The Conservative–Reformist Conflict over Women’s Rights in Iran Ziba Mir-Hosseini

International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Vol. 16, No. 1, Fall 2002 ( C 2002)

The Conservative–Reformist Conflict Over Women’s Rights in Iran
Ziba Mir-Hosseini∗

The struggle over women’s rights has been one of the main battlegrounds between the forces of modernity and tradition in Iranian politics and society. With the emergence of a Reformist movement in 1997 this struggle entered a new phase in the Islamic Republic. It became part of the part of a broader conflict over two differing notions of Islam. One is an absolutist and legalistic Islam, premised on the notion of “duty,” tolerating no dissent and making little concession to popular will and contemporary realities. The other is a pluralistic and tolerant Islam that promotes democratic values and human rights—including women’s rights.
KEY WORDS: Iran; Islam; Islamic law; women’s rights; gender; hejab.

INTRODUCTION Shortly after the Iranian Revolution of 1978–9 and the foundation of the Islamic Republic, religious scholars were charged with establishing the religious basis of the new regime’s program and its social, economic and political order. At the same time, they had to manage the difficult transition from a standpoint of opposition to one of power. As the regime has increasingly faced real, contemporary issues of social policy and practice, clerics have had to make accommodations in many key areas of Islamic doctrine and law. One such area has been gender relations, and the legal, social, and political rights and roles of women. The process of accommodation was intensified
∗ Correspondence should be directed to Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Centre for Near and Middle Eastern

Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG, UK; e-mail: [e-mail]. 37
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after Ayatollah Khomeini’s death in 1989, and has been accompanied by a lively debate

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