The Women of Iran

CNN: Iranian women stand up in defiance, flout rules

A young Iranian woman named Neda is gunned down in one of the most iconic images of the last week. Another walks down the street, defiantly showing off her hair and body in a revealing dress. And still another woman says she's not scared of paramilitary forces -- no matter how many times she gets beaten.

Amid the clashes and chaos, there has been a recurring scene on the streets of Tehran: Women, in their scarves and traditional clothing, at the heart of the struggle. Some are seen collecting rocks for ammunition against security forces, while video showed one woman trying to protect a fallen pro-government militiaman wounded in the government crackdown.

Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the image of Neda and other women at the protests showed the difference from the 1979 revolution. "The iconic pictures from the revolution 30 years ago were bearded men. This shows the new face of Iran -- the young women who are the vanguards of Iran."

All of those defying the Iranian regime deserve applause, but the women of Iran deserve special acclaim. As this and other news stories show, their defiance is having twice the effect of everyone else's - which is appropriate, as they have twice as much to rebel against.

A Sign of Subservience

BBC: Sarkozy speaks out against burka

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has spoken out strongly against the wearing of the burka by Muslim women in France.

"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity," Mr Sarkozy told a special session of parliament in Versailles.

"The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French republic," the French president said.

Apologists for the burka sometimes argue that it empowers, not oppresses - that by covering herself, a woman ensures that she is judged according to her ideas and not according to her looks.

When I hear this specious nonsense, I always think: what "ideas"? What ideas can she have if she is deprived of an education, as so many Muslim women are? What if she gets the "idea" to do something crazy or unspeakable - like divorce her husband?

Sarkozy is right on here. Of course the burka oppresses women; sexism doesn't get more explicit!

The burka robs a woman of her identity and completes the process by which she is transformed from an autonomous individual into the property of her father or husband.

Sarkozy is wrong about one thing, though: the burka is a sign of religion. Arbitrary injustice is the kind of thing that religion does best.