Mahlagha Mallah ( fa, مه‌لقا ملاح‎; 21 September 1917 – 8 November 2021) was an Iranian environmental activist and librarian, who founded the Women's Society Against Environmental Pollution. She was referred to as the "Mother of Iran's Environment".

Early life

Mallah was born on 21 September 1917, in a

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...

close to Now Kandeh, whilst her parents were travelling to

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...

on a pilgrimage. Her mother

Khadijeh Afzal Vaziri Khadijeh Afzal Vaziri ( fa, خدیجه افضل وزیری) (1889 – 3 January 1981) was a women's rights activist, journalist and educator from Iran. She campaigned against the enforced wearing of the chador and supported the Kashf-e hijab. ...

, and her grandmother

Bibi Khanoom Astarabadi Bibi Khānoom Astarābādi ( fa, بی بی خانم استرآبادی)‎ (1858/9 – 1921) was a notable Iranian writer, satirist, and one of the pioneering figures in the women's movement of Iran. Biography Bibi Khatoon Astarabadi was born ...

, were both women's rights activists in Iran. Her father, Aghabzorg Mallah, worked for the government and lived in several cities. At age 17, Mallah married Hossein Abolhasani.

Education and career

After studying philosophy, social sciences and sociology at the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...

, Mallah was awarded an MA in social sciences in 1958. In 1966, she moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

to study for a PhD at the

University of the Sorbonne , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, where she graduated in 1968. During her time in Paris, she also studied librarianship at the

National Library of France National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. After graduation, Mallah returned to Iran and began work as a librarian at the Psychology Research Institute Library at the University of Tehran. It was only after her retirement from librarianship that Mallah and her husband began their environmental campaigning.

Activism

Mallah's interest in environmental activism was fostered growing up as her mother,

, was an environmentalist too. However her interest grew when she was working as a librarian and, in 1973, read a book on pollution in order to understand how to catalogue it. After Mallah retired in 1977, she began work researching pollution in Tehran, and started by visiting houses and knocking on people's doors to talk to them about pollution and other environmental issues. She founded the organisation the Women's Society Against Environmental Pollution, which was the first non-governmental environmental organisation in Iran. It was founded in 1993 and registered with the Ministry of the Interior in 1995. As a campaigning organisation, by 2012 it had become the largest environmental group in Iran. It has branches in 14 Iranian cities and has enabled over 25,000 families to

recycle Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

. In 2011, it was reputedly the most popular environmental group in the country. In 2009, the Society published a report entitled "Water Rights" and stressed the urgent need for the conservation of

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

habitats in Iran. This includes work in the

Zayandeh Rud Zayandeh Rud ( fa, زاينده رود; formerly, Bābā Sheykh ‘Alī (Persian: بابا شیخ علی), also Romanized as Bābā Sheykh ‘Alī) is a city in the Central District of Lenjan County, Isfahan Province, Iran Iran, ...

region.

Awards

*Personality of the Year - “Natural Heritage and Environment” (2010)

Legacy

As a result of her activism, Mallah became known as the "Mother of Iran's Environment". She has been described as an

ecofeminist Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...

, since her outlook on environmental issues emphasises that women need to be central in any kind of environmentalism. The 2015 documentary ''All My Trees'', directed by

Rakhshān Banietemad Rakhshān Banietemad ( fa, رخشان بنی‌اعتماد; born April 3, 1954 in Tehran, Iran) is an internationally and critically acclaimed Iranian film director and screenwriter who is widely considered a premier female director and her film ...

, featured Mallah's life story. Mallah died on 8 November 2021, at the age of 104.

References

External links

* Archive audio
Interview with Mallah
* Video: Mahlagha Mallah – 8
The people of Iran have become less attentive towards the environment
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallah, Mahlagha 1917 births 2021 deaths Women centenarians Iranian centenarians Iranian environmentalists University of Tehran alumni Sorbonne Nouvelle University Paris 3 alumni Ecofeminists People from Golestan Province Iranian expatriates in France 20th-century Iranian women 21st-century Iranian women Iranian librarians Women librarians