iran

Women's emancipation as a component of social progress surfaced before the emergence of Iran's constitutional movement (1905–11). In the 1840s, the Bābī movement projected equality between the sexes in many domains of social life (Cole 1998). The Constitutionalists supported female education and increased social participation. Women contributed to the revolution, but the Majlis, influenced by religious leaders, denied women enfranchisement, categorizing them with the mentally handicapped and criminals (Afary 1996).

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