Other Suffrage Movements
Japanese Suffrage Movement
- The Meiji Restoration brought westernization and industrialization to Japan, but also led to the severe restriction of women's rights. The role of wife and mother became the only acceptable role for women. The Law on Assembly and Political Association passed in 1890 completely excluded women from participating in politics.
- The Women's Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1886 by Yajima Kajiko, fought against prostitution and concubinage. Its branch in Osaka was the first women's organization to demand suffrage for women.
- The Bluestocking Society (Seitousha) was founded in 1911 by Hiratsuka Raicho. It was initially a collective journal for feminist writers. Works from Swedish, American, and British feminists were translated to be included in the journal. The society consisted of about 300 members, but the journal was read by thousands of Japanese women. The Bluestocking Journal was one of the first public rejections of male leadership in Japan.
- In 1919, Hiratsuka Raicho (of the Bluestocking Society) and Fusae Ichikawa founded the New Women's Society. The group had some legislative success, such as the 1921 law in which women attained the right to attend political meetings. Soon after, the group disbanded.
- In 1924 the Women's Suffrage League was founded by Fusae Ichikawa. She believed it was necessary for there to be a single purpose organization dedicated to women's suffrage. The group had about 2,000 members.
- In 1931 a bill was proposed in the Diet granting local women's suffrage. The bill passed through the lower level of the Diet, the House of Commons, but was overwhelmingly defeated in the upper level, the House of Peers.
- After their loss in World War II, the United States occupied Japan in order to reform the government into a democracy. In 1946, during the Allied occupation, the Diet constructed a new constitution in which women were given the right to vote. The United States takes credit for Japanese suffrage, but this discredits all of the amazing women who fought for their rights.
- The New Japan's Women's Association was founded in 1962 to try to eliminate the discrimination of women. Japan still has a long way to go until they achieve equality. In the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index, Japan ranked 98th out of 130 countries, making them the lowest ranked first world country.
Akiko Yosano was born on December 7, 1878 with the name Yosano Shiyo. She was an author, poet, feminist, pacifist, and social reformer. Her poetry challenged women's role in Japan as obedient wives and mothers. Her poems showed women who were lively, sensual, and assertive. Her poems portrayed women that were in control of their own body and sexuality, instead of being possessed by men. She became a member of the Bluestocking Society and drew attention to the topics of equality of women in marriage, women's roles in labor, and women's maternal role. Her work was very influential in the formation of the Japanese feminist movement.
Fusae Ichikawa was born on May 15, 1893. When she was a young woman she rebelled against her father because of the abusive way he treated women and moved to Tokyo. In 1919 she founded the New Women's Society, which was successful in gaining women the right to attend political meetings in 1921. Inspired by the American suffrage movement, she founded the Women's Suffrage League in 1924. In 1953, Ichikawa was elected as a member of parliament and served on the parliament until 1971. In 1962 she founded the New Japan's Women's Association with the goals of working towards better living conditions, women's rights, peace, and international solidarity. She received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community service. She passed away on February 11, 1981 at the age of 87.
Iranian Women's Movement
- In the years 1925-1979, Iranian women made huge strides towards gaining rights.
- In 1956 the New Path Society was founded by Mehrangiz Dowlatshahi. The members of the group were all in close relations with the ruling class and they worked from "within the system" in order to help women gain rights, including suffrage. They were not a militant group, their main tactic was lobbying. Soon, free education was open to both men and women. Women had the right to divorce their husbands and have custody of their children under the Family Protection Law. The marriage age was raised to 18 for women and polygamy was restricted.
- In 1956 the Women's League of Supporters of the Declaration of Human Rights was founded by Safeih Firouz. They sought equal political rights for women. After making their case with the shah, he offered three seats in the municipal council to the women but then revoked his offer in fear of how traditionalists would react.
- In 1959 the sister of the shah, Ashraf Pahlavi, condensed 17 women's organizations into the High Council of Women's Organizations of Iran.
- In 1963 women gained the right to vote and run for parliament as a part of the White Revolution. The White Revolution was not actually a revolution, but rather a series of reforms that the Shah put forward for the betterment of Iran.
