The fight for women’s rights in Iran is a global fight (Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe cuts her hair in protest over death of Mahsa Amini, 28 September). Women tend to be at the forefront of movements for political change. They are the last to get rights and the first to have them taken away, as we are seeing in the US.
The Iranian revolution started in many quarters as a women’s movement before it was hijacked by other concerns – which is not so different from the #MeToo movement and, to an extent, Black Lives Matter. Hopefully, like those movements, things won’t fizzle out before effecting serious, lasting change for the actors who have worked hard to bring it about.
It is important for us not to view Iran as an isolated entity, and to know that it is interacting with and reacting to political movements around the world, such as the US women who are fighting for their reproductive rights. These women’s movements embolden Iranian women and give them hope, just as their fight should energise ours.
To support women’s movements around the world, we must protect the rights of women in our own neighbourhood. It is the only way to send a strong message of support for women. Otherwise, we are in no position to criticise a religious state that is trying to control women’s bodies. Sound familiar?
Roxanne Varzi
Irvine, California, US
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