Women and the Persian Revolution.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 10016, 5 December 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

Women and the Persian Revolution.

Recent events in Persia render particularly interesting- an article on the above topic by Marylie Markovitch in La Revue (Paris). Although written some months ago, as an editorial note informs us, tha facts it presents remain unassailed. They demonstrate that Persian liberalism .was not fictitious. Free thought- and democratic aspirations have taKen root too deeply ever to admit of the retrogression of Persia toward the old "tyrannical" absolutism. * This writer, by way of introduction, gives some interesting details concerning the life of the Persian woman. The traveller proceeding to Persia by the Mediterranean route gains a strange and significant experience; he finds that the nearer he approaches his destination the more obscured do the features of womankind become. In Constantinople one may see Turkish belies coming and going, on foot, in boat, or en voiture, escorted or alone, and veiled just sufficiently to enhance their disclosed beauties. But when one sets foot in .Persia one enters the mcsD jealously guarded sanctuary of Islam. ''Here all is grave of aspect, secret, premeditated. High walls of dried mud or of .brick prolong indefinitely their monotonous line. Behind them, low enough to be invisible from without, are •concealed l the houses —these also doubly veiled by their walls .and their gardens. And in the recesses of the mysterious 'henderouns' are born, live, and die those whom tire Arabic language designates 'the hidden ones,' and of whom, from the age of puberty to the tomb, no man, other than their master, has ever beheld their mortal beauty." As showing how rigid is this seclusion of women in the land of the "King of iKimgs," Mme. Markovitch cites an observation once made to her by a high functionary in the service of the Shah, but of European origin: "Madame," said he, '"if, ■on returning: to Europe-, you

should hear any man—no matter what his nationality, his rank, or his length of sojourn in this country—assert that he has met, socially and unveiled, a Persian woman, you may tell him that he lies." This functionary" was himself the dearest friend of a Persian minister who was tiie husband of a single wife. Nearly every day he repaired to the house of his friend to converse with him, while his wife was received in the henderouns, or women's apartments, where she passed many aa hour with the wife of the minister and her young children. After seven years of such" close friendship, when the European quitted Teheran, he did not know his friend's wife. He had heard her voice; he had seen her silhouette draped in the .eternal veil; but he had found it impossible to know her in public. The Persian henderoun must not be likened to the Turkish harem. It is true that both represent the part of the house occupied by the wife and her servants, but the idea'of a plurality of wives, which attaches to the harem, has no place in the Persian henedroun. A Persian never introduces more than one legitimate wife in his henderoun; and) in cases where polygamy is practiced it is necessary to nave as many henderouns as wives. According to Mme. Markovitch; however, polygamy, even among the rich, has died out; and, the wife being both intelligent and good, it is easy for her to maintain over he.'.' husband a sovereignty at once unique and incontestable. By a just return, the woman, exalted in her own eyes by the esteem of the man, has sought to comprehend her master better and to become moTe nearly his friend ; to second him with all her heart and with all the force of her persuasion. In the present movement among the women of Persian Islam, education has but a small part. Though intelligent, Persian women are with few exceptions ignorant. Reading, writing, with a little arithmetic, and the recitation of the prayers —■ these constitute the basis of her instruction. From the moment that the young Persienne is old enough to join the.rank'i of the "cachees," she usually finds no other employment than that of assisting hei' mother in the care of the younger children. Considered as a merely frivolous being, the Persian woman, even when married, was for a long time kept aloof from, affairs of the day. How is it, then, that she is suddenly found capable of understanding a liberal movement, and applauding and seconding it? It is because the desire to mingle in the national life has for several years past taken possession of her. More frequent contact with the West, the return of young men from European universities, more numerous and better organised schools—-all these things have excited her interest and aroused her curiosity. Feeling their own ignorance, many women have asked for their daughters "the right to attend, the course of the American school, or of that founded by Richard Khan and known as tile French school. The majority of the Persian men have acceded to the request of their wives, provided their daughters consent to retain the veil. Mme. Markovitch cites the remarkable case of one who discarded the veil : "Having lost her father, she dwelt with her mother, as a European woman, earning her own livelihood, and she worthily represents the most touching personifica- + ,-„„ 'in Pawn Unrn ;i t

Teheran about 1886, educated at the American school, Agha Koutchoulou ("the little Monsieur") spoke English, and played the piano and violin. Pretty, of tliac blond beauty so rare in Persia, she walked abroad unveiled, protesting by her attitude and example against Oriental prejudice. Invited to social reunions-—even where there were no other women present —she took her place as a European, and neither word nor gesture ever caufd her the slightest annoyance. S'ba died of an affection of the chest, but some suppose this was aggravated by her brooding over the sociai inferiority accorded to her sex. The large and respectful erejvd which followed her remains to the grave testified to the public sympathy for the new ideas of which the young girl had been the exponent." The influence of Agha Koutchoulou on the women of Tehpran seems,, to have been., remarkable. It appeared that their lips as well as their souls had long been familiar with, the words "liberty, equality, fraternity," and all the generous ideas that they convey. "They became interested in reform ; they spoke about; it aiming themselves; they kept themselves au courant through their their bvotherr., or their husbands; they read, the mewspapers ; some even sent articles which were accepted and printed; they encouraged the men by every possible means." When, at the outbreak of the revolution, the Parliament proposed the establishment of a national bank as being indispensable to the security of Persia, tiie women offered all their jewels in order to take part in the provision of a national treasury; and on the occasion of the Turco-Persian frontier incident they declared that they would mount horse if the integrity of Persian territory were threatened. The forward movement is not confined to the women of the capital. Those of the provinces are equally eager for civil and political liberty. . One thing_ seems certain: although the veil in .their eye : -; has not the symbolism of slavery which it bears in ours, nevertheless it already appears to weigh somewhat heavily. "Itis a touching picture this —of a veiled woman demanding admission to a new life from which she would perhaps draw back did she but know what new duties -itwould add to her old ones."