THIS SATURDAY, 19 May.
Embassy in sondarity Movement. Assemble at 2pm.
importance of this Saturday's demo.
KHOMEINI still has the check to pay lip service to the equality of women. But at the same time his other semens are one agan women, like the statement he made about the veil which, by the way, he had to more or less That was the only issue on which the clergy and Khomeini had to retract. This was after the demonstrations following International Women's Dayradio and televison discrimination is very explicit. In the first two or three days after the insurrection, women anouncers: After that they normal were told that they should wear ascarf - a sort of modified veil - and a lot of them disagreed.
One prominent case is of a woman who was in charge of a children's programme. was an interview with her in an issue of Kargar, the paper of the SWP (Iranian Troiskyists).
She said that when she came days after insurrection, when Gotzabeh was the head of television, he called her into ms office and told her to put a scarf round her head. She refused and couldn't stop her going on the air then. Bur eventually they told ner and we asant wan her services.
THE South African governreper has filly Wichite report Wichahn Commission of Inquiry Into labour legislation. "The goverment has launched a dispensation in the labour history of South Africa', wecording to the minister responsible, S.P. Botha.
Rumours of the report's content have been circulating for more than a year. As widely predicted, Includes Intercontinental Pres:
преесся there is a national demonstration from Trafalgar Square to the Iranian with the Iranian Women's FARIDEH, a member of the Iranian Women's Solidarity Group which is organising the march, has just returned from Iran. She told Socialist Challenge about the current state of the women's movement there and the In her Interview she said there was a woman there who was a close follower of the Shah. When a lot of radio and television workers had gone on strike she had working.
Now that Gorzabeh came long she put on a great bi carl and she's still doing he job. This is a typical case of tow the old teactionaries can be used by the new regime. The len-wing parties gener ally support women's demands for equal rights. In programmes they all talk about wanting equal rights and also the abolition of the discrimiparties have got that much specific programme.
The party which is bonging much more is the SWP, but that's COCALL they ve.
them. But they're a very small minority so I don't know how effective they are.
The groups which bring it out far more clearly are the unions the or SOCICHES of women, for example the women lawyers' union, which bas been taking up the question of women's sosition in law, especially with They are very discriminated against by strict, Islamic puritanical attitudes. For example they can't practise reseadanon that reservation legislation abolished and that black trade unions be allowed "registered'. To date these have had a twilight existence, not being recognised in law but nonetheless not being illegal. Job reservation now covers only 1 per cent of workers For the Important way of preventing blacks uscending the job scale Is the closed shop agreements made by white commission would allow these to remain. carried on their as judges and even as lawyers they are finding it difficult. Bur they have written many articles demanding that the Ministry of Justice should reverse its policy discriminating Then there's the National Women's Alliance which in the short terin might bave a better much chance, because although in their programme they emphasise very much the position of Job be to be most The very wide sional women and so on. protest so homogencous against bourgeois women.
increase the women by publications platform. They | literacy classes. include all the other profes 1 don't think their ideology is - there are but involved in the some quite left-wing women but there are also some quite But the thing is that they have a better posability of activity because There they can work more openly.
Their major programme is to awareness" bringing out and organising tried was significant government defeat.
cully Industry, Lacy tion There's the Committee for the Defence of Worrien's Rights women TABU are mainly the and thcir operation is very limited. They buven't got a paper.
is an women's group, I don't know how much their activities are or how coherent and organised it is, but quite a few women were show involved in the demonstranon and occupation of the Mibistry to arrest minor breakdown of job reservation - the more so becanse, Instead of intervening on the side of the whites, -stood on the sidelines and allowed their However politically impor tant it may be, white privilege has always been an economiextravagant item for Myubelo of the Ail.
National Union of Clothing Workers who has been one of the government's most promiment propagandists of collaboration said: We are jubilant al of Justice by the unemployed There was a statement put out by the unemployed women's group demanding cquality in the economy in general: qual pay, better facilities and so on A SUCCESSFUL conference on Women in Irun was held last Saturday in the City University, London. First Farsi-speaking women and then English speaking weisen discussed papers on the Iranian women's Item the conference agenda was the way In which the British women's assist their Jrunian sisters. A outlined InC plans women's delegation to go to Iran and the demonstration this Saturday in solidarity with the Iranian women's movement.
This Sacurday's desonstra is basically against all discrimination against women and the pressures on women the religious sector, think it's important that people here realise what is going on in Iran. Wedon t want to wake up one day and find a totally reactionary consoli dated in power.
At the moment the regime is still not solid, still not formed, and a lot of different forces are confrontation cach other. And so there is the chance for , 1rom British women in particular and the British left in general to women that they're not alone in their right.