Hajar Tarbiat ( fa, هاجر تربیت, 1906 – 1974) was an Iranian women's rights activist and politician. In 1963 she was one of the first group of women elected to the National Consultative Assembly. Eight years later, she also became the first woman elected to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Biography

Tarbiat was born in 1906 in Istanbul, where her father Hossein Gholi Tarbiat worked in the Persian embassy. After completing her secondary education, she also began working at the embassy. While living in Istanbul, she met

Mahammad Ali Tarbiat Mohammad Ali Tarbiat ( fa, محمدعلی تربیت ; born May 26, 1877 — died January 17, 1940) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician and reformist. He founded the Tarbiat library which was the first library in Iran. Tarbiat was a writer ac ...

, who she married. The couple moved to Persia, where Tarbiat became head of a school in Tabriz. In 1935 she established the Women's Centre in Tehran, supporting the Kashf-e hijab reform against compulsory hijab (veiling). In 1943 she was amongst the co-founders of the Women's Party.Women's Centre
Foundation for Iranian Studies After the Shah ordered foreign schools to be run by Iranians, she became head of the American Noorbakhsh High School. She later worked as a schools inspector, headed the Tehran Teacher Training College and served as director-general of the Department of Social Affairs of the Ministry of Interior.Mehri Bharier (1978
Forugh Farrokhzad: Persian poetness and feminist
/ref> Women were granted the right to vote in 1963, and in the

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

that year, Tarbiat was one of six women elected to the National Consultative Assembly.Lois Beck & Guity Nashat (2004
''Women in Iran from 1800 to the Islamic Republic''
p114 She was re-elected in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

. In the 1971 elections she was elected to the Senate, the first female Senator to be elected (the previous female Senators had been appointed). She died in 1974.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarbiat, Hajar 1906 births Iranian educators Iranian women educators Iranian civil servants Iranian women civil servants 20th-century Iranian women politicians 20th-century Iranian politicians Deputies of Tehran for National Consultative Assembly Members of the 21st Iranian Majlis Members of the 22nd Iranian Majlis Members of the Senate of Iran 1974 deaths Iranian expatriates in the Ottoman Empire Politicians from Istanbul Politicians from Tabriz