In the early 1900’s, advocates of women’s education included women with socialist sympathies. Socialists emphasized women’s rights as prerequisite to social progress and opposed state and clerical suppression (Ar•ni 1983; Sult•nz•deh N.D.).

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for the next twenty-five years. Women participated in student movements and semi-clandestine circles. Activists discussed land reform and infiltrating the working class — rarely addressing women’s issues.

In the 1970s, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedaii Guerrillas offered opportunities for expressing women’s dissent. The former, radical religious activists, relied on Marxist political economy; the latter, on Marxism-Leninism (Abrahamian 1989). Initially, women participated in neither group; it took time for Mojahedin to recognize them (Nej•t Hosseini 2001). Marxists attracted more women than religious organizations; their membership drew from colleges, urban intellectuals, and liberal-minded professionals (Mirsepassi-Ashtiani and Moghadam 1991; Abrahamian 1982).

Though female leftists loomed significantly in the 1979 revolution and most maintained independence from Islamists, the Left disregarded feminist autonomy. Many leftist women’s organizations functioned primarily as recruiters (Afshar 1983; Moghissi 1994; Sanasarian 1983; Shahidian 2002a). Women participated in the Left, opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s (IRI) assault on rights (Tabari and Yeganeh 1982; Moghissi 1994; Shahidian 1997; Hajebi Tabrizi 2000).

After 1981, leftists and women activists were imprisoned or exiled. Exiled women organized, some affiliating with political organizations, others advocating autonomy. They recounted their tribulations, especially prison experiences (Aliz•deh 1987; Baradaran 1992; •z•d 1997). Discussions have reassessed culture and politics through a gender lens; an autonomous women’s movement has gradually taken root. Women’s involvement in community activism includes establishing libraries, family-crisis centers; providing expatriates services; and broadcasting (Shahidian 1996; Nawai 2000; Ghorashi 2002).

Those in Iran established study-groups and engaged in writing and publishing. Veterans and newcomers have revisited leftist praxis regarding gender. Secular women concentrated on the emerging—albeit amorphous—women’s movement, rallying for rights, participating in

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conferences, organizing celebrations of March Eighth. Some wrote for reformist journals; others cooperated with reformists, but maintained independence. Their writings have been later published as books and anthologies (Shahidian 2002b).

Women’s rights have also been an ingredient of modernization in Afghanistan, dating from the early 1900s. Yet weak central governments, tribal factionalism, reforms from above, and conservative reactions, have retarded gender reforms (Dupree 1980).

Not until the 1964 constitutional debate did women publicly voice concerns over rights (Dupree 1984). Organized movements soon emerged. Liberals advocated eliminating sex discrimination and increasing government participation. Socialists proposed changing the material bases of women’s oppression by eradicating semi-feudalism and capitalism (Emadi 2002).

Under Daoud’s presidency, strong student movements developed in the 1970s. Nationalist and leftist women participated in protests to promote student demands and gender equality.

A small group, led by Meena (1957-1987), established in 1977 the first independent feminist organization: the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), partly in response to the marginalization of women’s issues in existing organizations. RAWA emphasized clandestine, grassroots activism and empowerment (Brodsky 2003).

Established in 1965, the pro-Soviet Democratic Party of the People of Afghanistan (PDPA) soon split into two factions: Khalq (Masses) and Parcham (Banner). The Parcham formed the Women’s Democratic Organization of Afghanistan (WDOA). Each faction organized clandestine cells that infiltrated governmental and educational institutions and youth groups. When their party ruled, women from each faction gained prominence. Their impact was limited since the public could not relate to well-known female politicians (Emadi 2002).

Various PDPA governments initiated gender reforms, emphasizing kindergarten expansion, literacy, education, job security, and health services. Decree No. 7 aimed to change

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marriage customs, but retained laws on custody, divorce, polygyny, and abuse (Tapper 1984; Dupree 1984).

Under PDPA, the state assumed protection for women instead of welcoming women’s grassroots activism. Women were heralded in stereotypical supportive roles. Autocratic reforms provoked resentment, especially in villages (Dupree 1984; Emadi 1991). PDPA responded by slowing reform and reinstating Islamic family law. Party followers purportedly retained PDPA initiatives (Moghadam 1992). There were, nonetheless, reports of abuse of power by party members. Many female members were obliged to allow their parents to choose their mates (Emadi 2002).

Particularly in Kabul women and youth initially supported leftist rule. Yet factional conflicts heightened, and promises of reforms failed to materialize. Disillusionment turned into feeling betrayed after USSR’s invasion. Women’s resistance emerged in informal gatherings, but when information exchange about imprisoned loved ones proved ineffective, collective protests formed (Emadi 2002).

Invasion created educational and employment opportunities for some women; for many it meant loss of family, and captivity in Soviet and mujahideen jails. Women played key roles in grassroots opposition and experienced enhanced community status and empowerment by learning new organizational and military skills (Ellis 2000). Many joined the resistance following the imprisonment or death of sons and husbands. Though military participation was not extensive, women participated especially in identifying and executing collaborators (Dupree 1984; Emadi 2000, 2002).

Invasion shifted emphases of the movement from gender struggle to community services at refugee camps and supporting roles for male mujahideen whose vision of an independent Afghanistan did not include gender equality (Brodsky 2003; Emadi 2002). Various organizations in camps were involved in activities like health services, education, and creating revenues for women. Fundamentalists in camps and Pakistani police often harassed activists.

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Many organizations learned to act within limits set by fundamentalists who wielded tremendous power (Dupree 2001; Skaine 2002). RAWA alone simultaneously opposed Soviets and fundamentalists (Brodsky 2003; Skaine 2002).

Far from emancipation, the Taliban’s demise restored the Northern Alliance, jehadis who earlier inflicted wounds on Afghan women. "The oppression of Afghanistan and particularly Afghan women did not start with the Taliban nor has it ended with its defeat." (RAWA, in Brodsky 2003, ix)

Socio-political change in Iran and Afghanistan intertwines with concern for women’s rights. Women symbolize modernity for governments and parties, a condition that may advance status but costs women’s movements’ autonomy. Iranian women emerged as an active group earlier than Afghanis, but revolutionaries in both countries showed reluctance toward feminist autonomy. One factor for this resistance, a common ideological source: Soviet Marxism. Upheavals in the late 1970s effected divergent results. In Iran, IRI assaulted women’s rights; in Afghanistan, a paternal Marxist regime dubbed autonomous activism counterrevolutionary. Afghani women have also had to ward off Islamist denial of women’s rights, even after resisting Soviet occupation. Exiled Afghani and Iranian women defended women’s rights in homeland and experienced new forms of activism and community involvement.

Word count: 1210

Key words: nationalism, socialism, exile, autonomous women’s movement

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