As a sociologist and a native of Iran, Professor Mahnaz Kousha finds Iranian women today contradicting the stereotypes about their roles in society since the revolution

Professor Mahnaz Kousha: "Being Iranian is a difficult identity to live with here." GREG HELGESON

In 1978 a young graphic artist named Mahnaz Kousha left Tehran for the University of Kentucky to pursue a master's degree in art education. Within months, there was revolution in Iran. It would be 13 years before Kousha returned to her homeland and family. Seeking to understand the how and why of the Islamic revolution, she turned to sociology, earning her Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky.

Now a Macalester professor of sociology, Kousha teaches a variety of classes including "Sociology of Race and Ethnicity," "Images of Women in the Middle East" and "Family Bonds." She is co-founder of the journal Critique: Critical Studies of the Middle East, and co-organizer of the annual conference "Life and Politics in the Middle East."

Many of her family remain in Iran, so Kousha knows life there as it exists beneath the radar of politics and media. She is the author of Voices from Iran: The Changing Lives of Iranian Women (Syracuse University Press), which is based on her interviews with 15 Iranian women. Jan Shaw-Flamm '76 spoke with Kousha for some insight into the lives of Iranian women more than 25 years after the revolution.

What are the most common concerns or struggles of women in Iran?

Economic independence, unequal wages and the glass ceiling are issues in Iran, just as they are in the U.S. Women get hired on an equal basis, but they may experience the glass ceiling in terms of promotions or other opportunities. Now, more than 50 percent of those admitted to the universities in Iran are female. With education comes a job, and a job brings some economic independence. However, not all educated women are going to work because of high unemployment. Some will work for a while and then they marry and have children, but things are changing.

Women also experience social or legal restrictions. Some of these problems have religious roots like unequal inheritance laws--women inherit half of what men receive, with the rationale being that they are not responsible for providing for their families. Other problems may be due to social and cultural factors. Sometimes it's very difficult to separate the causes of these problems.

What about life is harder or easier for women since the Islamic revolution of 1978-79?

The revolution turned the country upside down. It pushed some women home and pulled some women out of the home. The secular middle class experienced shock, but the women who returned home had the social capital to think things over and determine how to become a part of the larger society.

But if you look at the more religious people from a poorer background, doors opened for them. Education and job opportunities for women from traditional families opened up. After the revolution, fathers might say, "Before I did not want my daughter to work, but now it is an Islamic country. So it is OK if my daughter works." Also, women were needed to provide services for other women: female doctors, tailors and teachers. The government was a major employer and working for the government was viewed as safe; there would be no harassment.

After the revolution, many employed women went back home, but the eight-year war [with Iraq, 1980-88], as in World War II and every war, created demand for women's labor.

How did educated women use their "social capital"?

In middle-class and upper-middle-class families, women began doing things on the side. They opened businesses such as publishing companies, restaurants, bakeries, private medical offices, tailor shops and hair salons. There are women artists, movie directors and graphic designers. Some took up writing novels or translating books. They started entering new areas of the labor market and encouraging their daughters to pursue higher education.

How available is contraception for women? Divorce?

At the beginning of the revolution there was a big controversy about contraception. However, with the consequent population explosion, using contraception became OK. Now contraception is easily available. Things have been changing constantly since the revolution.

The divorce rate in Tehran is about 10 to 11 percent, and family courts and judges have become much kinder to women, making divorce easier to obtain. Mothers can retain custody of their daughters up to age 7 and age 2 for sons. After that they go live with their father, because the logic is that the father can provide better for the children. But not everybody who is in a bad relationship goes through divorce because many women do not want to lose custody of their children.

When you go back to Iran, do you wear the veil?

American friends who have been to Iran say, "You shouldn't use the word 'veil.' Your veil is different." When I go to Iran, I wear a scarf. The uniform women wear is like a raincoat; the Farsi word is "roopoosh" I often hear people say that veiled women are victims, that they have no power; that's the wrong conclusion. You can be unveiled and be a victim; you can be unveiled and feel oppressed by marital hardship or economic and legal systems. There are very strong veiled women.

Then how important is the issue of veiling or covering yourself?

The veil is important because it is the law of the country. Women, both Iranians and other nationalities, cannot enter Iran without a veil. How much of an issue it is depends on whom you are talking to. You find women challenging the veil, the scarf, in very creative ways. Showing a strand of hair is considered an oppositional act. At the beginning of the revolution, the roopoosh was very long and loose. Now it is tighter and shorter; the style, colors and textures change. If you wear a roopoosh from three years ago, everyone knows that you are not keeping up with today's fashion.

I compare it to Minnesota. When winter comes, I wear my heavy coat, my gloves, my boots and my hat. Do I dare go out of my house in the winter without that? No, for five months of the year, I wear my heavy clothes. Here I abide by the law of nature. Over there, it is the law of the government. However, many challenge this law on a regular basis.

Many American women feel sorry for Iranian women living under the restrictions they experience. Are there things that make Iranian women feel sorry for American women?

Overall, most people don't know how American women live their lives. Those who have satellite access may envy the freedom that American women have, their legal rights like easy child custody and alimony. What they know of American women's lives comes from the media and Hollywood and that's a distorted image of the real life women lead in this country.

In the 1970s many Iranians came to the U.S. for higher education. Does that still happen?

Many people want to leave the country for higher education, but coming to the U.S. is almost impossible. Only the very brightest students, the cream of the crop, can get a visa. It's easier now to go to other countries, for example, India. There is no U.S. embassy in Iran. Just to apply for a visa you must go to another country, to China or Turkey, to find out if you can come.

What is it like now, to be Iranian in the U.S.?

Being Iranian is a difficult identity to live with here. We have had 20-some years of continual crisis in the Middle East. Terrorism, war, et cetera. You want to say, "Not all Middle Easterners are like that." You hope things will calm down. When I go to Tehran, I see people going to work, going to parties, living their everyday lives, but you don't see that in the American media. Many people are victims of the politics between the two countries. After the fall of Communism, the Middle East came to be seen as the problematic part of the world. This is not fair either to millions of people in the Middle East or to Americans.

What are you working on these days?

A friend and I are translating a [best-selling] novel by Fariba Vafi, called My Bird in English. We met her when we were in Iran. We would like to translate her book because there is a need to hear young voices, to see how young writers portray their lives and their problems.