In the 1990’s, despite the fact that a religious government was in power, the term “feminism” reappeared in prominent women’s magazines (e.g. Zanan) and newspaper articles, thus entering the public discourse in Iran. This time feminism took center stage, for it was accompanied by another term - Islamic. Regardless of the contested politics around the notion of Islamic feminism, one cannot deny the fact that through the use of this phrase, a space was created for women in Iran to speak of feminism once more.
One of the emerging theories of recent scholarship, put forth by the Iranian political philosopher Mohamad Reza Nikfar, argues that “[secularization] in our cultural landscape means woman’s freedom.” Consequently, I pose the following question: If woman’s freedom is a common goal for both secularism and feminism in contemporary Iran, can we then assume the existence of some kind of common denominator in their theoretical and methodological approaches to today’s social and political issues ? Feminist scholars warn against the perception of feminism as a monolithic social movement, subject to a single acceptable definition. Starting from a pluralistic understanding of feminism, this paper asks how women’s freedom gives meaning to, and becomes the objective of the secularization process in Iran.
Moreover, if we accept Nikfar’s assessment of the intertwined paths of secularization and feminism, that is-- if feminism is a “condition” for secularism, I ask if the reverse is also true--i.e. if any manifestation of feminism in Iran needs secularism as its basis. Why is a pluralistic understanding of secularism a necessary condition for any kind of feminism to grow in Iran?
