For generations, women’s rights have been restricted in Iran. As recent political tensions have grown, so have the restrictions. Women’s current protests are a century in the making. Can we call this a feminist revolution?
“Back in 2011, I was on the phone with my grandmother in Tehran,” says Dr. Sara Hassani, assistant professor of political science and women’s and gender studies at Providence College. “She told me about an effort she and her friends were partaking in for girls who survived their self-immolations”—the act of setting oneself on fire.