1805-73 Politically Influential Maleka Jahan Khanum (Mahd-e Olya), Qajar Dynasty
Her official title was Mahd-e Olya "Sublime Cradle." She was grand-daughter of Fath 'Ali Shah, (1797-1834), wife of her cousin Mohammad Shah (1834-48) and mother of Nasser-ed-Din Shah (1848-96). She was one of the strongest women of the Qajar Dynasty. She yielded power from the Harem, once her son ascended the throne of Persia. She ensured the strengthening and survival of the Qajar nobility against the rivalries by many non-Qajars. She is characterized as an accomplished and cunning woman of some political gifts, strong personality. Her daughter, Malekzadeh Khanoom, married Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir the reformist Prime Minister to Nasir al-Din Shah. Mahd-e Olya is accused of being involved in the murder of Amir Kabir. She was well educated, knew Arabic, was an accomplished calligraphist, and was well versed in literature. She is also rumered to have had a relationship with Agha Khan Nouri who became the Prime Minister after Amir Kabirs assassination.She was disliked by her son Nasir al-Din Shah.
Picture courtesy Iran Chamber
Around 1850s Khadijeh Khanoom
Known as Mola Baji, was a companion of Shokooh Saltaneh, a wife of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar. Her title indicates that she was a private teacher to women at the court. Her daughter Bibi Khanoum wrote a very important feminist booklet that has survived.
1814-1852 Tahirih Qurrat al-Ain Born in Qazvin Born in Qazvin she was the eldest daughter of a prominent clergy. Fatima and her sister Marzieh received religious training and became masters in Persian literature, Arabic and Islamic studies. At the age of 14, she married her cousin, the son of Mulla Mohammed Taghi Borghani, one of the most famous Usuli religious leaders. Orthodox and dogmatic, the Usulis dominated the theological schools and strongly opposed all other schools of thought including Ahkbari and the latter Sheykhi. The latter demanded reforms and challenged the authority of Mujtahids (clergy). A close relative that was a Sheykhi supporter influenced the two sisters. In 1828, the young couple moved to Iraq to further their religious studies at Najaf and Karbala where many Sheykhi ulama (ulama means scholars) resided in exile. The long stay in Iraq introduced Fatima to others including Seyyed Kazem Rashti the most prominent Sheykhi supporter. She also became exposed to European politics and ideas, which was gaining influence in Middle East at the time. Later, she became familiar with ideology of Seyyed Mohammad Bab, Rashti's successor, whom she never met. Fatima joined Rashti who gave her the title of Qurrat al-Ain (roughly meaning apple of the eye) and eventually ended in the top leadership of the later Babi movement. Her actions alienated her family; she left her husband and children, started lecturing and openly supported the Babi movement. Amongst many reforms demanded by the Babi adherents' emancipation of women became a major issue. Though her actions were predominantly religious, her presence often without a veil in public debates created a stir even amongst the Babi and she often was forced to leave and move to another city. Her very strong presence in the movement initiated the formation of the first well-organized women's league in Iran. Many female members of the Royal court also supported Fatima who was known as "Tahireh" or "pure" by this time. In 1848, after the massive persecution of the Babi supporters, the remaining leaders gathered in a village called Behdasht. In the meeting Tahireh tore off her veil and demanded the emancipation of women. Her radical actions split the leadership; Tahireh herself was arrested by the authorities and sent into exile. She escaped a few days later after a failed attack on Naser al-Din Shah's life; she was captured in Tehran and along with other Babi leaders was executed in 1852. She was an accomplished poet a charismatic orator and well versed in Persian literature in addition to religious studies.
