Short And Long Term Effects Of The 1979 Revolution

The 1979 Revolution and resulting government policies have an overall negative effect because economically the government handled the economic oil infrastructure very badly and wasted its money on unnecessary projects. As the price of oil (Iran's major export) rose, the Shah attempted to modernize Iran. This "pushed aside" the merchant class and forced poorer peasants to become migrant workers in towns. The coming of the revolution The Shah spent $100,000 million on a celebration for the Iranian monarchy and many Iranians found this disrespectful. The incomes of civil servants were fixed, and inflation lowered their standard of living. An article says, “The 1988 decision to accept a cease-fire [to end the Iran-Iraq War] also reflected recognition
Urban poverty doubled. Real per capita income dropped by 45 percent since the revolution. And price controls and strict rationing of basic consumer goods failed to prevent rampant inflation (Maloney).” This means that because the revolution already costed so much, Iran can not even afford the war’s toll on the economy or society. Another article says, “The Iranian economy remains heavily oil-dependent, but decreased domestic production (due to an aging oil infrastructure, sanctions, and limited foreign investment) and increased domestic energy consumption (due to a population boom) have meant that Iran's oil exports have gone from 5m barrels in 1978 to a bit more than 2m barrels per day in 2012 (Sadjadpour).” This means that because Iran depended on the oil to make the money that when domestic energy consumption increased that there could only be two barrels being exported per day when it used to be five barrels being exported before the
Therefore, human rights were violated and there were many unnecessary deaths. Before the revolution the women did not have a dress code, but after the revolution there was a dress code for the women to follow. “A woman can receive [seventy-four lashes] for not fully respecting the Islamic dress code in public. The code requiring women to cover their hair and body was introduced after the revolution (Esfandiari).” This shows that initially there was no dress code for the women, but then after the revolution Iran’s government made a law that women had to cover their hair and body. If the women did not cover their hair or body in public then they would be punished with seventy-four whippings of a whip or stick. Another article says, “[Seventy] people [have been] stoned to death on adultery charges since 1980, according to Human Rights Watch. Stoning, as well as other forms of Islamic punishment such as amputation, were introduced after the revolution. Women are believed to receive the majority of stoning sentences (Esfandiari).” This shows that many women were being punished for adultery and because of this they were stoned to death. Meaning that they got rocks thrown at them until they died. But, maybe it was not mostly women maybe it was men too. It seems as if Iran has nothing against women ever since the revolution because after the revolution they were accused of adultery