Event #2

Event #2 Divorce Iranian Style

After five minutes of this documentary there were obvious connections between the film and the Women Studies course. The documentary focused on the struggles women face when trying to separate from the husbands in Iran. This task is often nearly impossible and requires countless sacrifices that would prevent most women from ever seeking a divorce to begin with. Having grown up in the United States it is easy to overlook seemingly simple privileges granted to women, such as a right to divorce, a right to seek aide from abuse, and the right to happiness. There were two stories that particularly not only related well to the class, but had an impact on emotionally. These stories were of the judge’s own daughter and of a teenage girl Ziba.

Ziba is a young teenage girl who seeking a divorce from her husband due to a conflict in their original marriage agreement and because of their incompatibility. In the United States this would be reason enough to make grounds for a divorce, but in Iran there are a select few reasons women can actively claim in order to actually gain separation. The two grounds women most commonly use are that their husband cannot father a child and deception. Ziba felt that her husband had deceived her by not allowing her to continue her education like he promised her father that he would. She was significantly unhappy inside the matrimony but according to the court system she had no right to seek a divorce. While she pleaded that she was too young, as long as the girl has reached puberty it was completely legal for her to be married. Ziba was struggling with the notion that she could be treated with disrespect just because she was female. Females have little rights inside the court system in Iran because they are still viewed as property of men. Even if Ziba received the divorce that she sought, she would still have a hard life. After a divorce men are free to go off and remarry, but for women it is a much harder task. Most men only want virgin wives; therefore Ziba would be seen as tainted in the marriage industry. It is also hard to women to earn enough money to support themselves and their children if they manage to maintain custody of their children. This is because the Iranian society believes that women need men to support them.

The other unforgettable story was of the judge’s daughter. This little girl could not have been older than ten, but having spent numerous afternoons in her father’s court she gained wisdom far beyond her years. This girl understood that women were treated unfairly in her father’s court; she demonstrated by acting out her own court hearing, creating a mythical plot line of a women seeking a divorce because her husband abused her. The girl then gave an interview about how she never wishes to be married because there is no guarantee that she will be happy and because she does not wish to be trapped in a loveless marriage. It was eye opening to realize that there are countries where women are fighting for basic rights that Americans often overlook and take for granted.