Around 1840s, Mrs. Rashti The wife of Seyyed Kazem Rashti the leader of the Sheykhi school, a religious movement that eventually lead to the formation of the Babi sect in the middle of the 19th century in Iran. She organized the women's league of the Babi movement and held regular meetings in her house. Several of the early female leaders of the Babi sect met at her house and then spread all around the country. She was a pioneer member of a women's society called Anjoman-i Mokhadarat Vatan (1903). The Babi were the first group that demanded improvement in the situation of women in Iran. Present at her meetings were Tahireh and her sister Marzieh, Khorshid Beygom Khanoom, with the mother and sister of Mulla Hussein Boushroyeh, the mother of Hadi Nahri, and Rustameh, the first militant female leader in the movement. All became pioneer Babi activists and some lost their lives.
Around 1860s Bibi Khanoum Astarabadi Author of the first feminist booklet She has produced the first feminist booklet criticizing the patriarchal society of her time. In her pamphlet "The Shortcomings of Men" she strongly criticizes the derogatory popular book "Educating Women" and concluded that the writer's understanding of keeping women in their place implied the total subjugation of women. Bibi and her mother belonged to generations of women who served the Royal women as educators. Her book has survived and is dated to 1896.
1870s Anis al-doleh, Nasir al-Din Shah's Favourite Concubine, Qajar Dynasty
She became the most trusted woman in the Shah's harem and once accompanied the Shah on his trip to Europe. This was bitterly opposed by the clergy who deemed unsuitable for a Muslim woman to travel to a non-Muslim country. She was forced to come back to Tehran and did not depart for Europe.
1884-1936 Taj Saltaneh, Qajar Dynasty
Daughter of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar was a member of secret societies promoting reform and modernization in Iran. Her famous memoirs Khaterat Taj Saltaneh is very critical of the situation in Iran at the time and is regarded as an early feminist writing. She was the subject of admiration by many men including Aref Ghazvini the famous activist, musician and poet of the period.
1875-1925 Malekeh-Jahan, "Queen of the World", Qajat Dynasty
Mohammad Ali Shah's cousin and queen, daughter of Prince Kamran Mirza Na'eb-Saltaneh (Nasser-ed-Din Shah's son), mother of Ahmad Shah Qajar. She, like her predecessor queens and many others of the Qajar princesses, was a strong presence. She was forced into exile with her husband. After Mohammad Ali Shah's death, she was able to keep the family together in exile in Europe.
Picture courtesy Qagar Pages
1895-1925 Mohtaram Eskandari
Daughter of Prince Ali Khan Qajar (Mohammad Mirza Eskandari) she was married to her teacher and educator Mirza Ali Khan Mohaqqeqi and was fluent in French. A pioneer feminist with socialist ideas she was one of the founding members of the Anjoman-i Nesvan -i, Vatankhah (Society of the Patriotic Women). The society organized classes for illiterate women and also published a journal with the same name. The popularity of the publication forced the fundamentalists to produce a pamphlet titled Makr-i Zanan (Wiles of Women). Mohtram and her colleagues purchased many copies and burnt them publicly in Sepah Square a busy square in Tehran. She was arrested and became the first woman to be jailed for public disturbance in modern history. She was also a member of the famous Adamyat (Humanity) Society that was very active prior to and during the Constitutional Revolution (1906). She was a contributing writer to the magazine Hoghogh (law). She died in 1925 at the age of 30 while undergoing surgery to correct a spinal injury she had suffered since age 9.
Around 1900s Ashraf (Fakhr-al-Dowleh)
Mozafereddin Shah's daughter, the mother of Mirza Mohsen Khan (Amin-od-Dowleh II) was a wealthy and influential Qajar princess. Her strength and character earned her even the respect of Reza Shah (Pahlavi), who is said to have commented that the Qajars "only have one 'man' amongst them, and that is Khanoum-e Fakhr-al Dowleh." She was the grandmother of Dr. Amini, the Prime Minster of Iran in the 1961-1962.
