Zahra Rahnavard (; born Zohreh Kazemi; 19 August 1945) is an Iranian academic, artist and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. Rahnavard is a university

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

, artist, and intellectual who was under house arrest from February 2011 to May 2018. In 2009, Foreign Policy magazine named her one of the world's most distinguished thinkers. She is the wife of former

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Prime Minister Mir Hussein Musavi. In part of her work, she has underlined the need for men to respect the laws of the

hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...

in the same way as women, as well as a general activist for women's rights in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Early life

Rahnavard was born in Boroojerd, Iran. Her father Haj-Fathali, was a Sh'ia and

anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

. After hearing of a gathering of Sh'ia

clerics Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

in Iran, Haj-Fathali emigrated to Khomein,

Markazi province Markazi province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Arak. The present borders of the province date to 1977, when the province was split into the current Markazi and Tehran provinces, with portions being annexed b ...

where Zahra was raised. Zahra Rahnavard earned her

bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and never has been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

and

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

degrees in

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

from

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

. She also has master's and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degrees from

Islamic Azad University The Islamic Azad University (IAU; , ''Dāneshgāh-e Āzād-e Eslāmi'') is a Private university, private university system Headquarters, headquartered in Tehran, Iran. It is one of the largest comprehensive systems of university, universities in ...

Political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Career

Rahnavard was among the early revolutionaries against the Shah. In the last years of the

Shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...

, she was close to

Ali Shariati Ali Shariati Mazinani (, 23November 193318June 1977) was an Iranian revolutionary and sociologist who specialised in the sociology of religion. He is regarded as one of the most influential Iranian intellectuals of the 20th century. He has be ...

, a dissident Islamist leader. Rahnavard along with former President Rouhani and Mr. Mir-Hossein Mousavi proposed and pioneered the mandatory Hijab, which went into effect shortly after the revolution. Rahnavard served as the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Alzahra University Alzahra University (, ''Dāneshgāh-e Alzahrā'') is a Women's college, female-only public university in the Vanak neighborhood of Tehran, Iran. Alzahra University is the only comprehensive women's university in Iran and the Middle East. Accepta ...

in Tehran from 1998 to 2006 and as a Political Adviser to the former

Iranian President The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran () is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the second highest-ranking official, after the supreme leader. The first election was held in 1980 and was won by Abulhassan Banisa ...

Mohammad Khatami Mohammad Khatami (born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 to 1992. Later, he was critic ...

. Rahnavard was the first Iranian woman appointed as a chancellor of a university since the

Iranian revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

of 1979. She was nominated to this post by former Minister of Science, Research and Technology,

Mostafa Moin Mostafa Moeen (; born 1 April 1951 in Najafabad, Isfahan) is an Iranian politician, professor of pediatrics, and a human rights activist who is currently founder and president of the Front for Human Rights and Democracy in Iran. He was a preside ...

. After the election of President

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born Mahmoud Sabbaghian on 28 October 1956) is an Iranian Iranian principlists, principlist and Iranian nationalism, nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a mem ...

in 2005 and the purging of reformist officials from the government, Rahnavard was removed (or resigned) from her position as the Chancellor of Al-zahra University in 2006, replaced by Mahboubeh Mobasheri. As the head of the Women's Social and Cultural Council, established in 1989 as one of seven government committees exploring various social issues, Rahnavard has called for these committees to be more equally represented by women members and has been an outspoken critic of the government's failure to accord women what, in her opinion, are their legitimate social and civil rights under the Qu’ran. She was an active member of her husband

Mir-Hossein Mousavi Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh (, ; born 2 March 1942) is an Iranian politician, artist, architect and opposition figure who served as the 45th and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a reformist candidate for the 2009 Iranian p ...

's campaign when Mousavi entered the 2009 presidential election. Now she is a member of The Green Path of Hope and one of the Opposition's Leaders. Rahnavard is also the author of 15 books. In February 2009 and more than a year after the protests of the Green Movement, Zahra Rahnavard and her husband Mousavi were placed under house arrest by security agents, and all their communications were cut off.

Personal life

Rahnavard is the wife of

, the former

Prime Minister of Iran The prime minister of Iran was a political post that had existed in Iran (Persia) during much of the 20th century. It began in 1906 during the Qajar dynasty and into the start of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1923 and into the 1979 Iranian Revolution ...

and had three daughters: Kokab, Narges and Zahra. She and Mousavi married on 18 September 1969. They are currently under

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rahnavard, Zahra 1945 births Living people University of Tehran alumni Islamic Azad University alumni Iranian Green Movement Iranian women writers 21st-century Iranian women politicians 21st-century Iranian politicians Iranian women academics Academic staff of the Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch Academic staff of Al-Zahra University Iranian prisoners and detainees Presidential advisers of Iran Association of the Women of the Islamic Republic politicians Proponents of Islamic feminism Prisoners and detainees of Iran Recipients of the Order of Culture and Art Spouses of prime ministers of Iran