On the eve of December 7th, 1401, students from seven prestigious universities in Iran, including University of Tehran, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tarbiat Modares University, Beheshti University, Alzahra University, Khaje Nasir Toosi University, and Azad University of Science and Research, began their joint statement with this powerful poem by Langston Hughes, the most famous African-American poet, translated by Ahmad Shamlou:

Let this homeland become a homeland again.

Let the same dream be again that it was.

Let the prelude become a plain.

“Seek a home where freedom exists.”

This homeland was not a homeland for me.

The university has always been a strong fortress of freedom and student movements, and the golden key to a better future for society as a whole. Student uprisings around the world, from the oldest one in 1925 at the University of Fisk to the struggles of the “White Rose” group during Hitler’s era, to the protests against the Vietnam War and the Kent State University in America, to the revolutionary uprising in South Africa’s Soweto, have always raised the flag of freedom, equality, and justice.

In Iran, students have also been involved since 16 Azar 1332 (December 7, 1953), a few months after the coup of 28 Mordad, when three students from the University of Tehran named Mostafa Bozorgnia, Ahmad Qandchi, and Mehdi Sharif Rezavi were killed in the bloodshed during a protest against the official visit of Richard Nixon, the Vice President of the United States. They have always been at the forefront of the student movement’s struggle to preserve the homeland that was not theirs, in the wake of the three-month-long wave of protests and revolution.

Women students have always been present in the student movement as a part of it; from the struggles of the student movement during the Pahlavi era, both inside and in the international confederation, to the revolutionary wave that led to the overthrow of the Shah regime, to the peak of the student uprising in 2009 during the widespread protests against the announcement of the results of the tenth presidential election until December 7, 2009, the Day of Students, when tens of thousands of people and students took to the streets in twelve universities across the country with the slogan “Death to the Dictator”. Women have always been present in student struggles, deprived of education, imprisoned, and tortured, and have even sacrificed their lives to defend the fortress of freedom; because their homeland was not a homeland for them.

According to Herana’s report, on the eve of the third month of the recent revolutionary uprising, six hundred and forty-three students are among the eighteen thousand four hundred and fifty-two people who have been arrested (1).

The characteristic and historical feature of the current student movement is that women are at the forefront; a feature that is not only historical in Iran, but also for the Middle East and North Africa region or “MENA”, and perhaps for many other countries in the world, it is groundbreaking.

The uprising and wave of protests, known as the “Mehsa (Zhina) Amini Movement”, which quickly spread to one hundred and forty-four universities and higher education institutions in the past three months (2), is a process of profound changes that have taken place in the social fabric of Iranian society over the past forty-three years. It is a convergence of multiple contradictions that have intensified in the context of the four decades of invasion.

The Iranian society is a young society, with a population of eighty-four million, forty-two million of which are women and girls. Of this number, half are considered to be underprivileged and have lost their freedoms and rights under the previous regime. Only fourteen percent were born before the revolution and eighty-six percent were born after the revolution, making up the “Millennial”, “Zoomer”, and “Alpha” generations born in the 21st century.

The number of students in private and public sectors is two million and two hundred thousand, of which sixty percent are women. Although globally, the number of female students is higher than males, Iranian society has paradoxes and gaps resulting from the process of sexual-gender oppression and structural discrimination over the past forty-two years.

Economic participation based on statistics from the Planning Organization in the year 1400 was 13.3% for women and 68.7% for men, meaning women’s participation was five times less than men’s. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for women was 16% and 7.9% for men, meaning women carry twice the burden of overall unemployment and its consequences. Another great gap and paradox in the field of women’s economic participation is that only 13.3% is included and the rate of women’s presence in universities is 60%, meaning a gap of almost 46.7%, which in other words, means that women students do not have a secure and encouraging future in their professional outlook. The reality is that economic, political, gender, ethnic, religious, social, and cultural contradictions and gaps have deepened over the past forty-three years and have brought it to a point of convergence and irreversible crisis.

Therefore, in the process of deepening and the point of convergence of these contradictions and resulting crises, on one hand, and the quantitative and qualitative growth of young and female students, especially in the age of communication technology, on the other hand, women have been able to move from the margins of social movements to the forefront of these movements in the past forty-three years. During this time, young women have not only been at the forefront of the student movement, but also in the labor, environmental, and other new social movements. Today, female students are seen as the most avant-garde and radical part of young women, defending the slogan of “women, life, freedom” in order to once again fight against the powerful and patriarchal culture that has hindered women’s human and citizenship rights throughout political developments from the Constitutional Revolution to the present day.

The revolutionary uprising of the current disruptive structure in Iran can be interpreted as a social and cultural renaissance. The presence of women and their cries for change, freedom, equality, and thousands of other “for”s that can be seen in slogans such as “Women, Life, Freedom” and “Death to the oppressor, whether king or leader,” tells the story of the belief in the student movement and the intellectual maturity of both male and female students. We must trust their wisdom and collective consciousness to build our country and this can only be achieved through their powerful presence in the cradle of Iran. The student movement, especially female students, in the recent wave of protests, not only challenged the authoritarian laws, regressive policies, and gender-based discrimination of those in power, but also challenged the legacy of patriarchal power imposed on them in both private and public spheres throughout history.

They fearlessly and determinedly stand alongside their comrades in the university courtyard and on the streets, capturing their unity, empathy, companionship, and camaraderie in thousands of clips and videos of this cultural and social renaissance. They envision the horizon of tomorrow and shine a light of hope in the hearts of other young Iranians. The courageous struggle of high school girls in hundreds of schools should not be reduced to just protesting against compulsory hijab and the presence of the Guidance Patrol. These young people also have a vision for the future and have risen up in schools and homes with authority, rejecting dual values and patriarchal cultural processes that perpetuate gender discrimination, as they do not belong to their century. They do not accept the imposition of backward cultural and ideological values.

If those in power had tried on 29 April 2009 to address the issue of “problems faced by female students” in order to prevent the current situation in Iran, there would be no fate left for them. The path to return to the past “order” has become impossible.

Female students and the student movement, as reflected in this research, have faced various demands, including “insecurity in the city and university”, “lack of suitable job opportunities for educated women”, “limitations in choosing a major”, “restricting the choice of university location”, “lack of welfare facilities, sports halls, adequate lighting in rooms, and undesirable food”. Young women and students have boldly confronted those in power and protectors of their interests in the university and on the streets, and they have hope for the future.

It is hoped that female students, who make up a part of the avant-garde and radical women’s movement, will stand alongside women in other social movements in solidarity and unity, especially with the women’s movement with the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” which is the slogan of today and tomorrow in Iran. Gender equality benefits the entire society and requires structural changes, as even unsuccessful attempts to address women’s demands and downplay gender discrimination and sexual oppression within the current system are impossible. We hope for a day when the homeland will become a place of respect for human rights, equality, freedom, and social justice for students and young people, especially female students.

Footnotes:

1- Woman, Life, Freedom; A detailed report of eighty-two days of protests across Iran, Hrana, News Agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, 18 Azar 1401.

2- Same.