Picture courtesy Qajar Dynasty Pages
Early 1900s Bibi Vazir
She was originally from Caucasus (Ghafghaz) and was married to a well know constitutionalist Musa Khan Mirpanj. In 1907 she opened the first girl's school for Muslims in Tehran, Madressa Doushizegan (Girl's School). The school was violently opposed by leading clergymen such as Sheikh Fazlolah Nouri and Seyyed Ali Shoushtari who proclaimed that such schools were to be feared and this was a shock to pious citizens. They also objected to the use of the word doushizegan (virgin girls). She was initially forced by the Ministry of Education to close the school but it was re-opened later and remained. She also opened an orphanage for poor homeless girls and wrote articles in the news paper "Iran" belonging to the "Hizb-i Democrat" (Democratic Party). Her son Ali Naghi Vaziri was a well-known Musician who opened the Academy of Music in Tehran and educated many of the most prominent musicians of the period.
Around 1900s Mrs. Jahangeer
A constitutionalist activist and the aunt of the murdered journalist Mirza Jahangeer Sur-i Israfil one of the founders of the popular reformist news paper Sur-i Israfil. She confronted Muzafar al-Din Shah Qajar publicly and demanded constitutional reform.
Early 1900s Zeynab Pasha
Militant female leader of mass protests during the constitutional revolution (1905-1907). Daughter of Sheykh Suleiman, she was born in a poor neighbourhood in Tabriz. She gained heroic status during the protests against the tobacco concession awarded to the British by Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar. The bazaars were closed down protesting the concession and the police were forcing the shopkeepers to open their stores. She appeared armed with several other women attacking the police. The sight of armed women clad in chadors was so shocking that the police did not know what to do. Soon she became the leader of an army of women who appeared at many demonstrations and even attacked government wheat storage warehouses and distributed the looted grain amongst the local people.
1905?-1959 Ghamar 0l-Molouk Vaziri,
The first female singer who appeared unveiled in a concert in Tehran She lost both her parents at an early age. Her grandmother, Kheyr al-Nesa was a singer of religious verses (rozehkhan) at all-female religious ceremonies. She was discovered and trained by the prominent Jewish Iranian musician (master of tar) Morteza Naydavoud. Her first concert in 1924 at the reception hall at Tehran's "Grand Hotel" marked the first occasion when a woman sang publicly and unveiled. She is known as the best female singer in Iran and some of her recordings have survived. Her popularity was unmatched at the time. She died in poverty and from illness in 1959.
Ghamar 0l-Molouk Vaziri
1881-1 939 Toba Azmodeh Amongst the first women with modern education, she was fluent in Arabic and French. She was the daughter of Mirza Hassan Khan Sartip and married to Abdul Hussein Mirpanj. She opened a school for girls called Namus (roughly meaning honour) in her own house in Tehran despite threats and abuse by the mob and religious authorities. The school expanded and many of the most prominent females of the early 20th century were educated at her school.
1901-1970s Fakher Afagh Parsa A pioneer feminist activist, with her mother's help she was educated at a primary school behind her father's back. At age 12 she was forced to continue her studies at home. She was fluent in Arabic and French and became a teacher and a school principal. Following her marriage to Farrokh Parsa a journalist she was encouraged and managed to publish a feminist magazine called Jahl-i Zanan (Women's Ignorance) in Mashhad, a religious stronghold. Considered radical for the period she was forced to close the paper and was sent into exile to Tehran, There she opened another feminist publication called Jahan-i Zanan (Women's World). She was forced to close this one as well and was sent into exile to Qum, the centre of Shii religious scholarship in Iran. She was one of the founding members of the popular women's society, Anjoman-i Nesvan-i Vatankhah (Society of the Patriotic Women). Her daughter Farrokh Roo Parsa became the first female minister in Iran.
Early 1900s Mrs. Safieh Yazdi The wife of a prominent pro-constitution clergy Mohammed Yazdi, she opened the Effatiyah School for girls in 1910. Her action encouraged others and more schools were opened.
Early 1900s Mrs. Mahrukh Gawharshinas In 1911 she defied her husband and started Taraghi girl school in Tehran that became one of the best girl's schools of the time.
