Although the 1979 revolution in Iran is often called an Islamic revolution, it can actually be said to be a revolution of men against women. It led to the enactment of numerous discriminatory laws against women, which effectively took us backward in time.

When I first read the Islamic Penal Code instituted after the revolution, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought I had read it mistakenly. When I read it the second time, I thought maybe I did not understand it perfectly, or maybe it was just poorly written, and the drafters meant something else. So I read it a third time, and then it dawned on me: the drafters of this document had truly taken us many years back in time— some 1,400 years. I became very angry, and developed a bad migraine. Since that day, the migraine has often recurred, especially when I think of the Islamic Penal Code and its nefarious consequences for women.

When I went to law school, women’s rights were recognized to some extent. Of course, they were not fully recognized, but the situation was better than after the revolution. During the shah’s reign, a few good laws were passed, such as the law of the protection of the family. However, after the revolution—before even the drafting of a new constitution or establishment of a parliament—the revolutionary councils changed the laws and permitted men to marry four wives. This legalization of polygamy is just one reason why this was, in my view, a revolution of men against women.

Prior to the revolution, I had enjoyed being a judge. I was successful, and even became a presiding judge. When the revolution broke out in 1979, I was initially on the side of the revolutionaries and I believed in their cause. However, I was shocked and pained when soon after their success, the revolutionaries decided that women could no longer hold positions such as judges and had to instead take administrative positions. I was demoted to secretary—while many of my male colleagues, who were not as professionally qualified for the job as I, were appointed judges. Worse still, several male clerics who had not even attended law school arrived at the Ministry of Justice and took up positions as judicial officials.