Chapter 5
Women in the Iranian Resistance
Challenging the mullahs' misogynous regime are the Iranian Resistance's
women. Not only do they enjoy absolutely equal rights, but they have also
overturned the male-dominated value system by taking on key positions of
leadership and management. Women account for more than half the members
of the Resistance's 570-member parliament-in-exile. The significance and
unique features of this experience may be summarized as follows:
Firstly, it pertains to an alternative which embraces a wide spectrum of
society and various organizations. This alternative also has extensive political
and military organs. Secondly, the experience has been tested in every domain
and every sphere of responsibility, including some considered exclusively
male. Thirdly, the trend stretches over a decade.
The hardships along the way
To achieve this objective, the Iranian Resistance has traveled a long, arduous
path. It was in 1984, three years after the nationwide Resistance against
the Khomeini regime began, that the leader of our Resistance raised the
question as to why women had not risen beyond the level of department directors,
three tiers below the leadership body, within the People's Mojahedin, the
Resistance's principal organization. In contrast, in the struggle against
the Khomeini regime, they had taken on wide-ranging responsibilities, and
tens of thousands of the movement's martyrs and prisoners were women. He
pointed out that for a movement fighting the misogynous mullahs, such discrimination
between men and women cannot be tolerated. The issue, ostensibly an organizational
matter which had been juxtaposed with ideological and political discussions,
was debated for months at the various levels of the organization.
Our struggle against the religious dictatorship had entered a more complicated
stage. Women had fought courageously and in large numbers. In sacrifice,
resistance and risk-taking, they were leading the way, but in one sphere,
the advance was slow and unimpressive: they were not assuming more responsibility.
We had to discover the systematic causes of this stagnation. The few exceptions
did not help at all, because women generally did everything but accept positions
of responsibility and command. It was as if they had set a specific limit
to their talents, such as running a department or a small section of the
Resistance. Nor did the men believe that women could actually undertake
heavier responsibilities. Even the extent to which women had shouldered
responsibility was not taken very seriously. More significantly, the men's
interest in promoting their wives went only as far as it did not change
the delicate balance in the family.
In those several months of meetings, women spoke at length about their problems.
For example, those women who had children did not believe they could undertake
any other serious responsibility, even if the problem of child care was
solved systematically. Of course, the contradiction between attending to
family matters and assuming their political and social responsibilities
constitutes a serious problem for all women in any situation. Since women
can only achieve equality by taking on serious professions and responsibilities,
I believe for an era the contradiction has to be solved in favor of women
assuming responsibility. But, women's non-belief in their potential ran
deeper.
You probably know that the organization and liberation army whose backbone
these women form, has been described by the journalists and correspondents
of the international press who have met them, as one of the best educated
armies in the world. The problems these educated women mentioned were mostly
about types of work. Technical and military jobs were for men. Political
work also seemed impractical, because apparently nobody took women seriously.
After listing a range of problems, they automatically inclined toward marginal
jobs or jobs considered one hundred percent fit for females. This was their
spontaneous inclination. Women from various parts of the country, with different
traditions, of various ages, shared one thing in common: They were women,
and we have seen how much women's problems are interrelated.
After several years of practical experience, they are now unanimous in concluding
that virtually all these previous obstacles were in their own minds, and
derived from their own lack of faith in themselves and in the reality that
there are solutions to these problems. Some were afraid to accept the responsibility
of command over men and other women, because of this problem. One commander
told me that despite her skill at driving trucks, she had been obsessed
by the difficulty of getting into these high-chassis vehicles.
Everyone's problems could be summarized in one phrase: Fear of taking on
responsibility. The progress of our movement, however, depended on women's
fully accepting responsibility. We could not walk on one leg. We needed
a revolution to break through these taboos and discover new conviction in
women.
Massoud believed that the solution must come from the top, with the participation
of women in the leadership. Some concurred; others believed that the solution
must come from below, with women's increased participation in executive
affairs. I became preoccupied with this problem. For years, ever since I
had become politically active, I always thought about how the way could
be opened for women's emancipation. I think this inevitably captures the
mind of any woman, but sooner or later she may give up thinking about it,
because it is just too much, too complicated.
By now, this issue was the subject of debate within a nationwide Resistance
movement, and from various angles, I could appreciate the need for this
step. When I was nominated for the joint-leadership of the Mojahedin, I
was weighed down by the task, and the decision to go ahead was very difficult
and quite intolerable. Only one thing removed my doubts: the need I felt
existed beyond my own personal attitude for such a step to be taken. The
requirements of the Resistance movement were absolutely genuine, and if
we wanted to move forward, we had to respond to this need. In addition,
during those several months of meetings, I felt that my own and other women's
emancipation and ability to realize our full potential, depended on my taking
up that responsibility.
None of us anticipated what actually happened. This change - a woman in
the leadership - brought about a major internal revolution in our movement.
For women, it acted like a spring board. The organization's annual report
for that year indicated that the percentage of women in the central council
rose from 15 to 34 percent, more than double.
