IRAN: TEHRAN: WOMEN GATHER IN CELEBRATION OF WOMEN'S DAY
(4 Nov 1996) Farsi/Nat Iran is making an increased effort to change the western perception of the Islamic woman - repressed, covered in a black veil and living in a xenophobic world. In the past few years various women's activities that were deemed unacceptable by hardline Islamic fundamentalists are now being tolerated and permitted by President Hashemi Rafsanjani. In celebration of Women's day - the birth of Fatima the daughter of the prophet Mohammed - some hundred thousand Iranian women gathered at a stadium in Tehran. Iran is trying to shed its image as a country which obliges women to wrap up and stay at home. Over the past few years, certain activities previously considered taboo are being allowed by the government of President Hashemi Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani's wife and two daughters are prominent and vociferous activists and participants in what could be called a progressive Islamic feminist movement. In celebration of Women's day - the birth of Fatima the daughter of the prophet Mohammed - some 100-thousand Iranian women gathered at a stadium in Tehran. The November 2nd festival, known as "Kosar Day," is also the birthday of the late Imam Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution. Thousands of women, waving flags and banners and chanting, watched as schoolgirls dressed in colourful costumes demonstrated martial arts. The Iranian Basiji militia, made up of women armed and dressed in black, paraded the huge Azadi sport complex near Tehran. This woman - a member of the Basiji militia - is instructing her students of the significance of the veil in Islamic society, emphasizing that wearing a veil does not stop them from taking an active role in society. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) "Children, you know that the hijab (veil) is not a limitation, it is protection. Wearing the hijab, women can participate in the society and have an immaculate and clean role to play in it. Hijab does not stop you from being active." SUPERCAPTION: Minoo Taghavi, age 21, Basiji Militia instructor One of her students underlines the belief in Iran that the veil is the protector of women rather than its suppresser. SOUNDBITE: "A Moslem woman can protect herself from the damaging problems of the society she lives in by wearing her Islamic veil, problems such as the cultural invasion of the West." SUPERCAPTION: Shirin Hessaby, age 16, member of the Basiji Militia The celebrations at the Azadi stadium were also attended by the Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani who addressed the enthusiastic crowd. In his speech he stressed the active role of women in Iranian society. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) "Forty-seven percent of our teachers and students are women. Women have a high and valuable position in the running of our society. I am certain that there is a bright future full of hope for women of Iran and they can regain the rights that were taken from them in the past and rectify the misdeeds against them. I thank all the women whose efforts in raising brave children during the years of the war (with Iraq) gave the whole nation encouragement. Also I thank all the women who by their presence in the education and management fields have shown the world that by using the latest sciences and technologies, they can fight back the cultural invasion of materialism and loose morals of the West." SUPERCAPTION: Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani How far the role of women in Iranian society will develop in the near future is not yet clear. But one thing is certain, with the spectre of Khomeini ever present it will be a slow and possibly reversible process. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
