illustratedwomeninhistory:Shahla Sherkat is a journalist, prominent Persian feminist author, and one

illustratedwomeninhistory:Shahla Sherkat is a journalist, prominent Persian feminist author, and one of the pioneers of the Women’s rights movement in Iran.Sherkat was born in 1956 in Isfahan, Iran. When she was 11, her family moved to Tehran. After finishing school, Sherkat continued her education at Tehran University where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in clinical psychology. She then attended Allameh Tabatabaei University, where she received a Master’s degree in women’s studies. She then began a career in journalism, working as a reporter and assistant editor for Rah-e Zeinab (Zeinab’s Path), a weekly government-owned magazine from 1979 - 1980. She then worked in the publishing department for Kanoon-e Parvaresh Fekri, a production company for a year.At the age of 25, Sherkat became editor-in-chief of Zan-e Emrooz (Today’s Woman). The magazine had been a hugely successful women’s magazine before the Islamic Revolution, but the government had taken full control of it after the Islamic Republic was in power. Sherkat pushed the magazine to become more feminist during her decade-long leadership, and in 1987 was summoned to court when she published a story about a girl who was beaten and arrested for not covering her hair. Sherkat’s constant pushing of boundaries eventually led to the magazine’s closure.In 1992, Sherkat launched her magazine Zanan (Women). It was the first independent journal to focus on women’s issues after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Sherkat covered topics that Iranian society considers taboo, including divorce law, prostitution, HIV/AIDS, domestic abuse and maternal custody issues. During the early and mid-1990’s, the Zanan offices were attacked by fundamentalist gangs who felt that Sherkat was trying to speak out against the government. The police refused to prosecute the attackers, and they were forced to hid the Zanan headquarters at street level to protect them from further violence. Sherkat was frequently summoned to Iran’s Press Court for her magazine’s content, including articles by 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, women’s rights lawyer Mehrangiz Kar and Islamic cleric Mohsen Saidzadeh on the topics of Islamic law and women. In 2001, Sherkat was sentenced to four months in prison by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court for attending a conference entitled “The Future of Reform in Iran” conference, on the basis that her presence there was harmful to national security. She appealed and was given a fine instead.In 2005, Sherkat was awarded The Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) and the Louis Lyons Award from The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Two years later, her magazine was shut down by the Press Supervisory Board for “presenting a pessimistic picture of the situation for Iranian women” and publishing “morally questionable information.”In 2013, Hassan Rouhani was elected as President and Sherkat was granted a permit to publish a new monthly magazine called Zanan-Emrooz (Women of Today), with the first issue being published in May 2014. Despite the fact that many felt that this heralded hope for women activists and the freedom of the media under Hassan, the magazine was forced to end publication in 2015. Sherkat was accused of working “on feminist issues with groups opposed to the Islamic establishment” and that “because of the influence from feminist movements in the West, religion is being cited as one of the obstacles to the achievement of women’s rights.” It was ordered to close by Iran’s Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance after the publication of a series of articles on “white” or common-law marriage, a subject that is considered taboo. Sources here, here, here and hereShahla Sherkat was suggested by @cartwheelingthroughthepages -- source link
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