On the occasion of International Women's Day, listening to a talk by Iranian and Central Asian activists today, where they are talking about having translated a book on GBV related terminology in Farsi, I am reminded of how as the first Gender and Education Officer for UNICEF Iran in the 1990s - amongst other activities - I lead the process of translating "gender related" terms into Farsi - something that had not been done before. We also collected and published an annotated bibliography on gender equality in Farsi. I believe we have copies of these books in Tehran.
In addition, I invited and worked with highly respected feminist scholars/lawyers at that time in Iran and supported them to undertake a comparative study of CEDAW, Iranian law and Islamic law (this was undertaken for UNICEF by Ms. Mehrangiz Kar, the well known, imprisoned and now exiled feminist activist/lawyer). None of this work had been done before.
I also led the first ever Gender Analysis Training of Trainings ever in Iran with participants from all provinces. Imagine, those years, we were able to get approval from some of the more progressive women in the post-Revolution system to do such work. We also supported Women’s Rural Cooperatives. And I also organized events to raise awareness about the Girl Child . And brought together CSO around gender equality including Environment activists and others.
One of the projects I spent the most time on was our Girls Education Project in Iran’s 4 poorest provinces in order to raise the enrolment of girls in schools. We worked in Kurdestan, Sistan & Baluchistan, Kohkuliyeh and Buyerahmad and Hormozgan - where I travelled to with colleagues on various occasions. We were told that this was the first time since the Revolution that Government officials were going on a field trip with “women”. I had/we had incredible experiences in each of these provinces. We went on many of these trips together. Not only because of our project of course, but as you know, inspite of all Iran’s problems, girls’ education has improved during these decades.
Many of the activists I worked with are sadly no longer able to work in Iran. Today, I also want to remember Jafar Pouyandeh, a translator of Human Rights Covenants into Farsi, who told me once, "I am amongst the first feminist men in Iran". He tragically paid the ultimate price for his commitment to human rights, as have many others. He was incredible and I will always remember him.
It is great to see in another time, another generation is joining us, taking all this work forward and addressing the old and new challenges of our current times. One day…
One of the projects I spent the most time on was our Girls Education Project in Iran’s 4 poorest provinces in order to raise the enrolment of girls in schools. We worked in Kurdestan, Sistan & Baluchistan, Kohkuliyeh and Buyerahmad and Hormozgan - where I travelled to with colleagues on various occasions. We were told that this was the first time since the Revolution that Government officials were going on a field trip with “women”. I had/we had incredible experiences in each of these provinces. We went on many of these trips together. Not only because of our project of course, but as you know, inspite of all Iran’s problems, girls’ education has improved during these decades.
Many of the activists I worked with are sadly no longer able to work in Iran. Today, I also want to remember Jafar Pouyandeh, a translator of Human Rights Covenants into Farsi, who told me once, "I am amongst the first feminist men in Iran". He tragically paid the ultimate price for his commitment to human rights, as have many others. He was incredible and I will always remember him.
I want to also remember some of the amazing UNICEF colleagues, consultants and advisors of those years including Samileh Mirahmadian (UNICEF Iran colleague), Shahla Lahiji (Roshangaran Publishing House and feminist), Mina Tabatabaian (my consultant), Shahareh Amir Khalili (my consultant who then went on to become a UNFPA Rep), Helen Shahriari (my consultant, for many years now with the World Bank), Golnar Mehran (she was a Professor in Iran then) and many others.
I was/we were also supported and inspired by UNICEF and colleagues leading globally on gender equality, including Misrak Elias, Sree Gururaja, Jane Haile and others.
It is great to see in another time, another generation is joining us, taking all this work forward and addressing the old and new challenges of our current times. One day…
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