Early 1900s Mah Sultan Amir Sehei She opened the Tarbiyat School in 1913 that became another well-known progressive girl's school in Tehran.
1885-1964 Sadigeh Dawlatabadi One of the most influential and prominent leaders of the women's movement in Iran, she was born in Isfahan in a religious family with Babi/Bahai sentiments. Many members of her family were involved in the Constitutional Revolution of the 1906-1907 including her prominent brother Yahya Dawlatabadi. She was the founder of the first day care and adult education center in Iran and a member of several women's societies including Anjoman-i Mokhadarat Vatan (Society of the Daughters of the Homeland 1903). She opened the first girl's school in Isfahan, Maktab-khaneh Shariyat, but was forced to close it. Soon after, she founded a women's society called Shirkat Khavatin Isfahan (The Corporation of the Women of Isfahan). She also published the first newspaper in Iran that had the word woman in its title (1922), Zaban-i Zanan (Women's Tongue). Once forced to close it, she moved to Tehran and published Zanan-i Iran (Women of Iran) in 1923. She also founded free charity schools for poor girls in Isfahan and Tehran. Next, was a women's center in Tehran called Azmayesh-i Zanan (Women's Trial). In 1925 she left for Europe to continue her education in France. She was the first Iranian woman to attend the International Women's Congress in 1928 in Paris and graduated from Sorbonne University with a Bachelor in Education in 1929. Once back in Tehran she became the director of the newly opened Women's Center (Kanoon-i Banovan) in Tehran. She contributed as a writer to several magazines and newspapers and wrote constantly on women's issues. She also taught at various institutions including Dar al-Moalemat (training college for teachers). She was amongst the first women who appeared unveiled in Iran prior to the official emancipation of women in 1936. She died in 1964. Her grave was destroyed and leveled after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 by the Iranian authorities.
1907-1966 Frough Azarakhshi Born in Mashhad, she founded the first girl's school in that city (Frough School). The school created uproar and for two years security guards were hired to protect the school, staff and the students. Amongst the objections was the issue of girls sitting behind desks and not on the floor. It took her five years to establish the school and make it safe. She also founded Banovan School (Ladies School) for adult women and the first high school for girls in Mashahd named after her. She was involved in charities and Red Cross in the city.
1911-? Safieh Firooz
Born in an affluent family, she was the daughter of Haj Mohammad Hussein Namazi and adopted her husband's name after marrying a Qajar aristocrat (a son of Abdul Hussein Farmanfarma). A social and political activist, she ran a heath clinic for women during the Second World War and was a participant in many international conferences on women. She was amongst the first educated women who paid attention to social work and regularly visited prisons and organized classes to educate and train prostitutes and criminal women in correctional institutes.
1916-2008 Maryam Firouz
The first woman to become an executive member of a major political party, the Tudeh Party (Mass Party; the Soviet backed communist party in Iran). Daughter of Prince Abdul Hussein Farmanfarma, most members of her family were involved in political life of the country. Her brother Nosrat Dawleh and his son Mozafar Firouz were prominent politicians of the late Qajar and the Pahlavi era. Her first marriage to Abassgholi Esfandiari was dissolved. Through Bozorg Alvai the prominent writer she was introduced to the Tudeh Party. It was her second marriage to Nour al-Din Kianouri the leader of the Tudeh Party that made her a permanent fixture of the political life in Iran in the first half of the 20th century. She was instrumental in organizing the women's league of the party, despite objections, since women were not originally allowed to become members of the party. Following the crack down on the Tudeh Party she and her husband spent many years in exile in Soviet block countries. They came back after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and ended up in Jail. She published her memoirs after her husbands' death.
