Since the Iranian regime took power in 1979, it has relegated women to the status of second-class citizens. They face state-backed discrimination in law and rigid enforcement from the government’s morality police. Domestic violence, marital rape, and early and forced marriage remain legal. And many of the women who have spoken out against this treatment have been sent to prison, where many have been brutally raped and tortured.
But if you believe a writer in The Nation, by confronting the regime responsible for these crimes, Israel is only making things worse. In “Iranian Women Don’t Need Saving,” Duaa e Zahra Shah claims that, while Israelis and Americans say their military operations benefit Iranian women, Iranian feminists believe the strikes set back the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement. Yet counterfactual narratives muddle the argument, and the Iranian feminists she designates to speak for the movement seem more intent on pushing their own agenda than on supporting the women of Iran.
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