ABSTRACT
A cornerstone of the conservative gender ideology of Iran’s clerical elite is the conviction that biological differences between men and women are cause for them to have different roles and functions in society. Different roles and functions translate to different (read unequal) legal rights. Notwithstanding the discriminatory gender policies of the state, Iranian women have refused to renege on their claims to equal rights. In the face of intense political pressure to withdraw from the public arena, women in the Islamic Republic have maintained a foothold in the political, social and legal realms. Importantly, many of the women who have been most successful in this manner have presented a feminist resistance that does not fully oppose the form of the Islamic state. Religious-oriented Iranian feminists emphasize that the problems faced by modern Muslim women are a result of misguided male interpretations of Islam’s holy texts, rather than a result of Islam itself. In order to establish women’s rights, religiousoriented feminists engage in woman-centered re-readings of Islam’s holy sources. These women place particular stress on the spirit, as opposed to the legal letter, of Islam. They deem the former to be capable of unlimited expansion to meet the rights-based needs of the modern Muslim woman (and man).
