A mass meeting held at the Ministry of Justice on 10 March produced the following resolution:
“Considering that human beings are both free and the gift of freedom belongs equally to all regardless of sex, colour, race, language and belief;
Considering that women form half the population of Iran and that the contribution of this half to the education of the future generations as well as to social, cultural, political and economic life is undeniable;
Considering the selfless participation of Iranian women in the struggle against imperialism and dictatorship was an important contribution to the Iranian Revolution and that their role in the victory of the Revolution is admitted by all strata that made the Revolution;
Considering that during the difficult and critical days of this country, women participated in struggles and sacrifices that were approved by the leader of the revolution; and that the messages, interviews, and statements that the leader issued all testify to the promise of freedom, equality and enjoyment of all political and social rights by women, and that the leader had explicitly pointed out that he does not intend of revert back to conditions of 1400 years ago;
We Iranian women, now declare our demands in the form of this resolution:
1) We women, who, shoulder to shoulder with men, perform our social duties towards the country and educate the future generation at home are quite competent and perfectly capable of preserving our character and honour. We believe strongly in the preservation of a woman’s character but that a woman’s honour does not reflect itself in any particular form of clothing, and that the common clothing of women should be left to themselves, taking into account the exigencies of custom and society;
2) Equal civil rights with men should be recognised and all discrimination in law, particularly family law, should be abolished;
3) Political, social and economic rights of women should be guaranteed with no discrimination;
4) Complete security of women to enjoy their rights and legal liberties should be guaranteed;
5) True enjoyment of fundamental liberties, freedom of the pen, of speech, of belief, of employment, of association must be guaranteed for all men and women;
6) All existing inequalities in the current laws of the country, including those in the employment and labour laws, should be abolished;
7) Current occupational positions of women must be safeguarded;
8) While approving the government decision to keep the Family Protection Laws, we demand the inadequacies of the current law be removed in favour of guaranteeing women’s rights.
We ask of the provisional government of prime minister Bazargan to declare its views on our demands.” (Tabari and Yeganeh)
