Happy International Women’s Day – 8 March
International Women’s Day, 8 March, is a reminder of the women´s struggles that have undertaken for over 150 years to secure their rights and fight against injustice, inequality, exploitation, and servitude. This day traces its roots to 1857, when women textile workers in New York City staged protests demanding shorter working hours and better wages. Their struggle laid the foundation for future women’s movements worldwide.
Iranian women, as part of the global fight for freedom, began their own monumental battle against oppressive traditions, despotic laws, and religious reactionism, especially from the era of the Constitutional Revolution onwards. Whether openly or covertly, they have fought tirelessly. Revolutionary women in Iran, alongside men, actively participated in leftist and communist organisations, particularly armed groups, to overthrow tyranny and dismantle regressive and gender-discriminatory laws. They played a significant role in shaping the 1979 Revolution.
However, this progress was short-lived. The religious reactionaries, led by Khomeini, systematically reversed the gains achieved by freedom-loving Iranian women. Alongside suppressing the revolution, they imposed gender apartheid on women and Iranian society.
On 8 March 1979, just weeks after the revolution, women employees, nurses, and schoolgirls took to the streets in protest when women workers were denied entry to their workplaces for not wearing the hijab. Activist women joined them in their demonstrations.
The fight of Iranian women against the oppression and regressive traditions of the Islamic Republic’s reactionary regime has taken many forms. This battle persisted beneath the surface of society, passing from generation to generation, until the murder of Jina (Mahsa) Amini brought these underground struggles to the forefront. Out of this tragedy emerged the revolutionary Woman, Life, Freedom movement, a movement where the cries for freedom echoed through the streets. Women challenged tyranny and a movement where the cries for freedom echoed through the streets religious traditions by removing and burning their hijabs, symbolising their defiance of the oppressive regime.
The Organisation of Iranian Political Prisoners (in Exile), while honoring International Women’s Day, honors the memory of brave young women such as Yaldas, Hadiths, Mahsas, Sarinas, Nikas, Armitas, Ghazales, Hananehs, Hanas, Esras, Pardises, Maedes, who fought against the tyranny and reactionary traditions of the Islamic Regime and lost their lives, particularly over the hijab.
Organisation of Iranian Political Prisoners (in Exile)
7 March 2024 | 17 Esfand 1402