Summary Of Iran Awakening

The common trend among countries seen in the late 1970’s was, governmentally, a counterrevolution away from the modernizations that had been developing during the preceding few decades. This type of counterrevolution is seen in full effect when looking at Iran in 1979 as the secular Shah was taken down and replaced by Ayatollah Khomeini, who believed heavily in intertwining government and religion, or more specifically, Islam. This extreme transition in government impacted the lives of many Iranians, however, this impact was most likely the heaviest on women of the time. In Shirin Ebadi’s book “Iran Awakening”, Ebadi tells the story of her life as she grew up in Iran during the time of this monstrous change known as the Iranian Revolution.

Ebadi makes it very obvious throughout the novel that many people had no idea what was coming for them when fighting against the Shah and for Khomeini, but also is quick to explain that the wartime circumstances were also a grand factor that led to his success in becoming a leader. When the war began in 1980, the year after Khomeini began gaining power, the population sees an automatic shift in daily life with common food shortages and people having to wait in lines for one bag of flour. These rapid and drastic changes left Iranians focused solely on one thing: to win the war and go back to a normal life. This, in turn, left the war to become a benefit on Khomeini’s behalf, as he was able to slowly steal people’s rights right from underneath them without them even noticing it. Ebadi even states herself that “the war effectively stanched popular discontent with the revolution” (59) showing her obvious effort to show that the war was a large piece of the puzzle that allowed Khomeini to transform the lives of women.1 With a tight hold on his position of power, Khomeini began stripping women’s rights left and right, including the suspension of the Family Suspension law which allowed men with to make any decision of divorce and full custody of children, reducing the

For a woman who had spent years taking part in a career that worked to bring justice and fair punishment to Iranians, she knew that this change would “fundamentally transform the very basis of governance, the relationship of citizens to laws, [and] the organizing principles and social contracts along which society is conducted” (51).1 Along with this she also knew that Khomeini would now have complete control over his power for the sole reason of Iranians living in complete fear of speaking out. With no due process of law, Khomeini’s path to the top was complete as he could now harm anyone who went against his will. This leads to the final point in how women’s lives were transformed during the revolution: they began living in fear. Ebadi illustrates how living in fear impacted her life as well as many others in multiple instances, focusing largely on how the population had a large decline since so many were forced to leave out of fear of being found with ties to the old regime and out of fear of the continuous war impacting hem as civilians. Ebadi states that “one by one [her] dearest friends deserted” (79) and that in her eyes they had “turned their back on Iran” (79).1 However, because of Ebadi’s deep commitment to staying in Iran she was left behind to