Farrokhroo Parsa ( fa, فرخرو پارسا; 24 March 1922 – 8 May 1980) was an Iranian physician, educator, and parliamentarian.
She served as
minister of education under
Amir Abbas Hoveida
Amir-Abbas Hoveyda ( fa, امیرعباس هویدا, Amīr 'Abbās Hoveyda; 18 February 1919 – 7 April 1979) was an Iranian economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Iran from 27 January 1965 to 7 August 1977. He was the l ...
and was the
first female cabinet minister. Parsa was an outspoken supporter of
women's rights in Iran
During the late 20th and early 21st centuries in Iran, women's rights have been severely restricted, compared with those in most developed nations. The World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Iran 140, out of 144 countries, ...
.
Farrokhroo Parsa was executed by firing squad on 8 May 1980 in Tehran,
at the outset of the
Islamic Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution (1980–1983; fa, انقلاب فرهنگی: Enqelābe Farhangi) was a period following the Iranian Revolution, when the academia of Iran was purged of Western and non-Islamic influences (including traditionalist unpoli ...
.
Biography
Farrokhroo Parsa was born on 24 March 1922 in
Qom to
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...
parents Farrokh-Din and Fakhr-e Āfāgh Pārsāy. Her mother, Fakhr-e Āfāgh, was the editor of the women's magazine ''
Jahān-e Zan'',
[.] and a vocal proponent for
gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
and for educational opportunities for women. Her views on this subject met with opposition of the conservative sections of the society of her time, leading to the expulsion of the family by the government of
Ahmad Qavām, from Tehran to Qom, where Fakhr-e Āfāgh was placed under house arrest. It was here that Farrokhroo was born, some minutes past midnight on Iranian New Year's Eve 1922 (
Nowruz
Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...
, 1301
AH).
Later, with the intervention of Prime Minister Hasan
Mostowfi ol-Mamalek, her family was allowed to return to Tehran.
Upon obtaining a medical degree, Parsa became a
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
teacher in
Jeanne d'Arc High School in Tehran. At the school she came to know
Farah Diba
Farah Pahlavi ( fa, فرح پهلوی, née Farah Diba ( fa, فرح دیبا, label=none); born 14 October 1938) is the widow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and was successively Queen and Empress (''Shahbanu'') of Iran from ...
, one of her students at this school, and who would later become wife of
King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
In 1963, Parsa was elected to parliament (the ''
Majles
The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The P ...
''), and began petitioning Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for
suffrage for Iran's women.
She was also a driving force for legislation that amended the existing laws concerning women and family. In 1965 Pārsā was appointed Deputy Minister of Education and on 27 August 1968 she became Minister of Education in the cabinet of the Amir-Abbas Hoveyda.
It was the first time in the history of Iran that a woman occupied a cabinet position.
Following the
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...
, Parsa was arrested and tried by the
Islamic Revolutionary Court
Islamic Revolutionary Court (also Revolutionary Tribunal, ''Dadgahha-e Enqelab''Bakhash, Shaul, ''Reign of the Ayatollahs'', Basic Books, 1984, p.59-61) (Persian language, Persian: دادگاه انقلاب اسلامی) is a special system of cour ...
for allegedly "plundering the national treasury," "causing corruption and spreading prostitution" in the Ministry of Education, "collaborating with
SAVAK" and "dismissing combatant educators from the Ministry of Education," and "being involved in passing anti-people laws". Although Parsa was allowed to make statements in her own defense in the second session of her trial, there was no indication that she was allowed to question those who testified against her, and there is no mention of defense witnesses. Parsa was executed by firing squad on 8 May 1980 in
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
,
[.]
In her last letter from prison, Farrokhroo Parsa wrote to her children: "I am a doctor, so I have no fear of death. Death is only a moment and no more. I am prepared to receive death with open arms rather than live in shame by being forced to be veiled. I am not going to bow to those who expect me to express regret for fifty years of my efforts for equality between men and women. I am not prepared to wear the
chador
A chādor ( Persian, ur, چادر, lit=tent), also variously spelled in English as chadah, chad(d)ar, chader, chud(d)ah, chadur, and naturalized as , is an outer garment or open cloak worn by many women in the Persian-influenced countries of I ...
and step back in history."
Her successor as the Education Minister of Iran,
Manouchehr Ganji another minister before the Islamic revolution, expressed surprise at her execution: she was "a lady,
..octor, a competent physician who entertained good relations at the Ministry with revolutionaries like
Beheshti,
Bahonar, and
Rejaii."
In fact, during her tenure as minister of education, Beheshti,
Bahonar and
Mohammed Mofatteh were on the ministry's payroll. These three were to be major players in the
Islamic Revolution several years later. With her ministry's funding, Beheshti established the
Islamic Center of Hamburg and Bahonar was able to set up a few Islamic public schools around Tehran.
See also
*
Women's rights movement in Iran
The Iranian Women's Rights Movement ( Persian: جنبش زنان ایران), is the social movement for women's rights of the women in Iran. The movement first emerged after the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in 1910, the year in which the ...
*
Women's rights in Iran
During the late 20th and early 21st centuries in Iran, women's rights have been severely restricted, compared with those in most developed nations. The World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Iran 140, out of 144 countries, ...
*
Women in Iran
Throughout history, women in Iran have played numerous roles, and contributed in many ways, to Iranian society. Historically, tradition maintained that women be confined to their homes so that they could manage the household and raise children ...
References
External links
* A photograph o
Farrokhroo Parsa in conversation with Amir-Abbās Hoveydā
* An old photograph of th
young family of Farrokh-Din Pārsā and Fakhr-e Āfāgh Pārsāy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsa, Farrokhroo
1922 births
1980 deaths
Members of the 22nd Iranian Majlis
Iranian women activists
Iranian women's rights activists
Iranian feminists
People executed by Iran by firing squad
Iranian women physicians
Executed Iranian women
Deaths by firearm in Iran
People from Qom
20th-century Iranian women politicians
20th-century Iranian politicians
Rastakhiz Party politicians
Iran Novin Party politicians
Women government ministers of Iran
Politicians executed during the Iranian Revolution
20th-century Iranian physicians
20th-century Iranian women