Political identity: feminists and feminism in Iran

Abstract

Iranian gender politics influences how women identify as feminists and defend women’s rights. Most studies on feminists and women activists in Iran have focused on the pressures faced by women activists and the different strategies they use to improve women’s rights. While these studies examine the different strategies used by feminists and women activists in Iran, they have not considered in depth the distinct positions and strategies women activists take regarding the terms ‘feminist’ and ‘feminism’. These issues are explored by drawing on forty-seven semi-structured interviews with Iranian feminists and women activists. Different typologies are revealed based on how women identified themselves. The study concludes that problems associated with the terms ‘feminist’ and ‘feminism’ and the politics of gender in Iran have led women to take different positions in terms of using the label of feminist.

Keywords:

• Iranian feminists
• Iranian women activists
• secular feminists
• Islamic feminists
• religious women rights’ activists
• religious conservative women activists

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Pardis Asadi Zeidabadi

Pardis Asadi Zeidabadi completed PhD in Sociology at Newcastle University. Her PhD focused on exploring the Perspectives of Iranian Feminists and Women Activists on their Political Identity and Priorities. She is currently a Senior Research Associate at Bristol University and Visiting Lecturer at City, University of London.