Populism and Feminism in Iran

Women presented the first effective challenge to the Islamic regime and the clerical authority in post-revolutionary Iran. Women''s activism in support of their legal rights and personal freedom, however, did not develop into a strong movement against the rising fundamentalism. The Iranian socialists did not support women''s autonomous organizations. The convergence of the Left''s populism with Islamic populism, and the influence of the Iranian/Shiite political culture that promotes male authority and female submission, could not reconcile with women''s claims to individual rights, choice, and personal freedom and their struggle for autonomy and self-determination in private or public life.