Women presented the first effective challenge to the Islamic regime and the clerical authority in post-revolutionary Iran. Women's activism in support of their legal rights and personal freedom, however, did not develop into a strong movement against the rising fundamentalism. The Iranian socialists did not support women's autonomous organizations. The convergence of the Left's populism with Islamic populism, and the influence of the Iranian/Shiite political culture that promotes male authority and female submission, could not reconcile with women's claims to individual rights, choice, and personal freedom and their struggle for autonomy and self-determination in private or public life.

Inhalt
Preface to the 1996 Reprint - Preface - Introduction - PART 1: WOMEN AND SOCIAL CHANGE - The Emerging Women's Movement - Women and Social Reforms - PART 2: WOMEN AND OTHER POLITICAL FORCES - Islamists and Women's Rights - Secular Intellectuals and the 'Emancipation of Women' - Sexual Politics of the Left - PART 3: WOMEN'S MOVEMENT, REVOLUTION AND THE LEFT - The Fedayeen and Women's Struggle - The National Union of Women - A Failed Socialist-Feminist Experience - Conclusion: Finding a Space, Reclaiming Politics - Notes - References - Index