The Unfulfilled Promise: Iran’s Revolution and the Struggle for Rights
A pivotal moment in modern Iranian history arrived on February 11, 1979, with the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty. This revolution, fueled by a diverse coalition of students, workers, leftists, businesspeople, and women, initially promised profound social transformation. However, the dominant leadership of religious factions, spearheaded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, steered the nation towards a different path, one prioritizing Islamic principles over the broad spectrum of aspirations voiced by the populace.
The revolution’s outcome saw religious groups establish a state grounded in Islamic tenets. The pressing demands for economic justice from workers and small traders, the pursuit of freedoms by women, and the calls for good governance from students and youth were largely sidelined. This shift in focus was cemented with the formation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on May 5, 1979, a paramilitary force designed to uphold the new religious order.
A significant early development was the April 1, 1979, referendum that formally abolished the secular monarchy, declaring Iran an Islamic republic. This transition had immediate and profound consequences for women in positions of authority. Shirin Ebadi, who had previously served as the first female president of Bench 24 of the Tehran City Court in 1975, experienced a stark reversal. All female judges across Iran were demoted, as Islamic law deemed them unfit to serve in judicial capacities. Despite her extensive qualifications and experience, Ebadi’s professional trajectory was dramatically altered, her talents disregarded by the new state.
The intensification of repression, particularly in the lead-up to the 2009 presidential election, found Ebadi in Spain, preventing her return to Iran. She has since spoken of the deeply disheartening experience of witnessing female judges being demoted and relegated to clerical roles within the very institutions they once led. Protests against this injustice led to their transfer to the Department of Justice as legal experts, a move that prompted Ebadi’s own resignation, which was swiftly accepted. Later, upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, Ebadi recalled the post-revolution shutdown of the Bar Association and the initial rejection of her application to practice law.
The post-revolution period was marked by profound upheaval. On October 24, 1979, a new constitution was drafted, vesting sovereignty in “God” while incorporating elected bodies like the presidency and parliament. This unique hybrid system, blending religious authority with limited democratic elements, was met with skepticism by many liberals and intellectuals who doubted its capacity to deliver effective governance.
While liberals advocated for international engagement, a significant segment of the Iranian population viewed religious leadership as a bulwark against foreign influence during the Cold War. A referendum on December 2 and 3, 1979, boycotted by opposition groups, saw nearly 99 percent of voters approve the new constitution, effectively closing the secular path initiated by Iran’s 1906 constitution. Ayatollah Khomeini assumed the role of Supreme Leader, appointing hardliners to the Guardian Council. The presidency was largely retained to maintain an appearance of international legitimacy. In 1980, Khomeini initiated a “Cultural Revolution” aimed at eradicating dissent.
This period saw universities closed for nearly three years, books banned, academics prosecuted, and student protests violently suppressed. Following Khomeini’s death in June 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ascended to the position of Supreme Leader, a role he has held for over three decades, underscoring the revolution’s outcome: the replacement of one authoritarian system with another.
Shirin Ebadi: A Life Dedicated to Justice
Shirin Ebadi’s journey began on January 22, 1947, in Hamadan, Iran. Her family relocated to Tehran when she was a year old. Her father, Mohammad Ali Ebadi, was a respected notary public and a professor of commercial law. Ebadi has described her upbringing as liberal, marked by a harmonious relationship between her parents.
In her memoir, Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope, Ebadi recounts her mother’s unfulfilled ambition to study medicine and the personal struggles she faced. She notes, “My mother never wore the hijab. Her family was not narrow-minded enough to permit their daughters to wrap their heads. However, she was a witness to the modernisation journey and the ban on the hijab that Reza Shah initiated in 1936. It was not easy to centralise a country filled with villages and peasants overnight through railways and laws.” Ebadi emphasizes Reza Shah’s understanding that progress was impossible without women’s participation, leading him to ban the hijab as a symbol of tradition. She recognizes him as the first Iranian ruler to challenge the clergy’s political influence over women’s bodies, a stance not unique to him in Iranian history.
Ebadi also reflects on her father’s serene demeanor. “My father was calm by nature, controlled his anger without fail, and could never be provoked into raising his voice. When upset or irritated, he paced the house with his hands behind him or methodically rolled a cigar, extracting tobacco from a silver case carefully, using the time to still his mind and raising his head only when he was fully composed.” As a child, Ebadi witnessed firsthand the differing approaches of Reza Shah and his son, Mohammad Reza Shah.
She expresses no sympathy for Mohammad Reza Shah, who assumed power after his father’s abdication in 1941, a consequence of British and Soviet pressure. The Shah’s grip on power was further solidified in 1953, with the covert support of Britain’s MI6 and the US Central Intelligence Agency, orchestrating the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh after his nationalization of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Mossadegh was subsequently imprisoned and confined to his ancestral village. Ebadi identifies the 1953 coup as a formative childhood experience, as detailed in Iran Awakens. Mossadegh, she writes, was widely perceived as a nationalist hero poised to guide Iran’s ancient civilization.
After graduating with a law degree from the University of Tehran in 1968, Ebadi began her judicial career the following year. She later pursued doctoral studies under the tutelage of Professor Mahmoud Shehabi Khorasani at the same university. By 1975, she had risen to the position of head of the Tehran court. She was married to Javad Tabassolian, with whom she had two daughters, Negar and Nargess.
Following the revolution, Ebadi transitioned away from the judiciary to establish a private law practice focused on human rights. She became a staunch defender of victims of political repression, representing individuals such as Parvaneh and Dariush Forouhar, Zahra Bani Yaghoub, members of the Baha’i community, and students who lost their lives during protests.
In 2003, Ebadi notably represented the family of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist who died in detention after enduring torture at Tehran’s Evin Prison. In the same year, she achieved a historic milestone, becoming the first Muslim woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She dedicated a portion of her prize money to establish the Centre for Human Rights Defenders.
Ebadi played a crucial role in initiating the “One Million Signatures Campaign” in 2006, an effort aimed at challenging discriminatory laws against women. The campaign faced significant opposition, and in 2008, Iranian authorities raided the centre, confiscated its assets, and briefly detained family members of Ebadi.
In 2009, after traveling to Spain, Ebadi made the decision not to return to Iran due to the escalating climate of repression. From her exile, she has consistently lent her support to protests against disputed elections, economic hardship, fuel price increases, and compulsory hijab laws. Her activism has been particularly galvanized by the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, a 22-year-old Iranian woman whose death in police custody on September 16, 2022, ignited widespread nationwide protests across Iran.
Ebadi is the author of 13 books, including Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope (2006), Until We Are Free: My Fight for Human Rights in Iran (2016), and The Golden Cage: Three Brothers, Three Choices, One Destiny (2008), alongside more than 70 articles on human rights. She continues to train activists globally. Ebadi maintains that corruption and authoritarianism are at the root of Iran’s ongoing crises, citing the dramatic collapse of the national currency as stark evidence of systemic failure.
Iran’s Reverse Path: A Look at Gender Inequality
Iran has not ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Women in Iran face severe legal restrictions, including mandatory hijab laws, significant barriers to employment, political participation, and holding judicial roles. Furthermore, they often lack adequate protection from domestic and sexual violence.
The dire state of gender equality in Iran is reflected in its global standing. The World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report ranks Iran 143rd out of 146 countries. Women hold a mere 14 seats in the 290-seat parliament, and child marriage remains legal, with thousands of girls married annually.
