Article by Muriel Pénicaud published in the Siècle des Femmes Newsletter of January 30, 2023.
The year 2022 was a year of contrasts for women around the world:
- the number of women leaders in business and politics has increased, even if this is still a very small minority - even in the CAC40, where progress is slow (3 women out of 40);
- In the USA, women's anger at the Supreme Court's and many states' rollback of abortion rights clearly contributed to a better-than-expected result for the US Democratic Party in the mid-term elections;
- With the exception of Asia, girls are still massively absent from the technology and science sectors, despite the action of numerous networks and associations, and formidable role models (including, among the latest, our new French as- tronaut); action needs to be further strengthened with regard to public opinion, families and teachers;
- in France, our "legislative trilogy" is showing its effects in the workplace: the Copé-Zimmermann law, after 10 years, is a success (46% women on the Boards of Directors of listed companies), the results of the Egalité pro Index that I introduced with the 2018 "Avenir Pro" law are progressing every year (even if we'd all like it to go even faster), and the 2021 Rixain law on the proportion of women on executive committees is starting to be implemented in the field;
- on the other hand, the madness of domestic violence against women (and children) continues unabated, and numerous sexual harassment and rape scandals are shaking up the worlds of sport, culture, church and politics, although the justice system is still struggling to take them fully into account.
But the most striking fact of 2022 is certainly the extraordinary courage of Iranian and Afghan women. Iran and Afghanistan are the two countries in the world where the situation of women is most catastrophic, their basic rights trampled underfoot and their freedom reduced to zero.
Since the death of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on September 16, for wearing a veil the wrong way, a vast popular protest movement has been unfolding in Iran. The slogan, the cry from the heart of all these demonstrations is "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi" (in Kurdish) or "Zan, Zendegi, Azadi" (in Persian), which means "Woman, Life, Freedom ". Initially a women's revolt, the movement was soon joined by men, particularly young people and workers, and spread to all territories.
The issue of women is central to the "Islamic Republic" (if it can be called a patriarchal, authoritarian theocracy), as the domination of men over women has been at the heart of public life for 44 years. They must wear the veil, obtain their husband's permission to travel abroad, are barred from many professions (even though they represent half of all university students), can be forbidden by their husbands to have a professional activity, and so on. They are second-class citizens, under the guardianship and at the disposal of men. The veil is the symbol of this domination, the free lock of hair the banner of revolution.
It may seem suicidal for the Islamic Republic, led by Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei, to massacre its country's youth, but it's tragically consistent: the entire social, family and political structure of today's Iran is based on this domination of women.
It's a revolution, but a revolution without parties or centralized organizations, a popular revolution born of a feminist revolution. And it's the first of its kind in the world.
Today, despite heroic courage that never wavers, the outcome remains uncertain. Not all feminist organizations in other countries stand in solidarity with Iranian women, out of a local political calculation that flatters certain Islamic communities. I was one of the signatories of the collective tribune launched by Franco-Iranian novelist Sorour Kasmaï, which appeared in Le Monde on November 23: "We, writers, artists, academics, who have never ceased to demand freedom for women, are all Iranian".
Being in close contact with Iranian organizations in France that support the "Femme, Vie, Liberté" movement in Iran, I know that the support and voice of feminists and democrats around the world are very important for our Iranian, Kurdish and Afghan sisters, and encourage them day after day.
Less publicized but just as atrocious, the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan has been catastrophic since the Taliban took power in 2021. Afghan women are becoming invisible. The Taliban preach a radical Islamist ideology based on the oppression of women.
All their freedoms are restricted or suppressed, in particular the right to work and education, and freedom of expression, movement and assembly. Women's rights
must wear the full veil(burqa) in public, and can only travel with a male family member. Girls are no longer allowed to go to
school. Recently, women have also been barred from studying at university and working for NGOs.
It's the only country in the world where girls and women are forbidden to study. Heart-rending scenes show the despair of girls totally deprived of a future. Women have responded to this brutal repression with numerous demonstrations, some with the support of men, particularly among students. Many were subjected to arbitrary arrest and torture in prison.
Iranian and Afghan women are deprived of their rights and freedoms, oppressed and gradually "erased" from the public sphere. The UN has finally condemned the decisions of Afghanistan and Iran to withdraw from the Commission on the Status of Women, because of these unprecedented attacks on the human rights of half the population of these two countries. Here too, women are resisting in an unprecedented way, supported by many men, with extraordinary courage and determination. Women's associations and organizations the world over have their part to play. At Siècle des Femmes, we all have the power to act, to speak out and to influence. Our Iranian and Afghan sisters need our support.
So let's be their voice!
Muriel Pénicaud
