82nd anniversary of the foundation of DOIW and highlights from its glorious history of struggle
February 2025 marks the 82nd anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women, the oldest progressive and cohesive women’s organisation in Iran, which was established on 7th of February 1943 by a number of Iranian women activists and intellectuals. Within a short period of time, it not only succeeded in becoming the first broad and pioneering women’s organisation in Iran and even in the region, but also left a profound impact on the organisation of women’s struggles for political and women’s rights.
At the beginning of the 1940s, the need to establish a progressive women’s organisation arose in our homeland under conditions in which most of the progressive women’s publications and associations that had come into being after the Constitutional Revolution and had always been the target of the wrath and vitriol of the reactionaries, especially the dark-minded clergy, were all closed and suppressed, this time with the help of the first Pahlavi regime. Under Reza Khan’s dictatorship, the only organisation permitted to operate was the “Centre for Women”, as a charitable association, whose role, in line with the court’s policies, was to encourage women toward charitable work and activities such as housekeeping, childcare and cooking, while discouraging them from participating in political life.
The establishment of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women, which initially began its activities under the name “Women’s Organisation”, was in fact a response to an objective need in our society at the time. An era when the growth of dependent capitalism in Iran (the influence of imperialist forces, especially British imperialism, had given Iran’s fledgling capitalism a dependent character) and the establishment of large and small factories, along with the emergence of girls’ primary and secondary schools—pioneered tirelessly by the early leaders of the women’s movement and in a bold struggle against religious reactionaries—were rapidly making inroads into a patriarchal society. On the other hand, besides agricultural work and carpet weaving, women’s participation in government offices, schools, factories, and newly established workshops had also begun. Reza Shah Pahlavi, who ascended to the throne in 1925, in addition to projecting an image of modernity, and in order to facilitate the exploitation of women’s labour, attempted to present himself as the saviour of Iranian women by enforcing a ban on the veil. In 1933, this so-called ‘saviour of Iranian women’—simultaneously consolidated the foundations of his power, while severely suppressing and declaring the dissolution of progressive women’s organisations, in one of his first misogynistic measures.
Women activists such as Jamileh Sedighi and Shokat Roosta were imprisoned on charges of being members of the Ferqeh-ye Eshareki (Communist Sect). These two were the first female political prisoners in Iran. The Civil Code, which was ratified in 1932, placed women in the category of the mentally underdeveloped and minors. The denial of women’s rights was considered entirely normal and natural in the patriarchal society of that time, even among the relatively progressive segments of society, and in general, the term ‘women’s rights’ was regarded as a foreign term. Patriarchal reactionaries, as always, sought to institutionalise this ignorance within society and to prevent the influence of progressive and egalitarian ideas among women.
After the fall of Reza Shah in 1941 and the defeat of fascism worldwide, some progressive women who had been active in organisations that supported the Communist Party of Iran—including Zahra and Mehrangiz Eskandari, Jamileh Sedighi, and Shokat Rousta (the latter two having been released from Reza Shah’s prison), as well as women such as Sedigheh Amirkhizi, Akhtar Kambakhsh, Aliyeh Sharmini, Badri and Najmi Alavi, Homa Rousta and others – established the “Women’s Organisation”, to be led by comrade Maryam Firouz, and which enjoyed the full support of the Tudeh Party of Iran. The primary aim of the organisation was, on the one hand, to continue the disparate struggles of Iranian women for equality that had remained unfinished since the Constitution Revolution. On the other hand, as women’s employment grew in factories, workshops, and administrative, educational and health services – which lacked any welfare or legal protections for women and were aimed at maximising the exploitation of their labour – women increasingly assumed responsibilities in managing administrative, health, and educational services. In addition to enduring pressures within the family and being completely denied their legal and civil rights, they were also exploited and oppressed by capitalists and the reactionary government that supported them. Given the conditions, the need for a coherent socio-political women’s organisation that would pursue human rights, combat discrimination, inequality and the dual exploitation of women became an urgent and vital necessity – a path that women in some other countries had already undertaken and achieved concrete and fruitful results. Moreover, the significant role of women in World War II, the struggle for global peace and the fight against fascism specifically highlighted the prominent role of women in these arenas.
After Britain instructed Reza Khan to leave Iran and sending him into exile, and following the succession of his son to power, Iranian society witnessed new developments and a climate in which progressive associations, labour, peasant, and trade unions were forming one after another; in these conditions the Women’s Organisation also resumed its activities. The Organisation placed the struggle for women’s demands and for peace at the centre of its program, the most important of which included the fight for women’s basic rights, such as the right to vote, equal rights for men and women, and the abolition of reactionary laws, the struggle for equal pay for equal work and efforts toward literacy and raising women’s gender awareness. The official organ of the Organisation was Bidari-ye Ma (Our Awakening) and its central slogan was “We too have rights in this home”.
