I would like to think that there are equal rights for all people, all over the world. Sadly I know that is not the case and that most likely it will never be the case. How negative of me, I know. My reasoning behind this is that someone is always going to feel the need to have power and control and some people are always going to feel like they are powerless. Government, police, army, that is where you find the strongest hierarchy of power and the people who believe they are the most powerful. Even in friend groups you will always see a sort of hierarchy of power, there is one person who  leads by example and the rest copy and follow. These hierarchies will inevitably change as new people fight to claim their own portion of power, some will find greatness while others will fall to defeat. In my opinion, what gets forgotten is the lives of the people who seek no power and who put their faith in the powerful to rightfully care for them.

In some countries you could say that everyone has a relatively fair chance to speak their minds and attain a role of power. For example, here in Canada, I can run for a position in municipal, provincial and national governments. Ideally no one would assume they knew what I stood for or how I would use my bit of power because I am a woman. I can get any job I want and get paid the same amount for doing the same thing as men. I will not be judged for doing things that were historically a man’s job like politics, playing sports, being the breadwinner of the family, doing physical jobs, etc. As a woman, my position of power and ability to have a voice would be accepted and encouraged. For all this, I am thankful, but it kind of brings the female morale down when we hear stories about how other women are being treated as second class citizens and are being discouraged, sometimes violently, for standing up for themselves.

Middle Eastern and South Asian women have always been a topic of interest in European and western countries. Even in the late 19^th century/ early 20^th century, British suffragettes were using Indian women as a reason to gain the vote. In Antoinette Burton’s Burdens of History — British Feminists, Indian Women and Imperial Culture, 1865-1915, she depicts the British female view of Indian women as “…helpless, emancipated, and trapped in a zenana existence… [pg. 65]” Therefor it was imperative that British women get the vote so they could involve themselves in the humanitarian side of ‘rescuing’ these women from their religious and cultural restraints placed on them by their husbands, fathers and brothers. Yet, despite this lacking of ‘civilised’ women, there were three whom Burton highlights who upped the standard of Indian women: “… the celebrated nationalist-feminist activist and poet Sarojini Naidu, the social reformer Pandita Ramabai and Rukhmabai, who later became a medical doctor. [pg.68]” With this precedent set, I feel as though it paved the way for women across the Middle East and South Asia to consider what other things they could do with their lives besides be home makers and child minders. So when I came across an article in The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/sep/05/iran-editor-feminist-views) about a female Iranian journalist, Shahla Sherkat, who is an active contributor to the feminist movement in Iran, I was intrigued.

Straight away you can tell that the articles she writes are not being encouraged. In fact before her new publication  Zanan- e Emruz (Today’s Woman), she had been the editor of a title called Zanan for 16 years until it was shut down by former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Even though there are “…hopes that [Zanan-e Emruz] might signal greater freedom for the media and women under President Hassan Rouhani.” Shahla is now being summoned to the courts for the content that she is putting in this title. It is because she is “…spreading feminist ideas, which they believe are contrary to Islamic principles…Zanan magazine [is] managed by a woman with feminist and western views… western values undermine feminism, unlike those in the Islamic republic.” If she posted these articles in Canada, she would be commended, but in Iran she could be sent to prison.

Evidently western influence is a growing concern for some Iranians.

Pop culture, the need to be famous, known or heard is quickly becoming synonymous with western culture. Through YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, Keek, Snapchat, many people are claiming that 15 minutes of fame everyone so desperately wants. You can now be InstaFamous, a YouTube millionaire, or a viral sensation; and that is exactly what these 7 Iranian adolescents became. They filmed a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg5qdIxVcz8 ) of themselves dancing on the rooftops of Tehran to the catchiest song of 2014, Happy by Pharrel Williams (It was the number one song in 24 countries, was nominated for an Oscar and was the lead single off the Despicable Me 2 Movie). People around the world saw this video (including Pharrel himself) and liked it (as you do on YouTube) and it has garnered over 2 million views worldwide. The world loved it, the Iranian police, not so much. The six were sentenced “…to six months in prison and 91 lashes. A seventh participant, Reyhaneh Taravati, received an additional six months on her prison sentence for possession of alcohol and her role in distributing the video. (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/19/iranian-pharrell-williams-fans-happy-video-sentenced )” The courts “…found them guilty of producing a “vulgar” video and conducting “illicit relations.” If they are caught doing anything else along these lines in the next three years they will have to serve their sentence, but in the mean time they had to go on national television and confess to their wrong doing… for being and spreading happiness. Is this just cultural preservation or is it disallowing Iran to evolve into a more diverse country?

In some ways, Iran has come a long way from the monarchic and political oppression they were plagued with in the late 1900’s. President Hassan Rouhani seems to be making an effort to change Iran’s treatment towards women and encourage cultural acceptance, but he does not have the full support of the country. He may encourage and feminist rights and he may think the seven Tehrani video stars should be let free without charge, but what can he do to change the minds of those people who use their voice to speak louder than everyone else?