Shirin146;s Prize

The Nobel committee in Oslo is given to treating its citations for the peace prize as political statements. This year8217;s honour to Shiri...

The Nobel committee in Oslo is given to treating its citations for the peace prize as political statements. This year8217;s honour to Shirin Ebadi, a crusader for civil liberties in Iran, is no different. But in sharp contrast to some rather ludicrous choices in recent times, Ebadi8217;s invitation to Norway trains the spotlight on a little documented, though tremendously significant, movement for reform. The struggle for women8217;s rights in Iran is the central battleground in the tussle between the country8217;s orthodox mullahs and a band of moderate politicians. It is also emblematic of a wider unease in the Islamic world 8212; between the fundamentalists and reformists. Just as the Iranian revolution of 1979 set the stage for a more theocratic and dictatorial West Asia, the current bid for reform in Iran could mobilise the silent majority in many Arab countries.

When the Ayatollah and his men swept to power 24 years ago, one of their first priorities was herding women into chadors. Women could not leave the country without a man8217;s permission, their testimony in court was deemed to be only worth half a man8217;s. Strictures were announced on how a woman must be veiled, who she may associate with, and which professions she may pursue. It was, for instance, decreed that women may not serve on the bench 8212; and Ebadi, one of the first women to be appointed a judge in Iran 8212; lost her job. It is dangerous to dwell on hierarchies of victimhood in a totalitarian regime, but it would be fair to say that the status of Iranian women is as good an indicator as any of the country8217;s transition to democracy.

And this transition can be seen in so many ways. In Iran8217;s reformist president, Mohammad Khatami8217;s hesitant efforts to instal women in positions of some power. In the persistence of activists like Ebadi to track human rights violations. And as Azar Nafisi demonstrated so poignantly in her 2003 memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, in everyday attempts to reclaim the private from public intrusions, perhaps the biggest struggle in totalitarian societies 8212; by reclaiming their imagination and sense of irony. In these times of black-and-white 8216;8216;axis of evil8217;8217; formulations, Ebadi8217;s honour must serve as a reminder of the complexities in a civilisational society like Iran8217;s.