“Our Awakening” Magazine
Within a short time, Women’s Organisation of Iran succeeded in attracting progressive women, and through the persistent work of its members and supporters among women, organising them around the aforementioned demands while striving for women’s literacy and raising gender awareness in society. Amendments to certain provisions of the Labour Law, such as equal pay for women and men, maternity leave, prohibition of night work and so on, were the result of the persistent struggles of the Women’s organisation and the Tudeh Party of Iran during those years. Although the fight for the right to political participation, including efforts during the revision of the electoral law and campaigns such as attracting the support of prominent figures of the time, including Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda, Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, and Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh, did not yield immediate results, it significantly contributed to the spread of gender discourse and the recognition of women’s suffrage in Iranian society at the time. In 1946, the organisation became a founding member of Women’s International Democratic Federation and from that point onward it continued its activities under the name Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women.
Establishing links with Dispossessed Women among the Masses
From its inception, the Women’s Organisation held a deep conviction that, in addition to attracting learned and informed women and maintaining a progressive and pioneering program, raising awareness among the masses and directing their attention to their social and human rights was an urgent and essential requirement of this fierce and unequal struggle. It was the first organisation to place particular emphasis on cadre training and education through the holding of nationwide seminars and conferences.
While holding local meetings and weekly conferences, the Iranian Women’s Organisation simultaneously organised literacy classes, promoted public health and provided assistance to deprived areas. By establishing and operating organisations such as the Union of Women Workers, it consistently helped to organise women into trade unions and associations, while promoting gender discourse and demands for their rights, within society.
As the activities of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women became widespread, it was first declared illegal by the regime of Mohammad Reza Shah in 1948. In 1950, the Organisation was forced to continue its activities under a different name, the Iranian Women’s Organisation, to be able to operate openly. The publication of this period was the magazine Women’s World. (The name “Iranian Women’s Organisation” was taken over after the 1953 coup and taken up by the organisation that came under the responsibility and management of Ashraf Pahlavi, the older sister of Mohammad Reza Shah.
Before the 1953 coup, apart from holding 8th of March celebrations on the streets of Tehran, some activities of this period, such as convening a large women’s congress attended by approximately 300 women (under the guise of a wedding in a garden outside the city) were among the initiatives of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women at the time. Through grassroots activities and organising women, the organisation succeeded, for the first time, in mobilizing a vast social force around the demand for equal rights for women. In addition to progressive women, this effort also included women workers and the poor. This emerging social force and discourse led the Second Pahlavi regime (Mohammad Reza Shah) later to concede to some changes in favour of women.
Moreover, Iranian Women’s Organisation, achieved considerable success in organising women through the establishment of women’s trade and civil associations such as the Union of Women Workers, the Mothers’ Council, the Child Support Society and participation in other progressive organisations such as the Society of Supporters of Peace. This, in turn, provoked the fear of reactionary forces toward the power of women, leading to the organisation being suppressed and declared illegal following the coup d’etat of the 19th of August 1953. Many of its members and supporters were arrested, and some, like comrade Maryam Firouz, were forced to emigrate, and the organisation’s struggle continued in other forms, until the February Revolution of 1979.
With the victory of the 1979 Revolution in Iran, the re-establishment of the Organisation of Iranian Women was placed on the agenda of the leadership of DOIW. After returning to Iran from forced exile in 1979, the late comrade Maryam Firouz, held the first official session for the organisation’s reconstruction, at the home of “Mother Hekmatjou”, received with enthusiastic participation of both old and young women, among them workers (1). Shortly thereafter, Women’s Organisation headquarters were reopened first in Tehran followed by offices in other cities. The organisation’s organ, Women’s World, was published in a relatively wide circulation in Iran and included diverse content aimed at women from various social classes and backgrounds.
During this period, Iranian women welcomed the renewed activities of the organisation, and once again demonstrated that they connected with it. The headquarters thus witnessed highly enthusiastic scenes of meetings and discussions among women. Elderly women visited the office, bringing documents, money and items they had carefully preserved and hidden for years and donated them to the Organisation. The new generation of women and girls, who sought to join the struggle within a progressive organisation, initially came individually and gradually in groups. It was not long before members and supporters were asked to refrain from attending the office in person and instead to listen to recordings of the speeches, due to overcrowding with high number of attendees at the meetings and limited space.