- In 1979 a revolution was held opposing the king of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah. The leader of the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, declared Iran an Islamic Republic and wrote a new constitution, making himself supreme spiritual leader. This new government focused on traditional Islamic principles and completely stripped women of all of their rights.
- Women were now banned from participating in government. The Family Protection Law was taken away, taking away women's rights of divorce and child custody. Restrictions on polygamy were removed and the marriage age was lowered to 9. The Islamic Dress Code was enforced for all females.
- In 1981 The Islamic Law of Retribution introduced flogging, stoning, and payment of blood money as punishments to women's crimes such as adultery and violating the dress code.
- The Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988 pulled women into the workforce as doctors and nurses, giving them more financial influence in the household.
- In 1989 President Rafsanjani was elected into office. He made minor changes to the harsh social controls on women. During his presidency, the number of women in universities greatly increased and he launched a family planning program.
- In 1979 a revolution was held opposing the king of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah. The leader of the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, declared Iran an Islamic Republic and wrote a new constitution, making himself supreme spiritual leader. This new government focused on traditional Islamic principles and completely stripped women of all of their rights.
- Women were now banned from participating in government. The Family Protection Law was taken away, taking away women's rights of divorce and child custody. Restrictions on polygamy were removed and the marriage age was lowered to 9. The Islamic Dress Code was enforced for all females.
- In 1981 The Islamic Law of Retribution introduced flogging, stoning, and payment of blood money as punishments to women's crimes such as adultery and violating the dress code.
- The Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988 pulled women into the workforce as doctors and nurses, giving them more financial influence in the household.
- In 1989 President Rafsanjani was elected into office. He made minor changes to the harsh social controls on women. During his presidency, the number of women in universities greatly increased and he launched a family planning program.
- The first issue of Zanan Magazine was published in 1992 and Iran's first magazine that focused on women's issues since the 1979 revolution. The magazine celebrated Iranian women and had articles on health, parenting, legal issues, literature, and women's achievements. It also covered controversial topics such as abuse and sexual issues. The magazine argued that Islamic literature was misinterpreted and that according to Islamic law women were to be treated as equals to men. The magazine was shut down by the government in 2008.
- With the election of President Ahmadinejad in 2005, the minor improvements in women's status were wiped away. The number of women in government decreased to almost none. Women were once again viewed solely as wives and mothers. He stayed silent on huge issues facing women such as rape and torture.
Mehrangiz Dowlatshahi was born in 1919 to a wealthy political family. Her father worked as chief protocol to Reza Shah and believed in equality between men and women. As a teenager, during a time in Iran when women were required to wear veils in public, she would walk in public wearing only a hat on her head. She was educated in Germany, studying communication and sociology. During her journey home to Iran, she survived the 48 hour bombing of Dresden in WWII (which was the greatest loss of life in one day in WWII). She was the first woman to join the Democratic Party in Iran and many say she was the first woman to become active in any political party in Iran. She further continued her education and earned her doctoral degree in 1953. She began to work for the American aid organization Point Four, dealing with "Women's Activities". Shortly after, she helped found the women's organization called Society for a New Way, which was "dedicated to teaching women about the rights and responsibilities of full membership in society." She was one of the first women to be elected to the Iranian Parliament.
Shahla Sherkat was born on March 30, 1956. She has been working as a journalist since 1979, beginning her career with a government owned women's magazine. In 1992 she founded the women's magazine Zanan. Zanan was one of the only published works in Iran that spread the ideas of feminism and made them accessible to women. She worked as the magazine's editorial director until it was shut down in 2008. Her offices were attacked several times by Islamic-traditionalist gangs and she was threatened with arrest several times due to the content of the magazine. In 2005 she won both the International Women's Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award and the Louis Lyons Award from The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Even though women do have the right to vote in Iran, they are nowhere near equals. In 2009, 42 women ran for presidency and all of them were disqualified by Iran's Guardian Council. Many reformers have been disqualified from running for government positions. Female protesters have been publicly stoned, beaten, and murdered for standing up for their human rights. The video to the right shows the harsh treatment of women in modern day Iran and compares it to the South African Apartheid. The video mentions these women as mothers, sisters, and daughters. But they're more than that. These women are humans. And no human being, regardless of gender, deserves to be treated like this.
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