海角大神

First there was popular outrage in Iran over the sentence handed down to a farmer who killed his own 14-year-old daughter, Romina, in a so-called honor killing.

Last month the father was sentenced to just nine years imprisonment for the murder, despite calls from even hidebound Iranian conservatives聽for 鈥渟evere鈥� punishment.

Then popular anger was stoked again when third grade math books were handed out in classrooms this month. The cover image had been modified 鈥撀爎emoving two girls but leaving three boys 鈥� because from an 鈥渁esthetic and psychological point of view,鈥� the Ministry of Education said in a statement, the scene was 鈥渙vercrowded.鈥�

The two episodes have shone fresh light on systematic gender discrimination in Iran, and the popular outcry has forced change on the ruling elite.

They are the latest incidents in the constant tug of war over the role of women in Iranian society. Ever since the 1979 revolution, it has pitted a traditional patriarchal Islamic system bent on imposing control and restrictions on women 鈥� such as one-sided divorce laws and the mandatory wearing of a聽hijab聽head covering 鈥� against increasingly powerful demands by women for equal rights and recognition.

Demand for accountability

鈥淭here is an emerging and fast-growing trend among different layers of the Iranian public to demand answers and accountability,鈥� says an Iranian sociologist, a lecturer at a university in Tehran who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issues.

The lenient court ruling in Romina鈥檚 case was widely denounced as a case study in women鈥檚 inequality and the diminished value of girls. By contrast, a woman was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for removing her headscarf in public.

鈥淩omina鈥檚 father picked up the sickle in full consciousness and beheaded his teenage daughter, because he was aware of the anti-women laws of this country,鈥� fumed female journalist Niloufar Hamedi on Twitter. The father had checked with a lawyer before the murder, to be sure he would avoid the death penalty.

In the case of the math textbook, parents saw a government ploy to literally render girls invisible. They forced the education minister to apologize and launched a campaign to put new covers on the books that often include an image of the late Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, who in 2014 became the only woman ever to win the prestigious Fields Medal, the math equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

鈥淭he wrath against the [honor killing] verdict has not been exclusive to elites, intellectuals, and women鈥檚 rights activists,鈥� says the university sociology lecturer. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been more far-reaching and has been expressed even by conservative-minded people.鈥�

Popular anger over the gruesome murder in May of Romina, a schoolgirl who ran away from home with her older boyfriend, led the Iranian parliament to approve measures criminalizing child abuse and neglect, now called 鈥淩omina鈥檚 law,鈥� that had been stalled for 11 years.

Another law that would criminalize sexual and physical abuse of women, first written 10 years ago, is also moving forward, albeit slowly.

Parents get book recovered

The textbook cover change has prompted many parents to seek to hide the offending image. When the father of a third grader visited a stationery shop in Tehran recently, the owner offered him three different images of Ms. Mirzakhani 鈥� the math medal winner who taught at Stanford University.

鈥淚 have had eight customers today with different photos of Maryam, asking me to print them on the cover. Who are these sick people [officials behind the removal]?鈥� he wondered. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 even tolerate pictures of two little girls in hijab?鈥�

In mid-September, the uproar prompted the minister of education, Mohsen Haji Mirzaee, to issue a formal apology, saying there was 鈥渢astelessness behind such a decision.鈥�

He also praised Iran鈥檚 support for female education: 鈥淭he old-time discrimination that characterized women鈥檚 access to education has been entirely abolished,鈥� he said. 鈥淭oday, no girl is deprived of education in any spot in this country.鈥�

Achievement and hurdles

Indeed, Iran is renowned for the most widely and highly educated female population in the region. Women fill 60% of the country鈥檚 university places. Despite challenges, Iranian women from Iran have been ministers, lawmakers, professors, lawyers, firefighters, and even an聽astronaut and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

But the controversy has exposed again how Iranian textbooks are slanted toward masculine names and images, with one former official recently putting the figure at 70% in favor of boys.

Research into the 鈥渞ole and status of women鈥� in Persian textbooks by the state-funded Center for Cultural Studies and Research in Humanities found in 2007 that only 16% of 3,029 names used were female, only 37 women were among the 782 prominent figures mentioned in lessons, and only one woman was listed among 122 notable personalities.

Agreeing that the cover 鈥渟hould not have been changed,鈥� the deputy minister of education whose bureau is responsible for the math book, Hassan Maleki, demands that critics 鈥渟hould be fair.鈥�

鈥淲hy don鈥檛 they see the cover on the science book for the same grade?鈥� he asks. 鈥淭he kids on that book are all girls. This indicates that there is no negative approach toward girls,鈥� he argues.

The covers of most school textbooks in Iran show either boys or girls, but not both. This seeks 鈥渢o institutionalize gender segregation among children and to indirectly teach them the very concept from such very early stages,鈥� worries the Tehran sociologist.

For her part, the cover designer, Nasim Bahary, says she was surprised by the Education Ministry鈥檚 move, because she thought she had already complied with 鈥渕ultiple censorship orders鈥� imposed in 2013 that led to the previous cover design showing both girls and boys.

But it was no surprise to Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, one of the student leaders of the 1979 U.S. Embassy seizure in Tehran, who today is a reformist politician.

鈥淭he policy of elimination [of women] and gender segregation has hit rock bottom,鈥� he said in an Instagram post. He urged his daughter to 鈥減aste the photo of Mirzakhani on the cover of the book and take pride in being a girl.鈥�

An Iranian researcher contributed to this report.