From this morning's From Our Own Correspondent:
Kate Adie: Has the Ayatollah's revolution in 1979 eventually helped Iranian women rather than hindered them?
The answer from FOOC was 'yes', it has helped them.
Here's how Kate Adie introduced the report:
Now, the West tends to view the Khomenei Revolution in Iran in a negative light. It blames his regime for giving birth to an oppressive and conservative clerical rule which even today tolerates no opposition and not much more in the way of free speech. And yet could it be that history will judge him differently? Quite apart from overthrowing the corrupt and brutal regime of the Shah, the revolution introduced education reforms which have been of particular benefit to women. Amy Guttman's been underground in the Iranian capital to see what can be learned about the lot of women in Iran today.
And here's how the BBC publicised it on Twitter:
Did the #Ayatollah's revolution give women of #Iran careers and the men the freedom to do the washing-up? @amyguttman1's been investigating
— BBCFooC (@BBCFooC) February 28, 2015
Again, the answer from FOOC was 'yes'.
There is some truth to this, in the sense that the Iranian Ayatollahs have a more progressive attitude to women's education and ability to pursue a career than the oppressive Sunni Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But there is equally no doubt that if the Shah's governmental system had been allowed to continue to develop towards democracy, women would be in a better position in Iran today.
ReplyDeleteAnd does anyone seriously believe there is no corruption under the Ayatollahs?