Under the rule of both Pahlavi Shahs, women’s participation in social, economic and educational fields expanded. The history of the women's movement in Iran formally began around 1850, but it was not until the Pahlavi Shahs that many of its goals were realized. Mohammad Reza Shah viewed women’s rights as royal grants. Women’s organizations were controlled by the state and concessions were given slowly and only when the Shah decided. But nonetheless, major steps forward for women’s rights in Iran were made.
The Woman’s Organization of Iran (WOI) was the main leadership of the Iranian Women’s movement. In 1958, Mohammad Reza Shah’s sister, Ashraf Pahlavi, headed a group of women’s organizations called the High Council of Women. This group transformed into the WOI. From its formation, the WOI was closely tied to the government. The gains women’s organizations achieved were not to be perceived as the fruits of their own initiatives, but as the Shah’s decision to grant those privileges. One statesmen of the regime spoke of the women’s movement in terms of “privileges that were granted [to women], it was not as if this class had felt deprivation and then had engaged in any struggles to remove that deprivation; there had been no dialogue. The Shah had just decided that Iranian society should make use of the luxury of male-female equality as much as other countries.2 Although the WOI could not enact changes without the consensus of the Shah, and was viewed by many as an ineffective puppet party, it did play a role in the advancement of Iranian Women.
Many of the gains that were granted to women under the Pahlavi Shahs were reflective of the Shahs’ focus on modernization. During the years of 1926-1978, women’s participation in the workforce increased; more women received higher education and had professional careers. On January 8, 1936, Reza Shah decreed the unveiling of women in all public places. In 1938, women were admitted to Tehran University. In 1963, under Mohammad Reza Shah, women were granted electoral rights, and the right be elected to the Majlis. Several women were elected to the parliament and the Shah appointed two women to the senate. Women were also given judiciary posts and drafted into the police and army. The number of women in civil services increased and Farrokhru Parsa became minister of education. Many women ran their own businesses and had middle-level management positions.
Next, the women focused their efforts on the unequal rights of married Iranian women. Iranian men had the right to the children in case of divorce, controlled the wife’s ability to travel, and decided if she could work. They could also take several wives and have temporary marriages. In 1967, the Majlis passed Family Protection Laws that increased women’s rights in marriage, divorce, and child custody. Husbands now needed permission from the new Family Protection Courts to divorce their wives, and women also won the right to sue for divorce. The husband also needed the wives permission to take another wife and the marriage age was raised from 13 to 15. Additions were made to the law in 1975, which gave more custody rights to women and the marriage age was raised to 18. The reformers were careful to abide by Islamic Law in their new concessions and some old laws were not altered. The Passport law that required women to have their husband’s permission to travel, Article 179 that allowing a man to go unpunished for killing his wife should she be found in bed with another man, and the inheritance laws that gave outrageously disproportionate sums to daughters, were not changed.
Nevertheless, huge advancements had been made under the Pahlavi Shahs. By 1979, great numbers of women were involved in almost all levels of society: