Women were active in the events surrounding the Islamic revolution in Iran 30 years ago, but the Islamic Republic has been criticised for reversing many of the rights women won under the Shah's regime that was overthrown by the revolution.
Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2003 for her work on human rights in Iran.
She tells the BBC World Service how women have responded to changes in their legal status over the past 30 years and how her hopes for Iran's future lie with women and the young.
The slogan of the revolution was 'Independence and Freedom' and they said that the Islamic Revolution would bring this.
Back then people were really hopeful because they really wanted independence and freedom.
Unfortunately after the revolution, while the country was more independent than before, the freedom that people were expecting did not come about.
Only five months had passed since the revolution when the Revolutionary Council took away all the rights that women had won over the previous years even though the new constitution had yet to be passed and the new president had not been elected.
It was in 1979 that a law was passed allowing men to take up to four wives, another law was passed stating that after a divorce the father would have custody of the children and women lost the rights they had gained. >>> | Thursday, February 12, 2009
Listen to BBC audio: Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi discusses the impact of the Iranian Revolution on the country’s women >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
