While there is a long history of feminist activism in Iran, this new movement is striking in its departure from the more pragmatic and reform-oriented campaigns of the last several decades. The uprising is not against Islam or the choice to wear hijab; rather the protestors are refusing conscription into regimes of patriarchal authority and gender-differentiated citizenship.
Please Join Security in Context and the OU Center for Peace and Development at the University of Oklahoma for "The Women's Movement and the Challenge of Political Islam in Turkey," a talk with Yeşim Arat, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bogazici University in Istanbul.