What can women in Iran do right now?

It’s horrific to our standards,but their laws and beliefs are different ,except feel sad for them I don’t know what anyone can do outside their country.

It is a horrific situation. If I see any suggestions online of how to help, I will report back.

Women have it tough in this country but I can’t imagine how much worse it is there. That is horrible beyond words as to what they are going through. I just don’t understand how any one (let alone an entire culture) could kill women at all, but for something like that is I can’t find the words

I will say this and hopefully the mods don’t censor it, that is what you get for intertwining religion with politics.
It happened there, and it is happening here with abortion, church and law has to be kept seperate no matter who it pisses off.

I hadn’t seen this.
It’s horrific.
The women of Iran need to show the strength to stand up to this.

Simply because things are pretty awful in a lot of ways for we women in the US, does not mean that we should should not be concerned for our sisters in Iran who are much more intensely oppressed than we are. I would greatly appreciate knowing which international aid groups are working towards the amelioration of their their issues.
If anyone has any good links, please post them.

@filmfann They can’t! That’s the point. They’ve been subjugated for (I would guess) hundreds of years. There are few who will attempt to “stand up for themselves”, and those who do are slaughtered. It’s kinda like telling women who were raped that they should have just said “no”. I can’t believe you said that

What they can do would be heartbreaking for those outside Iran who symphatize with them. Be martyrs in the name of freedom.

They can only hope that the hearts and minds of young Iranians, below 30 years of age, which is also the majority population ( I assume ) follow their lead in demanding change.

My guess is there will be more slaughter than any real cultural change that can take place in Iran. It’s not really new. Men slaughter women to shock and terrorize the rest of them into submission.

^^ God that is so horrible :( Why does this happen? I’m sickened by this stuff, I can’t believe no one can stop this..

^^Only other Iranian women and men can put a stop to it. Do they have enough men in Iran who would stand up against other men who slaughter and who are willing to die to force tradition to modern-day citizens?

@mazingerz88 “Only other Iranian women and men can put a stop to it…”

Are you saying that we can’t engage in regime change military campaigns via bombing that will bring gender equality and happiness to Iran?

@gorillapaws Now we’re talking. What do you think it would take for military and political engagement? Mass martyrdom? Mass murder of non-compliant women?

If you had to guess, what will the goverment do?

@SQUEEKY2 I tend to agree but, humans tend to mix the two historically. A little too late to close that box.

I think there’s a LOT of people who make a LOT of money in the defense sector every time we start dropping bombs. Those people make sure to donate plenty to politicians in both parties. I don’t think any of the politicians who would advocate military intervention in Iran have any concern whatsoever about defending the human rights and lives of Iranian women. It’s just an excuse for the defense stocks to rally.

@gorillapaws Agreed, always good for the economy.

Women and men in those countries who do not agree with it can either move or revolt. Those are their only choices.

I am amazed and awed by the bravery of these protesters. America had several chances
to help the people of Iran and a chance to help the people of Afghanistan. We blew it.

@WhyNow Me too. Up in their faces saying ‘kill us all then’. Very brave.

@WhyNow Feeling heroic about helping Iranians and Afghans? What exactly do you want the US to do to accomplish that?

The protests continue to ramp up. I don’t know what can be done other than for the people of Iran to try and fight the power. Unfortunately repressive regimes like the Iranian government have more tools at their disposal than other governments. They’re already shutting down social media and killing protesters. But this kind of thing can lead to revolution, so I’ll certainly be paying attention to it. I’m interested to see what happens in Russia as well. Putin held off a “mobilization” because he knew it would be unpopular, and it is proving so. Putin’s popularity is a big part of why he’s held onto power 23 years. If he loses that, he might finally be toast. But maybe I’m being too optimistic…

@smudges I disagree. It is easier to discriminate against minorities because their numbers are so much fewer, but with women the numbers are nearly equal. The suffragettes of the early 20th century had no rights, but used their numbers and impact on the life of men to force changes. All they need to do is work together, and be prepared to take abuse, or die, for their cause.

^^

@filmfann Women shouldn’t have to endure abuse or die for their cause! What a barbaric notion and I can’t believe YOU said that. What is wrong with humanity if we have to follow such horrific ideas?!

@filmfann Seems solidarity in majority of Iranian women is non-existent. Heard on the news there was counter protest in support of their morality police and women joined in.

^^^ Women often feel compelled to do things like that, fear of retribution against themselves and especially their children is very strong.

@RayaHope What a barbaric notion…
Not my preference, but it is a barbaric society, and short of an armed intervention, this is the only imaginable solution.
My preference would be for the powers that be in Iran wake up, splash water on their face, and change how things are done.

It’s religious doctrine, and tradition that has been engrained in their society for years and years.

^^ This is all actually not true. Women in Iran were highly educated and fairly free in the 1970s until the Shah was deposed and the Ayatollahs took charge. The repression is fairly recent in historical terms and similar in some ways to what is being attempted here.

^^ That makes this all the worse. I wish someone could save these poor women from those barbarians.

@janbb But you’re leaving out some important details there. The CIA overthrew the democratically elected Mossadegh who wanted to use the immense oil profits to help the Iranian people. BP (the oil company) wanted more profits and the west was worried that Iran would work with the Soviets instead. So the CIA overthrew the leader and installed a dictator who ran a brutal secret police that the CIA helped train. The Iranian people eventually rebelled against the Shaw. And we got the hardcore, oppressive islamic theocracy we see today—also leading to the wars between Iraq and Iran in the 80’s that cost so many lives—which lead to Saddam Hussein, which lead to US bases in Saudi Arabia, which lead to 9/11, which lead to…

Basically if it weren’t for oil and greed, these women would be living normal lives and the Middle East wouldn’t be a nightmare of violence, oppression, and suffering.

@gorillapaws Oh – I knew the US was heavily involved but I didn’t know enough details to include that and it doesn’t change the basic facts.

@janbb I guess my point is that meddling by the US/UK in the internal affairs of other countries was the root cause of the problem. It would follow then that getting involved now could make things worse in violent and unpredictable ways in the future.

@gorillapaws Got it! You’re right.

Many Iranians were optimistic about the revolution, as the Shah was quite oppressive. Unfortunately they came to rue it as few idealists felt that the ayatollahs were much of an improvement; their hopes were quickly dashed.

Thank you @RayaHope and others who helped me out here, whether you meant to or not. I was feeling so many emotions and was so frustrated at the ignorance displayed that I couldn’t put my thoughts into words, so I just ^^ to acknowledge the response I’d gotten.

@gorillapaws Thanks for that info, although it kind of makes me feel even worse for those women, knowing we were, in part, to blame.

@smudges I know what you mean. I had to pause and let my brain cool down just to write what I did. That is such a horrific situation there that I can’t understand it at all.