Women and Gender in the Pahlavi Era, 1925-1979

As part of the roundtable on the State and Society in the Pahlavi Era, this contribution will focus on the status and activism of women and gender-related policies during the Pahlavi era. Basic facts on women’s achievements demonstrate that the modernizing reforms under the first and second Pahlavi monarchs, though carried out in an authoritarian, top-down, and uneven manner, were in line with the historically positive and progressive developments in favor of women’s rights in Iran. It will be explained why, compared with Turkey and some other countries in the MENA, Iran’s gender-related progress was slower and more painful.