Iran

In November, WLP published the Persian edition of the Guide to Equality in the Family in the Maghreb for use by Iranian women’s rights activists in the "One Million Signatures" campaign for equal legal rights and family law reform. The campaign, launched in August 2006, aims to collect one million signatures and spread grassroots awareness of discriminatory laws such as those related to marriage, divorce, and child custody.

The arguments for family law reform presented in the Guide will help provide support to the legal reform efforts of the One Million Signatures campaign. The Guide is a unique advocacy tool developed by Collectif 95 Maghreb-Egalité, a coalition of women’s organizations from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, that presents the current state of the family law in the Maghreb, and proposes religious, human rights, sociological, and legal arguments for reform, well-supported by relevant data.

~The book is available for order ($24.95) or free download.~

June 2, 2008

Iranian women's rights activists are calling for international support in observance of the June 12, 2006 demonstrations. Two years ago on this day, activists organized a peaceful protest demanding the revision of discriminatory laws against women in Iran. Seventy people were arrested during the gathering and continue to this day to be summoned, charged, arrested and sentenced for peaceful activism. June 12th has since been chosen by Iranian women’s rights activists as their national day of solidarity to object harmful actions which attempt to silence Iranian women.

Please read the following "Statement in Support of Iranian Women" and send your personal or organizational support for the women’s rights activists who are fighting for their basic human rights against all odds. Please send emails to wlp@learningpartnership.org and hadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org. For more information about the campaign efforts, please read below or visit the One Million Signatures website.

by Abigail Somma
July 23, 2007
www.voices-unabridged.org

These days, when most people talk about Iran, the focus is on its nuclear program. But for a group of determined Iranian women, there’s a more pressing issue at hand. Since June 2006, human rights activists have been campaigning tirelessly for something that continues to elude Iranian women: equal rights.

The One Million Signatures Campaign or Change for Equality, started as a grassroots movement to collect a million signatures demanding the Iranian government change laws that discriminate against women.

From January-March 2004, four leading Afghan and Iranian participants worked together over a ten-week period to develop, test and adapt the curriculum for the Persian eCourse.

Two Iranian women with strong backgrounds in women's rights education and advocacy were trained as facilitators for the future eCourse in Iran.

By Diane Sawyer
ABC News, Good Morning America
February 12, 2007

Diane Sawyer Discovers Women's Rights in Iran Are More Complicated Than Many in West Believe

Women in Iran are allowed to vote at the age of 15. They hold 4 percent of the seats in Parliament, and more than half the university students are women.

Women make up more than 30 percent of Iran's work force.

By Maura J. Casey, Editorial Observer
The New York Times
February 7, 2007

"Well-behaved women rarely make history," my favorite bumper sticker says. It surely applies to Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner whose relentless campaign against discrimination has enraged the mullahs for more than 25 years.

In a country where the law values a woman’s life at only half the price of a man’s, Ms. Ebadi will not be quiet, and she is urging other women to find their voices. Her newest effort is to help collect the signatures of one million Iranian women on a petition protesting their lack of legal rights.

September 2006: Twelve women leaders from seven Iranian women’s rights organizations gathered together from August 30 – September 1, 2006 to take part in a leadership training workshop using the Persian Leading to Choices multimedia curriculum.

During the workshop, participants explored ways of raising issues pertaining to women’s rights that cannot be openly discussed. One scenario involved two women waiting for a bus during which an older woman activist opens a conversation with a young girl and gradually goes on to discuss reproductive rights and the unfairness of divorce laws.

Participants also learned about the use of technology for advocacy and enacted role play scenarios to hone their negotiation skills.