Activists address women’s issues

Published by The Cavalier Daily- February 5, 2002

BY CHRIS WILSON 

Behjat Dehgan witnessed the execution of her two best friends before leaving her homeland of Iran in fear of her own life.

Now, she and Homeira Hesami are part of the Association of Iranian Women, an organization dedicated to educating an international audience about the treatment of women in Iran.

In conjunction with the Women’s Center, Dehghan and Hesami delivered a presentation yesterday evening that outlined the history and specifics of the fight for Iranian women’s rights.

Both speakers were quick to point out that the fundamentalist regime controlling Iran is responsible for the lack of human rights, not the Islamic religion.

“You can’t find [such atrocities against women] in Islam or the Qur’an,” Dehghan said. Instead, “the constitution [in Iran] is biased against women.”

On the contrary, Hesami said that Muslims have a history of activism that may help bring about reform in human rights.

“The beauty of the Muslim is that if he or she doesn’t see justice, he will do something about it,” Hesami said. “Islam is more involved with the politics in society than other monotheistic religions.”

The long term goal of the AIW is to gain enough support for Iranian women’s rights so the international community can take action against the dictatorship in Iran.

“The problem is rooted in fundamentalism,” Hesami said. “The whole government is fundamentalist, so you can’t bring about change in the same way that you can in America.”

Much of yesterday’s presentation was devoted to enumerating the graphic details of atrocities against women in Iran, including public stoning and torture. The speakers were careful to draw attention to the extreme psychological bias against women as well, including unequal marriage laws and restrictive dress codes.

“Iranian women are subject to a gradual destruction of personality,” Dehgan said.

Hesami was critical of Western policy regarding human rights in the Middle East.

“The policy of the West in other countries is not always so democratic,” she said. “Market comes before human rights in many cases.”

Hesami cited the CIA-based coup that restored the Shah – the former leader of Iran – to power as an example of Western action that opposed the will of the Iranian people.

The solution, according to Hesami, is in a democratic Islam.

“We’re going to use chemistry – like dissolves like,” she said. “The trouble is finding the right solvent.”

Dehghan agreed that a democratic solution is necessary, though she emphasized the need for the international community to get involved.

“We believe that women’s rights cannot be separated from human rights,” she said. “Still, I believe all Iranian women should have an active role.”