Working with the Lights Off

Iranian Women, Equality-Seeking, and Anti-Feminist Backlash

Authors

• Zahra Edalati doctoral researcher https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8812-1928

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.160936

Keywords:

Iranian Muslim women’s rights activists, equality-seekers , patriarchy, lights-off strategy, self-disavowing feminist

Abstract

This paper examines how a group of women’s rights activists in Iran who identify as Muslim represented themselves prior to the emergence of the 2022 Mahsa Movement, and why they were reluctant to adopt the labels ‘feminist’ or ‘Islamic feminist’. Drawing on 11 in-depth interviews conducted between 2018 and 2022, this qualitative study highlights the strategies these women employ to resist patriarchy and respond to the negative connotations associated with the term ‘feminism’. The paper argues that the demand for gender equality serves as a central objective of the activism of these women’s rights activists. The study’s findings show that the term ‘equality-seekers’ offers a more accurate and representative description of these women. Moreover, the article contends that strategies such as ‘working with the lights-off’ and ‘bargaining with patriarchy’ have effectively raised public awareness about gender-based discrimination in Iran. The Mahsa movement stands as a prominent example of the success of these strategies, demonstrating how years of gradual gender consciousness-raising and capacity building ultimately paved the way for the emergence of a widespread resistance movement led by young women and girls.