A compilation of information about all the events commemorating March 8th, International Womens Day

* * March 7th Press Release from the women students collective of the School of Social Sciences of the Allameh-Tabatabaie University

On Monday, March 8th, The International Women’s Day we women and girls, residents of Tehran will wear green overcoats and scarves in order to mobilize the biggest referendum.

This is the least dangerous step and referendum.

Monday afternoon from 4 p.m to 9 p.m. by wearing green scarves and overcoats we will peacefully, quietly, without protest and chanting of slogans we will gather at the following shopping centers:

1. Vali Asr Square shopping center
2. Geesha Mall
3. Milad and Shahrak’eh Gharb Golestan Malls
4. Tajreesh Bazaar
5. Salsebeel Avenue
6. Kaaj Square in the Sa’aadatabad area of Tehran
7. Naazeeabad Bazaar
8. Berlin Street and Jomhoori Avenue
9. Vanak Square shopping centers
10. Haft’eh Tir Square shopping centers

Happy March 8th, International Womens Day; protesting gender apartheid laws, fighting for equality.

* * Below: A video by the Iranian Feminist School.

Background song is the Iranian Suffrage Anthem:

We announce that on March 8th we the women will go with flowers in hand to my sisters at Hotel Evin (a derogatory title for Tehran’s infamous Evin prison) with a birthday cake for all ‘green’ women who are in prison. We will cry Allah o Akbar from rooftops.

* * A message by Rahnavard, The Green Lady of Iran, for the International Women’s Day

Source: &

Dr. Zahra Rahnavard, Mir Hossein Mousavi’s wife, for the anniversary of The International Women’s Day (March 8th) in a message while condemning the discriminatory laws and the oppression against the Iranian women that these days have unfortunately increased, invited the people as well as the ruling powers in Iran to return to the compassionate and humane values to honour the dignity of the Iranian women.

In this message Dr. Zahra Rahnavard while praising the high stature of Iranian women who throughout the history always with courage and selflessness alongside men sacrificed a lot or the prosperity of their homeland, added that today the leading women of the Green Movement are unjustly in prison only because they demand justice in political, social and cultural affairs of the country.

She added that the women of the Green Movement today are shocked when witnessing the discriminatory laws and behaviours that in different forms are emerging in various matters.

Rahnavard stressed that the Green Movement is the manifestation of the ideals of any noble and justice-seeking human; and the Green Movement honours women because of these same high-valued humane and moral principles and praises their great role throughout the human history as well as the national and Islamic histories.

At the end Zahra Rahnavard hoped that the Green Movement takes major steps in eliminating the discriminatory laws and behaviours against women.

* * Call for Solidarity: Freedom and Gender Equality in Iran

Source: February 2010

We (a group of Iranian feminists and women’s rights activists) demand an end to state-led violence and repression, as well as the immediate release of all political detainees in Iran. We invite all women’s rights defenders, activists, organisations, and networks worldwide to demonstrate their solidarity with the Iranian women’s movement and the broader movement for democracy in Iran by organising initiatives under the slogan “freedom and gender equality in Iran” throughout March 2010.

Over the past thirty years, the Iranian women’s movement has been at the forefront of the struggle for freedom and equality in Iran. Gender discrimination intersects with other forms of subordination – whether based on class, ethnicity, political orientation, religion, and so on. Thus, the peaceful resistance of women and men in defence of gender equality in all social spheres – legal, political, cultural, economical, etc. – has profoundly impacted the Iranian movement for democracy. Iranian women have long demanded freedom and gender equality; they have employed both individual and group strategies, initiated various campaigns, and faced insults, threats, arrests and imprisonment in the process. Many of these women are currently in prison.

Over the past eight months, the protest movement that emerged following the disputed presidential elections has been suppressed by mounting violence. Physical and psychological violence – through arrest, torture, rape, extended imprisonment, and even execution – has been exercised against civil and political activists in Iran. As of now, numerous women activists from various movements – women’s, workers, students, civil, and political – are detained and/or have received heavy sentences. The list of detainees grows everyday.

These circumstances, along with a new wave of arrests of women activists, have granted the authorities space enough to expedite legislations of a further gender-discriminatory nature, such as the “Family Support Bill,” which aims to further limit women’s rights in the name of ‘strengthening’ the family. For the past thirty years, Iranian women have been subjected to a range of discriminations justified by the Sharia-derived laws. On the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to which Iran is not a signatory, the women of Iran are facing increased discrimination. Fifteen years after the Fourth World Conference on Women and the drafting of the Beijing Platform for Action, in which the government of Iran participated, the Iranian government has yet to abide by its international obligations and work towards the elimination of discrimination against women.

During these critical times, the transnational solidarity of feminists and women’s rights activists with their Iranian counterparts is not only limited to the struggles of women; it also supports the broader movement for democracy in Iran. Various civil rights movements in Iran have long been in communication with both the transnational Iranian and the international communities. Global solidarity is crucial to giving voice to their repeated calls for freedom and equality in Iran.

We invite all women’s rights defenders, activists, organisations, and networks worldwide to demonstrate their solidarity with the Iranian women’s movement and the broader movement for democracy in Iran by organising initiatives under the slogan “freedom and gender equality in Iran” throughout March 2010.