Women in Iran - Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by The Behnam (talk | contribs) at 23:44, 13 April 2007 (rv -please dont reintroduce contrived shapour suren-pahlav cruft and distortions - SSP, see WP:COI). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 23:44, 13 April 2007 by The Behnam (talk | contribs) (rv -please dont reintroduce contrived shapour suren-pahlav cruft and distortions - SSP, see WP:COI)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

A Persian woman depicted during the Safavi period, from a wall painting in Chehel Sotoon Palace, Isfahan.

Iranian women (or Persian women) are women of or from traditional Persian or modern Iranian culture. Although Persian women (women of Persia) are often viewed as Iranian, they are not necessarily from modern-day Iran and can be from a variety of different countries. On the other hand, Iranian women are not necessarily of any specific nationality or ethnicity. The term refers to women who practice Iranian culture, speak Iranian languages and live mainly throughout the Iranian cultural continent.

History

Pre-Islamic Iran

Archeological excavations at Shahr-i Sokhta "Burnt City," a prehistoric settlement that is today in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of southeastern Iran, has revealed that the women of that 4th-3rd millennium BCE community held high socio-economic status. Of the seals discovered in graves there, 90% were in the possession of women, who in turn made up over 60% of the population. The distribution of the seals, which as instruments of trade and government represented economic and administrative control, reveals that these women were the more powerful group in their prehistoric society.

"The position of woman in ancient Iran was apparently in nowise inferior to her standing in the Vedic times of early India. As among other oriental nations, however, submission to her lord and master is taken for granted, and the woman who is 'obedient to her husband' comes in for a special meed of praise in the Avesta and elsewhere; but it is perfectly evident, as a rule, there was not that subjection which results in loss of personality and individuality."

The early Achaemenid-era Persepolis fortification and treasury tablets "reveal three different terms of reference for women, mutu, irti and duksis." The first refers to ordinary (non-royal) women; the second to unmarried members of the royal family; and the last to married women of the royalty. Such differentiated terminology shows the sigificance of marital status and of a woman's relationship to the king. The tablets also reveal that women of the royal household traveled extensively and often personally administered their own estates. The queen and her ladies-in-waiting are known to have played polo against the emperor and his courtiers. The only limits on the extent of the authority exercised by the king's mother were set by the monarch himself.

In the tablets, "non-royals and the ordinary workers are mentioned by their rank in the specific work group or workshops they were employed. The rations they received are based on skill and the level of responsibility they assumed in the workplace. The professions are divided by gender and listed according to the amount of ration. Records indicate that some professions were undertaken by both sexes while others were restricted to either male or female workers. There are male and female supervisors at the mixed workshops as evident by the higher rations they have received with little difference in the amount of rations between the two sexes. There are also occasions where women listed in the same category as men received less rations and vice versa. Female managers have different titles presumably reflecting their level of skill and rank. The highest-ranking female workers in the texts are called arashshara (great chief). They appear repeatedly in the texts, were employed at different locations and managed large groups of women children and sometimes men working in their units. They usually receive high rations of wine and grains exceeding all the other workers in the unit including the males." In addition, pregnant women also received higher rations than others. Women with new-born children also received extra rations for a period of one month.

Some classicists argue that it was Cyrus the Great who twelve centuries before Islam, established the custom of covering women to protect their chastity. According to their theory, the veil passed from the Achaemenids to the Hellenistic Seleucids. They, in turn, handed it to the Byzantines, from whom the Arab conquerors inherited it, transmitting it over the vast reaches of the Arab world.

The Sassanid princess Purandokht, daughter of Khosrau II, ruled the Persian empire for almost two years before resigning. Also, during the Sassanian dynasty many of the Iranian soldiers captured by Romans were women who were fighting along with the men.

Persian women are depicted in numerous masterpieces of Persian paintings and miniatures. Drawing a Persian girl dressed in colors with Persian wine at hand has been a classic style for portraying love. However nudity can not be seen in these works in contrast to Western paintings with religious themes or ancient Greek style.