Ebadi: Women a force for change in Iran
Middle East OnLine
8th Mar 2004
GENEVA - Nobel peace prize winner and Iranian human rights campaigner Shirin Ebadi declared Monday that the women's movement would be a force for change in her country because the fight for sexual equality was a fight for democracy.
During a debate on women's rights organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Ebadi blamed discrimination against women in Iran on the patriarchal nature of society, rather than Islam or religion.
"This patriarchal culture is a tribal culture. Not only does it not accept women, it does not tolerate democracy," she said through an interpreter.
Before the debate began, Ebadi told a news conference that "many people use Islam to justify the unequal position of women, which is not so. Islam is a religion that believes in the quality of human beings," she added.
"The feminist movement in Iran has depth and staying power," she said and would be "at the root" of change.
The 2003 Nobel laureate, dressed in a black suit and without a veil or headscarf, said she was in "mourning for women's rights" to mark International Women's Day, March 8.
"Today, because of the situation of women, the discrimination they face, I am wearing black not only for women in my country but also around the world," Ebadi added.
Although 63 percent of university students were women in Iran, well above higher education rates for men, women suffered unemployment at a rate 18 percent higher than men, she noted.
Highlighting everyday examples of inequality, Ebadi pointed out that women needed their husband's permission to get a passport, while in Iranian courts two women witnesses were needed to match the testimony of a man.
"A man can without explanation divorce, but it is near impossible for women," Ebadi added, also criticising polygamy in Iran.
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