The impasse on women accepting responsibility had been overcome, and it
was just the beginning. This leap forward and the new atmosphere it brought
to the organization allowed us to carry on a profound change in outlooks,
for we did not intend to stop there. The movement's primary goals, democracy
and growth, had become entwined with this drive to emancipate women. We
were a movement which believed, body and soul, that any progress and development
depended on the women's movement. Therefore, we were poised to go to the
end of the line: total rejection of the male-dominated culture. This required
a complete overhaul in our thinking. As women gradually occupied key positions
at the top and in command, their male subordinates felt as if their world
was shrinking. It was difficult for them to believe in women, and their
hidden resistance revealed itself in a lack of interest in their responsibilities.
Most difficult for the women was their problem, from time immemorial, of
not believing in themselves.
It took me several years and thousands of hours of discussions, in small
and large groups, to convince these women and men - none of whom ever denied
that in theory men and women are equal - to enter this new world in practice,
as well. Indeed, to abolish double oppression, you must double your efforts.
Then, gradually, our movement began to see the fruits of its labor in practical
terms, and went forward, step by step. In addition to my everyday interaction,
I regularly convened meetings to examine individual problems. These meetings
were followed up by the officials in charge of each section or department.
Three years later, the number of women in the army's general command staff
neared 50%. Seven of the 15-member general command were women.
Over these years, the misogynous mullahs closely followed these internal
developments and the promotion of our women. Alarmed, they tried in vain
to slander our movement, accusing us of feminism and all sorts of moral
corruption. The mullahs were terrified of the impact of this movement on
Iran's women and the escalation of their resistance. Finally, in 1988, one
of the regime's suppressive organs, called the "Central Komiteh,"
admitted in an internal report to Khomeini that our revolutionary emancipation
of women had in fact strengthened and expanded our movement, and served
as a major attraction for Iranian women. One passage of the report read:
"The Mojahedin's internal revolution has become a means of proving
the organization's advocacy of equal rights for women and men... and it
has resulted in more women being attracted and loyal to the organization."
Elsewhere it wrote: "They used appealing methods, mixed them with practical
application and examples, and achieved their objectives."
We organized our movement in a way that allowed women into all of the sections,
departments and fields traditionally reserved for men, giving them access
to that expertise. When women began to participate in large numbers in military
matters, the NLA conquered the most masculine field of work and responsibility.
Women received training up to the command level. Simultaneously, their sisters
began to move up the ladder of responsibility in management and politics.
From 1989 to 1993, this drive for equality had taken major strides forward.
New values and views on women dominated the movement. As these qualified
women began to directly affect the everyday affairs of each department,
I began receiving daily reports from men, underlining the serious and effective
impact of women's role. In reality, those who had taken part in this transformation
were compelled to forget their old value system. They were opening their
eyes to this new reality.
The most prominent characteristic, which produced a significant impact on
the work environment, was these women's extreme sense of responsibility,
particularly in the sensitive military field. They demonstrated a maximum
willingness to learn, displayed a high level of discipline, remarkable decisiveness,
and most important of all, a selfless devotion emanating from their humane
qualities. The work environment took on a sense of care and human emotion.
We began in our combat organization with independent all-women battalions,
but soon merged them into mixed units, for a harmonious structure. Beyond
the many values brought to life in this revolution of the mind, I must recall
the role of these women - who at the time comprised 50% of the executive
committee and 50% of the overall command of the NLA - in keeping the relationship
between the sexes healthy. This allowed us to create the first mixed army
in contemporary history, an army which challenged the enemy with very high
combat capabilities. When women's hidden energies are set free, they demonstrate
their constructive role in emancipating men. These women's teamwork allowed
them to increase efficiency, contribute to humane interaction, and organize
their forces so as to get the most from their staff's experience and knowledge
of the field.
At a remarkable pace, we reached a turning point. Our whole apparatus, both
men and women, was ready for another leap forward. We adopted a policy of
preferential treatment, a policy of female leadership, to rid our movement
of the last vestiges of male-dominated tendencies and lead the way to the
final stage of gender equality. One of the precious achievements of this
era was the new, fresh relationship among the women themselves. Before all
else, these women had to love their sisters and feel a sense of solidarity
in their endeavors. Such relationships could become a reality only when
these women really believed in one another. Women commanding women - mutual
acceptance of this relationship. I think you will concur that this marks
the beginning of a mature relationship between human beings.
In 1993, an all-woman leadership council was elected by the Mojahedin's
central council. Presently, not only the leadership council, but also the
NLA's entire general command is run by women. More than 50% percent of the
members of the National Council of Resistance are women as well.
As for the army, following women's entry into its command, a series of re-organizations
were undertaken to elevate the command level. During these phases, the number
of combat units grew by 300%. With each step forward, our progress gained
momentum.
Had our women not gone through this process, they could not have taken the
subsequent actions required of a pioneering generation. It was, of course,
a tortuous path. Some said it felt as if they had lived an entire lifetime.
It was also very difficult on the men. Today, however, we have an energetic
generation which has experienced something very important and new in the
emancipation movement, in the effort to uproot discrimination and gender-based