Shirin Ebadi: Protecting women's rights in post-revolutionary Iran
Hair salon in Tehran in 1977 - A. Abbas / Magnum photos
Words by Safiya Bashir, Edited by Evar Hussayni
Shirin Ebadi is a defence lawyer, one of the first female judges in Iran, a Nobel prize recipient and author of four books. As a woman living under Iran’s strict patriarchal regime, she faced imprisonment, torture of friends and family, and a career ending due to her gender. We take this opportunity to explore her formidable journey and incredible achievements over the past 50 years.
Ebadi grew up in pre-revolutionary Iran ruled by the Shah monarchy, a system that encouraged a lifestyle that was very much different to life in the country today. The pre-revolutionary Iran was in many ways considered a western state. In the 1930s, the old Shah had banned the veil, ordering the police to forcibly remove headscarves and encouraging women to wear western style jeans, mini skirts and short sleeved tops.
Through oil and a close friendship with the US, the Shah funded an extremely decadent lifestyle whilst many Iranians had to live a life defined by poverty. It was a government that held world famous parties for the Western elite - one of the more extravagant events requiring trucks of caviar, 18 tonnes of food flown from Paris and 50,000 songbirds from Europe.
Growing up in a context where Iranian’s were tired of watching their country’s wealth funnel straight to the monarchy, Ebadi found her legal career starting off in the midst of protests fighting for a revolution to overthrow the dictator. An angry population demanding change, the air was thick with unrest, and Ebadi was keen to see this unrest through.
In 1979, the Shah was overthrown and the country rejoiced. Mohammed Mossadegh rose to power and was democratically voted in by the Iranian people. Ebadi and her politically active friends and family felt hope for the future of their country - finally, an Iran where democracy was hailed and the country could come into its own. Sadly, it was scarcely a month into Mossadegh’s power that Ebadi realised that the reality of the 1979 revolution was not the reality she was seeking; “In fact, I had willingly and enthusiastically participated in my own demise. I was a woman, and this revolution’s victory demanded my defeat.” (Ebadi, 2006)
Shirin Ebadi (right) receives the Nobel Peace Prize, December 10, 2003. Ebadi holds the Nobel Diploma and Ole Danbolt Mjos, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, holds the medal which goes along with the prize.
AP/Wide World Photos.
The new Iran was one that enforced a hard ‘Islamic’ law - a rigid interpretation of Islam that left women with visibly fewer rights. Enforced headscarves, a huge demotion in her career from a court judge to a clerical role because of her gender, and restricted movements without her husband’s permissions left the country flipped in a way she could never have imagined. Seeing her lack of rights named in the name of Islam, Ebadi never accepted this idea and maintained that religion itself is not to blame for repression. Instead, Islam is constantly invoked by despotic governments in order to repress democracy and human rights. She pointed out that discrimination against women “has its roots in the patriarchal and male-dominated culture prevailing in these societies, not in Islam” (Ebadi, 2006).
Years down the line, when she was finally able to open her own law practice, Ebadi spent many years taking on many high-profile cases. Often working for free, she spent years uncovering the huge injustices of the Iranian legal system - one example being the case of Leila Fathi. Leila was raped by three men, killed and thrown over a cliff. She was 9-years-old.
All three of the men were caught, found guilty and sentenced to death. Due to the notion of financial compensation known as “blood money”, the lives of the murderers were worth twice as much as Leila’s. As a result, the judge demanded that the Fathi family come up with thousands of dollars to fund the two murderers’ executions. Leila’s family sold everything that they owned - including their home. But it wasn’t enough. Homeless, they even sought out a doctor to try to sell their kidneys to fund this deep rooted sexist notion of blood money to appease society.
News of this devastating case reached Ebadi, where she agreed to represent the family pro bono and in turn, make it a global issue and raise Leila’s story as an egregious illustration of the social problems of the Islamic Republic and challenge the inequality embedded in the blood money law.
Her work was recognised and celebrated across the globe. Yet within Iran, it has been constantly refuted and in 1999 she was subsequently incarcerated on charges of spreading and publishing lies against the Islamic Republic, spending 25 long days in solitary confinement.
The ferocious and constant work carried out by Ebadi over the past 50 years is a fight that we must all recognise and admire. And it’s necessary to recognise her work in the context of motherhood and the strict gender-based roles in Iran. Years of tirelessly working without payment, resisting an oppressive state, representing the highest profile cases in Iran - she also worked another full-time job as mother and wife.
“Between my legal practice in the morning, working on articles in the evening, starting my next book, it was an often overwhelming workload. There was really no such institution as takeout, and the expectations of an Iranian wife include that she will cook. My husband Javan left these tasks to me. Just as he left the shopping, the cleaning, the balancing of the chequebook, and the shuttling of the girls to and from their classes to me.” (Ebadi, 2006)
Shirin Ebadi: Hans Jørgen Brun
Unpaid labour in the home carried out by women is a universal phenomenon and of course, there is rarely mention of Ebadi working around the everyday expectation of women in the home. Her fight was made much harder due to her gender. From being forced to step down as the President of a court to having to balance her enormous workload with the housework - being an inspiring human rights lawyer in Iran is no easy feat. Whether it is justified through religion, culture or capitalism, simply existing as a woman anywhere in the world will put you at a disadvantage in many spheres of life.
In post-revolutionary Iran, these inequalities have been massively magnified for most of the female population. Even today, women are banned from watching men’s sports in stadiums; they make up 6% of parliament, and married women need their husband’s permission to leave the country - all in the name of ‘Islam’. As one of the biggest jailers of journalists, bloggers and social media activists, the state is not making these laws easy to change, yet Ebadi continues to dedicate her life to challenge a government that has used Islam to thwart just and democratic values. Feminist ideals and Islam are not two contradictory ideas. Through her work, Shirin Ebadi has gone to lengths to spread this message across the world. We must recognise her efforts, applaud her achievements and shout about the importance of her actions - for women everywhere.
Ibadi, S, 2006. Iran Awakening. San Diego, Calif.: University of San Diego.