Iran Needs Gender Studies

With Columbia University so openly welcoming Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak this December, it is useful to remember what type of ideology the Iranian theocracy is promoting.

A new study by the Freedom House, a non-profit advocating for religious and political freedom in all societies, illuminates the culture of discrimination promoted by Iranian leaders. Iranian educational expert Saeed Paivandi writes that “This culture has its own signs, codes, language, and values, and, by repeating them, the textbooks make discrimination and differentiation among people appear ‘natural’ and legitimate.”

The report, spearheaded by Paivandi, analyzed the content of 95 textbooks on various subjects from Grades 1-11 (11,000 pages). Paivandi is a professor of sociology at Paris-8 University and author of Religion and Education in Iran: The Failure of Islamicizing Schools.

Women:

Within the Iranian textbooks, women are depicted as unempowered, dependent mothering figures who rely on male authority at all times. Paivandi writes that the textbooks portray women as

· of little importance

· performing traditional duties such as childrearing or

· “consistently shown wearing hejab (headscarves) even when they are free—by Islam’s standards—to appear without...The textbooks even go so far as to depict doves wearing headscarves.” (emphasis added)

In addition, the textbooks offer few to no role models for women outside of “education, healthcare and medicine, agriculture, and handicrafts”—the sanctioned “female” economic sectors. “It is not accidental that the images of women working outside of these four ‘preferred’ fields of work are never shown to students,” writes Paivandi.

Only 7% of 386 potential role models depicted (eg, “cultural, scientific, political, social, and religious personalities”) are female. Iranian and foreign male literary figures are discussed ten times as often as female ones. “This low representation of women authors is in direct contradiction with the fact that, in the course of the last 20 years, Iranian women writers, poets, and artists have had an extensive presence in Iranian culture,” writes Paivandi.

He continues, “students are reminded throughout all subjects of man’s superior role and position as the person who possesses the main ‘power’ in the household and who must take responsibility for guiding the other family members.”

“Censoring the women’s body and the physical separation of men continues even inside the family environment, to the extent that no photos exist of men and women together within the privacy of their home,” writes Paivandi (emphasis added). Yes, this even includes married couples or mothers and sons.

These values seem hardly compatible with Columbia’s discrimination policy, which states that “Columbia University is committed to providing a working and learning environment free from discrimination and sexual harassment and to fostering a nurturing and vibrant community founded upon the fundamental dignity and worth of all of its members.” Columbia defines discrimination as “treating members of a protected class less favorably because of their membership” in classes such as race, color,

religion, sex, age, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, and marital status.

Religious Minorities

As previously shown, these state-mandated textbooks more than fit Columbia University’s definition of discrimination.

In terms of religion, Paivandi found that Iranian textbooks make references to “officially recognized” religions that “are, for the most part, positive or neutral and no effort is made to criticize or negate them.”

For “unrecognized” religious minorities, however, it is an entirely different story. The textbooks teach children that atheism is abnormal. “Not believing in a specific religion is considered either impossible or a form of ‘abnormality’…Those who do not fit into these religious classifications are thought to be suffering from a form of ‘deviance,’” writes Paivandi.

For those of the Baha’i faith, Iranian religious discrimination can even lead to dropping out of school. “Faced with the negative discourse of the textbooks and the hostile treatment they receive in the course of educational activities [Baha’i students] are either compelled to remain silent—and somewhat in hiding—or give up continuing their education,” he writes.

Bethany Stotts is a Staff Writer at Accuracy in Academia.