Journalism amidst Revolution

The Emergence of Women's Journalism in Iran and the Constitutional Revolution

Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century the newspaper became a symbol of innovation, progress and change for women in Qajar Iran (1796-1925). During the course of the first decade of the twentieth century, the printed press became a unique site for the dissemination of the voices, opinions, ideas and plights of local women. For the first time in Iranian history, this new medium enabled women to participate openly and directly in negotiations over their roles in society and in the family and to become present in the public sphere. Yet this process was not devoid of obstacles. Women’s participation in the press contested normative values and socio-cultural taboos traditionally prescribed in the form of sex segregation and strict gender roles. The first initiatives in the history of Iranian women’s press were promoted by individuals and small groups of learned women, who had to struggle for their right to hold the pen and organize through writing and publication. Tracing the development of local women’s newspapers in Iran reveals three main stages: (a) the emergence of an independent press and the rise of the woman question in the public debate; (b) the emergence of the general press as a new public space for women during the Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911); (c) publication of the first women’s magazines. By exploring the emergence of women’s press in Iran, this study joins other studies that reveal the extensive history of social and political activities of women in Iran. Consequently, this study somewhat balances the prevailing representation of Iranian women as passive subjects hidden behind dark and heavy veils and oppressed under edicts of a misogynist religion.