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Abstract

The Iranian women's movement emerged and was sustained in an unprecedented way, although neither the movement's procedure nor the nature of the Iranian protesters' economic and social demands throughout the course of the previous ten years made its formation plausible. While unions have traditionally coordinated many Iranian protests, the present women's movement is non-union, has a national reach, and has been going strong for several months despite fierce government resistance. This study reviews the history and achievements of the women's protest movement in Iran since September 2022. In the past, women's activities have been severely constrained and suppressed by Iran's political-religious system, and feminist causes have never received the needed attention from intellectual institutions. Now, however, Iranian women have the chance to pursue their demands owing to the current confluence of women, artists, and students, along with generational changes and the advancement of new values. Additionally, the popularity of the civil resistance strategy in celebrities' and women's protests reduced violence typical in conflicts between protestors and state authorities. Further, the youth and students' intense feelings and passion led to a movement that was frank and responsive in expressing its demands. Two additional factors which led to the movement were the scattering of the leadership core which had a detrimental effect on the political system, and the individual protest behaviors of women and celebrities which boosted the possibility of individual activity and initiatives. Finally, the possibility of broadcasting the most recent news and events footage through online efforts of young people, students, and celebrities have also created maximum pressure for change. The political potential of the Iranian Women’s Movement brought about by popular

Author Biography

Hamid Sajadi is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Studies, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (IHCS), Iran. His research interests are policy learning, crisis management, social movements and societal security. He is currently working on several research projects including indexing societal security and community resilience, policy learning and policy change in Iran, and analyzing the securitization causes of social crises. He has published numerous articles in refereed journals, including recent ones on COVID-19 pandemic responses in Iran and societal security status of Iranian women. His email address is: h.sajadi@ihcs.ac.ir.

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