1932- 2001 Queen Soraya Pahlavi
From mixed Iranian and German ancestry Soraya's father was a prominent member of the Bakhtiari tribal group. She married Mohammad Reza Shah in 1951 and was asked to leave Iran in 1958 because of her inability to produce heir for the throne. She was a modern woman, fluent in German, French, Italian and English and followed the European styles and conduct. During the brief period she was married to the shah she got involved in charity work and appeared publicly and in all state functions. Following her divorce she lived in Europe, joined the European aristocracy, played in a movie and lived with an Italian director, Franco Indovina until his untimely death in 1972. She was the first Iranian queen in recent memory that was able to carry a life of her own and as she wished, following her divorce.
1947- Shirin Ebadi Winner of Noble Peace Prize 2003. Born in Hamedan in 1947, she was the first woman to become a judge in Iran in 1969, a position she lost after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. She obtained her doctorate with honours in private law from Tehran University in 1971 and became the president of the bench in 1975. Following the revolution she was demoted to the position of a clerk in the same court she presided as a judge, since women are barred from being judges in the Islamic code. She was forced into early retirement and started working on human rights' issues in Iran. She was finally given a permit to set up her own law practice in 1992. She has been very active in defending political prisoners, highlighting the shortcomings of the Islamic legal codes with respect to women, children and minorities. She is the first Muslim woman and the first Iranian to have been awarded a Noble Prize.
1892-1960 Politically Influential H.M. Queen Soraya Shah of Afghanistan
She influenced her husband, King Amanulluh Shah(1892-1960), who was one of the most liberal rulers of the country. He abolished slavery, liberalized the family code, child marriage was limited, allowed women the right to choose their own husband. In 1928 Soraya and her daughters appeared unveiled. Conservative forces forced her husband to abdicate in 1929, and they went into exile first in India and then in Rome. She was the daughter of Mahmud Beg Tarzi, sometime Minister for Foreign Affairs, and lived (1897-1968).
1941-79 Politically Influential Princess Ashraf Pahlavi of Iran
In 1946 her twin brother, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, send her to negotiate with Stalin in the Kremilin, to secure the return of some Soviet occupied parts of Iran. She was Head of the Woman's Organization of Iran and a Special Ambassador to the United Nations. Her first two marriages ended in divorce and her third husband died.
1938- Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi of Iran (in Egypt and France)
She is widow of The last Shah of Ian, she was Acting Head of the Imperial Family and acted as regent for son who became shah on his 20th birthday in 1980. Queen Farah was Shah's third wife and married him in 1959. She became very active culturally, socially and politically and became a role model for other Middle Eastern female dignitaries. She was the first queen to be crowned in Iran since the Islamic conquest of the 7th century and was officially proclaimed Regent by the Parliament. Since the Islamic Revolution of the 1979 she has been living in exile.
1970s Dr. Farrokh Roo Parsa
The first female minister in Iran and the daughter of a pioneer feminist and educator Fakher Afagh Parsa. She was executed after the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
1985-92- President of the Government-in-Exile Maryam Rajavi, Iran (in Paris)
From 1985-92 Commander-in-Chief of Mujahedin-Army operating from Iraq. Mujahedin were a millitant Islamic group that oppose both the Shah and the Islamic government of Iran. She was head of the 250 member self proclaimed parliament in exile. Half of its members were women and the exile-government is dominated by women. Following the American occupation of Iraq the position has deteriorated and have ceased to be functional.
1960- Vice-President Dr. Masoumek Ebtekar, Iran
As Vice-President for president Khatami she was in charge of the Ministry of Environment (b. 1960-). A militant Islamist turned reformist, she was the spokesperson for the militant students who occupied the American Embassy following the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and started the hostage crisis. She lost her position in 2005 after the election of Mr. Ahmadinejad as the new president.
1962- Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani
Daughter of President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and a member of the parliament from 1996-2000. She has been trying to improve women's rights in Iran and has been very active in promoting women's sports in Iran. She currently is working on her Ph.D thesis in England.
This list is a work in progress, it is not finished, more women will be added.
