The role of women in Iran has often been downplayed or obscured, particularly in the modern era. This volume demonstrates that women have long played important roles in different facets of Iranian society. Together with its companion, Women in Iran from the Rise of Islam to 1800, this volume completes a two-book project on the central importance of Iranian women from pre-Islamic times through the creation and establishment of the Islamic Republic. It includes essays from various disciplines by prominent scholars who examine women's roles in politics, society, and culture and the rise and development of the women's movement before and during the Islamic Republic. Several contributors address the issue of regional, ethnic, linguistic, and tribal diversity in Iran, which has long contained complex, heterogenous societies.

Combining scholarship from a range of disciplines, this collection of essays is a comprehensive examination of the role of women in Iranian society and culture, from pre-Islamic times to 1800. The contributors challenge common assumptions about women in Iran and Islam. Sweeping away modern myths, these essays show that women have had significant influence in almost every area of Iranian life. Focusing on a region wider than today's nation-state of Iran, this book explores developments in the spheres that most affect women: gender constructs, family structure, community roles, education, economic participation, Islamic practices and institutions, politics, and artistic representations. The contributors to this volume are prominent international scholars working in this field, and each draws on decades of research to address the history of Iranian women within the context of his or her area of expertise. This broad framework allows for a thorough and nuanced examination of the history of a complex society.

Drawing on the complexities and nuances in women’s education in relation to the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, this edited collection examines implications of religious-based policies on gender relations as well as the unanticipated outcomes of increasing participation of women in education. With a focus on the impact of the Islamic Republic’s Islamicization endeavor on Iranian society, specifically gender relations and education, this volume offers insight into the paradox of increasing educational opportunities despite discriminatory laws and restrictions that have been imposed on women.

Iranian women tell in their own words what the revolution attempted and how they responded. The Islamic revolution of 1979 transformed all areas of Iranian life. For women, the consequences were extensive and profound, as the state set out to reverse legal and social rights women had won and to dictate many aspects of women's lives, including what they could study and how they must dress and relate to men. Reconstructed Lives presents Iranian women telling in their own words what the revolution attempted and how they responded. Through a series of interviews with professional and working women in Iran—doctors, lawyers, writers, professors, secretaries, businesswomen—Haleh Esfandiari gathers dramatic accounts of what has happened to their lives as women in an Islamic society. She and her informants describe the strategies by which women try to and sometimes succeed in subverting the state's agenda. Esfandiari also provides historical background on the women's movement in Iran. She finds evidence in Iran's experience that even women from "traditional" and working classes do not easily surrender rights or access they have gained to education, career opportunities, and a public role.

Iranian women acquired greater legal, social, and economic opportunities during the past three decades than in any other period of history, yet they participated in large numbers in the 1979 revolution to overthrow Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Ironically, they may have lost. more than any other group from the changes introduced and stand to lose even more from changes contemplated by leaders of the current regime. The role of women in the revolution, the reasons for their participation, and their subsequent fate are documented in this volume. The authors examine the status of women in pre-revolutionary society, the ways in which their lives were affected by Islamic principles, and the changes that occurred throughout the twentieth century as increasing numbers of women entered the labor force and public life. They then turn to recent political events, describing the participation of working-class, rural, and educated women and activists from both the right and left. Finally, they consider the implications of recent government politics aimed at limiting women's activities outside the home and encouraging a return to more traditional roles.

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