صلح AND FEMINISM

In the 8th of March parade, there were so many slogans, I couldn’t decide behind which one to walk. Going through the parade, I suddenly found myself among a group of Iranians protesting against the Sharia laws. They shouted “yes to freedom!” and “no to dictatorship!” and “down with the Iranian Islamist regime!” and also a lot of Persian words I didn’t understand. However, I figured this was  something I could support. I was probably looking a bit out of context, being the only one with no connection to Iran. Nevertheless, it is an important struggle to support.

I’m not saying we don’t have causes to fight when it comes to womens’ rights in Norway. We do. There is still an unacceptable difference between the salaries of an average man and an average woman. We say that we have achieved gender equality, but women still do more housework than men. There are still too many girls suffering from bad self confidence and eating disorders, as a result of our society’s unhealthy image of what is beautiful and what is not.

However, although we have many challenges left, none of the problems above can compare to the condition of women in Iran. We discussed the Iranian history and women's condition today. Then I learned how to say “peace” in Farsi.

Āzādī! Āzādī! Āzāāā-dīī!