Abstract

This article examines the forms of political activation of different generations of feminists and members of the women’s movement in Iran since the 1979 revolution. It argues that the most recement Woman Life Freedom uprising comes from a rich genealogy of feminist and women political agitators, who have activated thanks to, and not only in spite of, the Iranian state and its policies. The article examines the impact of revolutionary activism, militancy, the Iran-Iraq war, and subsequent political openings and authoritarian retrenchment since the 1990s, on women, showing that such phases have produced active and self-determined, rather than submissive, citizens.