Sediqeh Dowlatabadi

Dowlatabadi was born in 1882 in Isfahan.^[2] Her father was Hadi Dowlatabadi and her mother was Khatameh Begum.^[3] Her father was a progressive religious jurist and allowed Dowlatabadi to begin her education in Persian and Arabic in Tehran.^[2] She then continued her secondary education at the Dar-ol-Fonoun Academy.^[2] Aged 15, she married Etezad al-Hakma, but they divorced because Dowlatabadi was infertile.^[1]

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Dowlatabadi believed that the only route for the advancement of women was through their education.^[4] In 1917, she founded one of the first girls' primary schools, called Umm Al- Madaris (Mother of Schools).^[1] The school was closed after objections from religious conservatives and Dowlatabadi was beaten and detained for three months as a result.^[5]

In order to educate, she recognised that women needed news and articles that addressed their issues and concerns. This led her to establish the first women's gazette in Isfahan called Zaban-e Zanan in 1919.^[6] This was the third women's newspaper to be published in Iran, and ran for 57 issues until 1921.^[6] It was notable for its progressive stance and the outspoken nature of its articles on women's rights.^[6] In her first editorial in it she pronounced that paper wanted to challenge the "backwardness and feeble-mindedness" of women's rights in the city.^[7] She also established the Women's Association of Isfahan at this time.^[8]

When the Second Eastern Women's Congress was arranged in Tehran in 1932, Princess Shams Pahlavi served as its president and Dowlatabadi as its secretary.^[9]

Dowlatabadi was an opponent of British involvement in Iran.^[3] Together with other like-minded women, she expressed her opposition to the agreement by boycotting imported goods and going to coffee shops and encouraging them not to use foreign sugar.^[3]

From 1925, there was a debate within the intellectual community, newspapers and women's magazines in Iran about the unveiling of women and whether it could act as a modernizing force in the country and increase women's participation in society.^[10] During the late 1920s and 1930s there were rumours that the government planned to introduce a policy of compulsory unveiling (the reform, known as Kashf-e hijab, was promulgated in 1936).^[9] Dowlatabadi was an outspoken advocate for the unveiling of women.^[2] However this led to threats against her life.^[7]

In 1926 she attended the International Alliance of Women's Conference in Paris and on her return wore European clothes and refused to wear a veil.^[11] She is believed to have been the first woman to have done so,^[9] appearing in public in 1928 completely unveilied.^[12] Another advocate for unveiling was Khadijeh Afzal Vaziri, who campaigned for change in fashion alongside Dowlatabadi.^[13] When Reza Shah banned the veil in 1936, Dowlatabadi was an active supporter of the reform, and engaged in the new women's committee Kanoun-e-Banovan (Ladies Society) formed by the government.^[8] The committee was led by the Shah's daughter, Princess Shams, to unite women organisations and prepare women for unveiling.^[9]

By 1941, Dowlatabadi was Director of the Women's Centre, however the organisation had little autonomy - for example they needed permission from the Ministry of Education to organise a commemoration of the poet Parvin Etesami.^[14]

Dowlatabadi died on 27 August 1961 at the age of 80 in Tehran.^[15] She had been ill with cancer.^[3] She was buried next to her brother in the Imamzadeh Ismail Cemetery in Zargandeh, however during the 1979 Iranian Revolution her tomb was damaged and her remains desecrated.^[15]

Some of Dowlatabadi's archive is kept at the World Foundation for Social Research in Amsterdam.^[16] Part of this archive was exhibited in February 2016 at an exhibition on the background of the women's movement.^[16]