes analysis of cur- rent issues and their implications for long-term developments in the region, including: Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy, Iran’s political and nuclear ambi- tions, the presence of American troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf and their effect on the region, human rights violations, globalization, economic and political partnerships, and U.S. foreign policy in the region. • Islam, Democracy and Civil Society: The Middle East Program monitors the growing demand of people in the region for democratization, political participation, accountable government, the rule of law, and adher- ence by their governments to international conventions, human rights and women’s rights. It continues to examine the role of Islamic movements in shaping political and social developments and the variety of factors that favor or obstruct the expansion of civil society. The following papers are based on the authors’ presen- tations at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on July 13, 2009. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect those of the 2 Woodrow Wilson Center. presidential election, the Green Movement has In “Women in Iran’s Green Movement: Their remained a resilient voice of opposition to the Role in the 2009 Presidential Election Protest,” Ahmadinejad government because of the consid- Fatemeh Haghighatjoo features Iranian women erable and continued involvement of women. as agents of change and points to their involve- To address the role of women in the 2009 presidential election in Iran, the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars hosted a panel discussion on July 13, 2009 on “Women in the Iranian Election Campaign and Protest.” The speak- ers examined the roots and implications of the unusual role women played in the politics of the June election. In “Iran’s Presidential Elections: Women’s Role in the Pre- and Post-Election Politics,” Nayereh Tohidi contends that while women played a visible, active and seemingly unprec- edented role in the June 2009 elections and post- election demonstrations, the women’s political movement in Iran has been evolving for more ment on the front lines of post-election pro- than a century. After reviewing the significant tests. She provides a background of women’s political and social developments since the 1979 extraordinary influence on the election cam- Revolution, she discusses the current women’s paign, emphasizing the candidates’ promises to movement as diverse, non-ideological, pro-dem- improve women’s rights and increase gender ocratic and dedicated to collective activism. equality. Observing how Iranian women have Through analysis of women’s participation in become increasingly aware of the absence of their the Green Movement, Tohidi highlights how social, political, and legal rights through shared the Iranian regime is suffering from a legitimacy experiences and hardships, Haghighatjoo under- crisis and extended distrust while calls for democ- scores the women’s collective spirit of resistance racy are becoming connected to advancements in that continues to empower women and drive the gender politics. reformist Green Movement. She concludes that Norma Claire Moruzzi presents a historical these united and determined women, through a and social foundation of Iranian women’s role non-violent approach, are struggling to transform in politics, providing context to their role in their society. the recent election in “Quiet Leadership and Pari Esfandiari highlights the role of the media Pressure from Below: Women’s Participation in covering women’s participation in the elections in Iranian Public Life.” She details the pro- and post-election protests in “Reporting Chaos,” gression of women’s rights and conditions in focusing specifically on the online media platform Iran since the Revolution. Identifying sev- IranDokht. Her paper spans IranDokht’s web eral unprecedented changes in women’s role in coverage of the election, from women registering the 2009 presidential campaign and election, as presidential candidates to interviews with can- Moruzzi highlights the cooperation of secular didates’ advisors and to women’s participation in and reformist women’s groups and the pres- post-election demonstrations. Emphasizing the ence of Zahra Rahnavard as two significant campaign’s unprecedented openness and use of advancements. Additionally, she argues that technology, Esfandiari discusses how candidates women’s involvement in the post-election dem- catered to Iran’s tech-savvy youth by posting onstrations further signifies an increasingly campaign information on blogs, Facebook, and integrated and bottom-up movement within YouTube. Despite the difficulty of reporting after Iranian society. the election dispute, she stresses how IranDokht, 3 MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES FALL 2009 in particular, was able to provide up-to-date model of exchange and dialogue” highlights the information