Comrade Maryam Firouz, Head of the Women’s Organisation, believed that: “A mass organisation must go among the people and clearly and openly discuss the issues with them and find solutions to these issues so that it can keep track of the people’s demands and activities” (Maryam Firouz, Donyā, No. 2, 1981).
In the brief period following the victory of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the political and social conditions were highly complex and turbulent. The Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women, like many other progressive groups and forces that participated in the revolution, faced numerous challenges. Alongside the extensive and intensive activities it carried out to advance revolutionary objectives, the organisation also encountered shortcomings and limitations. This experience reflects the complex challenges that women face in societies undergoing rapid and profound political transformations.
One of the most important issues that women faced at that time was the matter of compulsory hijab. Under Khomeini’s leadership, immediately after the victory of the revolution, an order was issued to enforce compulsory hijab for women. This decision met with widespread opposition and protests from women, however, the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women was unable to take an official and effective stand against this policy. The reason for this lack of official stance was, in part, due to the “deception” employed by Khomeini and the new regime. Many women and women’s rights activists at the time believed that the struggle for social justice should take priority and issues concerning women’s rights, such as compulsory hijab, could be addressed at a later stage. This belief, combined with the political and security pressures exerted by the new regime, prevented the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women from effectively resisting compulsory hijab.
Nevertheless, during its brief period of open activity in this period, organisation pursued and worked toward two major goals:
1- Organising the struggle in a structured manner to achieve equal rights and eliminate discrimination in society.
2- Striving to raise the awareness of deprived masses of women and to promote gender discourse with the aim of changing misogynistic laws.
To achieve the above two goals, the women’s organisation, in addition to attracting progressive women, considered it an urgent necessity to work among the masses of deprived and working class women (“grassroots work”, a term commonly used among the organisation’s members at the time) and paid special attention to the establishment of women’s civil institutions.
As a result, the Democratic Organization of Iranian Women, in less than 4 years of its public activity, organized women in councils, work groups, friendly circles, and active cores in workshops, factories, alleys and neighbourhoods, schools, offices, and hospitals. On the initiative of these organisations, women’s issues were raised in numerous fields: issues such as collective action and protest against misogynistic and reactionary laws, demands for equal pay for equal work, the establishment of kindergartens and provision of welfare services, creation of health centres, protests against deficiencies in education and similar initiatives.
In addition to the main ceremony in Tehran, the celebration of International Women’s Day on 8 March was also held in hundreds of neighborhoods, factories, and social institutions raising women’s demands. Members of the Organisation established literacy classes (2) and practical courses such as sewing, carpet weaving and handicraft in working-class neighbourhoods in Tehran and other cities. Some of these classes grew and became production units entirely managed and operated by women. Women learned to stand on their own feet and use their own initiative to advance their work, a practice that would be repeated in later years. For children, mobile libraries and film or theater screenings were arranged in deprived areas.
Nurses and doctors who were members or supporters of the organisation, participated like other women of our homeland, in the defence of our homeland in the face of the imposed Iraq-Iran war, helping the wounded, either directly (3) or by providing assistance to the war’s home fronts and providing and sending aid collected from the public to the war zones, and established clinics in impoverished areas. An interesting point in this regard was the frequent cooperation and effective support of local people in collecting resources and meeting the needs of these clinics.
Other activities of the organisation included assisting women with their legal issues, by lawyers who were members or supporters, sending petitions and hundreds of letters protesting violations of women’s rights and other social laws, organising collective protests and petitions to establish welfare facilities, participating in the Home and School Association and protesting the dilapidated schools, lack of books, and similar issues.
These organised and popular activities of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women were intolerable to the reactionary clergy, who, having turned away from the goals of the revolution, pursued other agendas, seeking to plunder the revolution, eliminate dissenters and export political Islam to the region. Ultimately, in May 1982, by the personal order of Khomeini, the Intelligence and security workers (referred to as the “Anonymous Soldiers of the 12th Imam”) attacked the office of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women in Tehran, sealed it, and arrested its members and supporters in Tehran and some other cities, thus began the campaign of oppression. The Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women was declared illegal and disbanded for the third time and its leadership and many activists were imprisoned in the theocratic regime’s torture chambers, subjected to various forms of medieval torture under false pretence.
The reasons for the suppression, arrests and torture of the leaders and members of the Organisation and its being banned can be traced to its organised and public activities raising awareness in the opportunity for open political activity that had resulted from the revolutionary atmosphere of the time, particularly the widespread enthusiasm of women in organising and promoting gender discourse in society, which was not welcome by the regime with other agendas. The attacks were conducted despite the fact that months before the arrests, the regime’s security agents had repeatedly inspected the Organisation’s office and found no evidence to support their accusations.
