Introduction
Torturing women is officially forbidden in many countries; however, in Iran, there are cases where women’s rights are being oppressed. The issue of continuous torture against Iranian women needs to be addressed since it remains an apparent problem.
Although the revolution officially gave rights to women, the problem cannot be considered solved. There is a big difference between the ordinary life of an American woman and an Iranian-born woman since the last one risks her life every day. Many young girls dream of escaping torture. Iran is my native country, and I can provide accurate information about this topic. Moreover, I have conducted a thorough literature search in order to provide an evidence-based study, which also adds credibility.
Body
Changing the Constitution after the revolution
Before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iranian women has the same rights as women in other countries and regions. Hundreds and thousands, if not millions, of Iranian women, have served in the civil service, have been elected to local governments, have worked as judges, served in the police force. In addition, as any human being should be, they were protected from any type of violence. After the revolution, Iranian women’s rights have changed significantly, they did not have any support from political parties and leaders of the human rights movement.
One of the examples of oppression is the Islamic Penal Code, according to which a woman’s worth is half that of a man (Atamaz, 2019). For instance, in the case when a woman is murdered, the compensation from the perpetrator would be equal to half the amount for a murdered man.
The difference between being born in the Middle East and other countries.
One of the most primary differences is that in other countries, women are not seen as a man’s property. As interviews state, some Iranian women feel like “every day was the worst” (Badiee, 2015, p. 505). Prisons are places where women suffer from inhumane attitudes and bad conditions. For instance, Afsaneh Azadeh described her story about threats, beatings, and rape attempts in Evin prison, where she was accused of working with the American government (“Woman wins $36 million claims over Iran prison torture.”).
Having a dream of not being in the Middle East anymore
From the information that was provided above, it can be assumed that when a girl is born in the Middle East, she is not treated as a human being. Unless there is a man who vouches for her and protects her, she can be submitted to any kind of suffering. Many young girls dream of escaping this country in fear of being tortured for deeds that would be considered crimes according to radical Islamic men. I chose this topic because I believe that there is a need for more published research to bring attention to this problem, and scholars agree with me (Dehghan, 2018, p. 88).
Conclusion
Post-revolution Iranian laws allow men to torture and kill women, and due to big disparities in the lives of women in Iran and other countries, many girls wish to leave the Middle East. Even in the 21st century, there are places where people’s rights are oppressed, and Iran is one such countries. The process of stopping this inequality is not easy, but it needs attention nonetheless.
References
Atamaz, S. (2019). Constitutionalism as a solution to despotism and imperialism: the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in the Ottoman-Turkish press. Middle Eastern Studies, 55(4), 557-569.
Badiee, M. (2015). Portrait of an Iranian woman torture survivor. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 21(3), 505
Dehghan, R. (2018). The health impact of (sexual) torture amongst Afghan, Iranian and Kurdish refugees: A literature review. Torture Journal, 28(3), 77-91.
“Woman wins $36 million claim over Iran prison torture.” (2018). The National News. Web.