Symposium: The Social (and Economic) Implications of Being an Educated Woman in Iran

In this essay, Mitra Shavarini captures the lasting impact of violent political conflict on educational access in postrevolutionary Iran. While the Iranian Revolution took place nearly thirty years ago, its impact continues to reverberate throughout Iranian society, particularly as it relates to the lives of women. Captured here is a powerful conversation that helps us conceptualize the subtle nature of what that struggle is about for young women in Iran. Discussing the social meaning and gendered complexity of higher education in Iran, Shavarini raises important questions about women gaining ground for their rights in this context.

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Mitra K. Shavarini is a lecturer in peace, conflict, and coexistence studies and women’s and gender studies at Brandeis University. Her research focuses on women’s education in Muslim societies. In her most recent article, “Western Procedures, Eastern Protocols: Conducting Research in Western-Wary Iran,” in Innovations in Education (2008), she explores the methodological dilemmas she has confronted in studying this topic. Her work has also appeared in Teacher’s College Record, International Journal of Middle East Studies, and Women’s Studies International Forum. Shavarini is also the coauthor of Women and Education in Iran and Afghanistan: An Annotated Bibliography (with W. R. Robison, 2005) and the author of Educating Immigrants: Experiences of Second Generation Iranians (2004).