During the dark years in the 1980s, the Women’s Organisation was violently suppressed, yet the seeds it had sown in society were not destroyed. Following the imposition of severe security censorship, arrests, and forced migrations, the publication of “Our Awakening”, the organ of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women, continued its work in exile. Members and supporters of the Organisation in exile played an active role in the struggle for the release of political prisoners, and in the struggle for peace and against war. In particular, they played a significant role in documenting and exposing the crimes of the Islamic Republic regime during the National Catastrophe of the summer 1988 – the massacre of political prisoners and the execution of thousands of political detainees – in international forums. In the absence of today’s internet and other modern communication technologies, they became the clear and powerful voice of the victims and advocates of justice for this huge national tragedy.
The women who are members of the Tudeh Party, as well as members and supporters of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women, have always strived and continued to organise, raise awareness and increase the class and social consciousness of women, and rejecting misogynistic culture. In the period following the devastating war and in the 2000s, when Iran’s militant women once again used the limited and relatively open climate to organise and promote gender discourse in society, the Organisation of Iranian Women, supported the legitimate demands of women activists and reinforced their campaigns, including the “One Million Signatures Campaign”, the “No to Stoning” campaign, the struggle against the reactionary Family Law bill and others. Following the regime’s renewed attacks on women’s rights activists and the revoking of licenses for their civil society organisations under the government of Ahmadinejad and other governments appointed by the Supreme Leader, DOIW while condemning the repression and brutal arrests, worked in various meetings of the Federation (WIDF) and other progressive forums to expose the misogynist Islamic Republic regime and seek unconditional support for the struggles of courageous Iranian women, seeking to be the voice of political prisoners. These activities were reflected in the organisation’s publication, Our Awakening, and later in the journal “We Women”, which was printed and distributed in exile by members and supporters of the Organisation.
The active engagement of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women with the Women’s International Democratic Federation and participation in some sessions of this broad international women’s body – which in recent years has been facilitated through cyberspace – continues, along with the use of international forums to highlight the dire social, economic, and political conditions of Iranian women and amplify their voices of struggle in various forms. The Organisation’s website, launched in 2017, reflects the statements and viewpoints of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women. In the introduction to the new program of the Organisation, published on its website in March 2024, it is stressed that:
“The ultimate goal of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women is to achieve complete equality of women’s rights in a society free from exploitation and based on the dignity and human rights of women. The Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women pursues the following program in the path toward equality and justice for all humans, regardless of gender, religion, nationality, belief, or culture. It fights for equality and freedom from discrimination, the eradication of violence and the abolition of all misogynistic laws enacted against women in economic, social, cultural, political, legal, and judicial domains—laws that contravene the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the social and human dignity of women. The Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women firmly believes that women’s struggle to achieve fundamental and universal human rights, foremost among them the right to life, is inseparable from the struggles of other social forces. Therefore, it considers the struggle for the right to life, the abolition of the death penalty, and efforts to mobilize public opinion against this inhumane punishment to be among its most urgent and essential tasks of its struggle”(3).
The entire history of struggle of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women, with all its ups and downs, forms part of the brilliant and continuous history of Iran’s heroic and militant women in their struggle against gender and class oppression and in pursuit of independence, freedom, and social justice in our homeland – a brilliant history that, despite a century of suppression by patriarchal reactionaries and predatory capitalism that has supported it, has never shied away from the struggle and each time has risen more determined than before, continuing the fight and consistently inspiring admiration. For this reason, the great power of women has now become one of the most important and influential forces within Iran’s popular movement.
Footnotes:
(1) Among the women mentioned in comrade Maryam Firouz’s book “Shining Faces”
(2) Here we remember the late comrade Gita Alishahi, a young student and member of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women, who was executed by the regime on 26 September 1981. She was on her way to a location to assist with literacy education in a deprived area, carrying a veil in her bag, when she was arrested and executed the following day.
(3) With the onset of the enemy’s invasion and the Iran-Iraq War, comrade Simin Salamizadeh immediately joined the Defense Organisation of the Khorramshahr City Front. After the transfer of the Khorramshahr City relief groups to Abadan, comrade Simin moved there and continued her service. On 4 November 1980, while returning from relief work, she was informed that artillery fire from the criminal Saddam had injured several people in the neighboring house. Simin immediately rushed to assist the wounded, where a shell fragment tragically ended her heroic life, from the book Shahidan-e Tudehi (Tudeh Party Martyrs)
(4) Programme of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women for achieving human rights and equality for women.
5 February 2025
DOIW
