Women in Place by Nazanin Shahrokni;

Author:Nazanin Shahrokni;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780520973008
Publisher: University of California Press

FIGURE 4. “Wuthering Heights,” the Mothers’ Paradise on Abbas Abad Hills, Tehran. Courtesy of Masoomeh Niloofari.

FIGURE 5. The distribution of women-only parks across Tehran. Courtesy of Mahboobeh Saberi.

By this point the state was totally fragmented insofar as the forces that controlled its different apparatuses were concerned. The administration and Parliament were in the hands of the reformist faction, while the Tehran City Council and Tehran Municipality were in the hands of the conservatives. Thus, although the push for the creation of women-only parks had originally come in 2002 from the reformist-led administration, the Presidential Center for Women’s Affairs and Participation obstructed the municipality’s formation of these parks, due to the reformists’ political rivalry with the conservatives in Tehran’s municipal government and their competing visions about women’s provisions. In her 2009 interview with me, Fereshteh Alimohammadi, the city expert who had prepared the final proposal for the Tehran City Council, claimed that the tensions had nothing to do with the parks per se but were about “who delivers” and “who gets the credit for such provision.” Regardless, by this time both factions within the state had realized that their legitimacy and popularity depended on how well they provided for the population. Alimohammadi’s words echo the words of Reza, one of the male guards at the entrance of the park, whom I interviewed during one of my visits to the Mothers’ Paradise. He said: “Do you think they really care about you [women]? Wishful thinking! All they cared about was to get this board up there that says ‘The Mothers’ Paradise.’” Reza implied that the opening of the park was a mere show to demonstrate that the state treats women well. This cynical but all-too-familiar remark about many of the state’s initiatives points to the Iranian state’s use of women and “women’s rights” as a screen on which to project a positive self-image for Iranians and the rest of the world to see.

In 2004 it was the Tehran City Council, led by the conservatives, that passed a bill permitting the municipality to pursue the creation of women-only parks:

With respect to mothers’ constructive position, their role in the growth of society, their emotional and educational centrality within the family, and their effective role in the process of human cultivation and reduction of social pathologies, and with the aim of boosting their mental and physical capabilities, directing their leisure time, and providing them with appropriate opportunities for healthy entertainment in Tehran, the municipality is obliged to provide and allocate proper spaces in the existing parks. Furthermore, it will design and establish exclusive spaces in Tehran to be called “Mothers’ Parks.” (Tehran City Council, October 5, 2004)

Note the transformation of the official language: women go from being “schoolgirls,” mentioned in the 2002 report by ETO, to being “mothers,” reinforcing the notion that although a woman may have rights and needs as an individual, she may claim them only as a family member. This use of familial language also has an additional effect: it constitutes an attempt by the state to desexualize public space and regulate sexuality in public.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.