Women, Gender, and Politics

N21(a) - Women’s Activism and Resistance

Date: Jun 5 | Time: 03:30pm to 05:00pm | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Katherine Trubee (University of Tennessee Knoxville)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Rebecca Major (Yukon University)

Haunted Bodies: Evaluating the Act of Veiling and Women’s Struggle for Autonomy in Iran: Soma Bidarpour (University of Saskatchewan), Colleen Bell (University of Saskatchewan)
Abstract: In September 2022, the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Iranian morality police sparked the Women, Life, Freedom (WLF) movement, drawing global attention to women’s rights in Iran. The Iranian regime targeted WLF female protestors “with shotgun fire to their face, breasts, and genitals” and subjected them to rape, torture, force-feeding, and incarceration (Guardian, 2022). This study investigates two interconnected questions. First, what are the counter-hegemonic acts of female political activists to target the hyper-masculinist identity of the Islamic state? Second, what are the state’s gendered strategies for resubjectifying and reassimilating non-normative women? Building on the work of David Campbell (1992), I argue that the Islamic Republic of Iran approaches women as a political battleground to reinforce its performative political identity. It marks unveiled women as “westoxicated” (Moghadam 1994, 124), equating them with foreign enemies and positioning them as threats to the state’s “true identity” (Campbell 1992, 3). In response, resistant (non-conformist) women use counter-hegemonic acts such as collective hunger strikes, uncovering their hair, dancing, and singing in public to reclaim bodily sovereignty and challenge state-imposed narratives. I trace how defiant women challenge “resubjectification” policies by employing lively and creative acts of resistance to reclaim their bodily sovereignty (Wilcox 2015, 14).

2022 Iranian Women’s Counter-Revolution in Contrast to the 1979 Islamic Revolution: AZADEH MOMENI (University of Toronto)
Abstract: This paper explores the Iranian Women’s Counter-Revolution of 2022 as a transformative response to the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The 1979 revolution marginalized women by stripping away rights and relegating them to the private sphere under theocratic rule. In contrast, the current movement, ignited by the death of Mahsa Amini, signals a united front across genders, ethnicities, and classes, championing "Women, Life, Freedom." Unlike the ideology-driven Islamic Revolution, this grassroots counter-revolution is citizen-led and seeks inclusion rather than exclusion, dismantling oppressive symbols like the hejab. This study examines the ways Iranian women are reclaiming public space, challenging the authoritarian state, and rejecting imposed identities, while offering a new vision for Iran that prioritizes dignity, equality, and constructive self-other relations.

Familial Influence: A Motive for South Africa Women’s Participation in the Liberation Struggle: Kabir Abdulkareem (Tshwane University of Technology)
Abstract: Monica White, highlights in her study on autobiographies of Black South African and African American women activists that familial influence had an impact on the women’s role in political activism. She argues that parents and relatives such as fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, and siblings have an influence in shaping and defining women’s political activism and consciousness. The motives for women’s participation were multiple, diverse, and intertwined. Familial influence, socio-economic, and political conditions shaped and defined women’s political consciousness in different historical periods. It is against this backdrop that this paper seeks to examine the lives and times of Ela Gandhi; the granddaughter of Mohandas Gandhi (globally known as Mahatma,), and daughter of struggle activist Manilal Gandhi reveals how her family’s political legacies influenced her thinking and activism and Theresa Mthembu; a political activist, was motivated by her deep religious convictions. She was born into a Christian family. Her father was a religious activist and catechist in the church and a principal in an African school in Umlazi. The question for this study is to understand ‘how South African women activists have applied their anti-apartheid experiences in the current political situation that shapes their society’. Using oral interviews and blend of secondary materials, the researcher will examine the role family played in the political activism of these women during the anti-apartheid struggle and concludes that their socio-political realities continue in the contemporary South Africa.