Khadijeh Afzal Vaziri ( fa, خدیجه افضل وزیری) (1889 – 3 January 1981) was a

women's rights activist Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. She campaigned against the enforced wearing of the chador and supported the

Kashf-e hijab On 8 January 1936, Reza Shah of Iran (Persia) issued a decree known as ''Kashf-e hijab'' (also Romanized as "Kashf-e hijāb" and "Kashf-e hejāb", fa, کشف حجاب, lit=Unveiling) banning all Islamic veils (including hijab and chador), a ...

Early life

Khadijeh Afzal Khanoom was born in 1889 in Tehran and was the fifth child of Bibi Khanum Astarabadi, a women's rights activist and Musa Khan Vaziri. According to some historical sources, when Bibi Khanum had not yet established her school, she would send her daughter to school in boys' clothes so that she could study alongside her brothers. Her siblings included: Hasan Ali Khan Wazir,

Ali Naqi Vaziri Ali-Naqi Vaziri, also transcribed as Ali Naghi Vaziri (Persian language, Persian: علی نقی وزیری) (October 1, 1886 in Tehran, Iran, Persia – September 9, 1979) was a composer, thinker and a celebrated player of the Tar (lute), tar. ...

and Mowlud Khanoom who was a teacher like their mother. When she reached the age of 16, she taught the girls at Doshizgan Elementary School, which her mother had founded, becoming one of the first teachers in Iran's first girls' school. She later taught at her sister's school too. She married her cousin Agha Bozorg Mallah. Their children included: Mahlagha Mallah, Amir Hushang, Husayn‘ali, Mehrangiz, Khusraw, and Taymur, who died when he was 11 months old. Mahlagha was born in a caravanserai whilst the family were travelling on a pilgrimage.

Career

In addition to teaching Vaziri began to write articles for newspapers on women's issues. One of her most notable articles was written for the paper ''Shafaq-e-Sorkh''. In it she countered the attacks on women that were being published by an anonymous writer, which culminated in her writing: "Let women study and work with men, then you will see that women are no less than men". She taught throughout her life and was the director of girls' schools. Vaziri also designed her own clothes. During the 1930s, whilst many women began to stop wearing face veils, wearing 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 Ira ...

remained popular. Vaziri advocated for a change in fashion alongside

Sediqeh Dowlatabadi Sediqeh Dowlatabadi ( fa, صدیقه دولتآبادی ; 1882 in Isfahan – July 30, 1961 in Tehran) was an Iranian feminist activist and journalist and one of the pioneering figures in the Persian women's movement. On one of the occasions when ...

, and she designed outfits where your arms could move more freely as a result. In an open letter in 1930, Vaziri discussed how enforcing young women (aged seven or eight) to wear a chador, meant that those who did not would be removed from their schools, which would affect their educational opportunities. She was a member of the

Kanoun-e-Banovan Kanoun-e-Banovan ('Ladies’ Center') was an Iranian women's rights organization, founded on 14 October 1935. It played an important part in the Kashf-e hijab reform against compulsory hijab (veiling). In 1932, the Second Eastern Women's Congr ...

and supported the

reform against compulsory hijab (veiling). Khadijeh Afzal Vaziri died on 1980 and was buried in section 34 of

Behesht-e Zahra Behesht-e Zahra ( fa, بهشت زهرا, lit. ''The Paradise of Zahra'', from Fatima az-Zahra) is the largest cemetery in Iran. Located in the southern part of metropolitan Tehran, it is connected to the city by Tehran Metro Line 1. History In ...

(Row 183, Number 35).

Legacy

After her death, her daughter Mehrangiz Mallah ( fa) compiled and edited her mother's oral memoirs, which were the first oral memoir of a woman who lived in pre-Revolution Iran to be published and provide important testimony on their lives.

References

External links

* Interview
Mahlagha Mallah discussing her mother's life
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaziri, Khadijeh Afzal 1889 births 1981 deaths Iranian feminists Iranian educators Mass media people from Tehran Iranian women's rights activists People of Qajar Iran 19th-century Iranian women 20th-century Iranian women Burials at Behesht-e Zahra People of Pahlavi Iran