Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-16
WOMEN RULE PERSIA
Fair Sex's Contribution to the
Revolution.
THE DECLINE OF POLYGAMY
Oriental Matrons Exert New Influ.
ence Over Husbands.
DEMAND FOR EDUCATION
Persian Girls Consider Schools and
DEMAND FOR EDUCATION
Persian Girls Consider Schools and
Books a Prelude to Their Eman-
cipation-Struggle for Liberty.

a visit to the minister's house. After
seven years Of such cordial relations the
European left Teheran without having
made the acquaintance of his friends
wife. He had heard her voice. had seen
her pass by. draped in her tchador; yet
it would have been impossible for him to
recognize her In public.
The Persian henderoun 10 mistakenly
likened to the Turkish haren1. Both, It
is true, represent the part Of the house
where the women and their servants
live. but the idea Of polygamy that be-
longs with the harem doesn't belong
with the henderoun. If Persian is a
polygamist, he has as many henderouns
as wives. But polygamy has been de-
Ginning for years, even among the rich.
II a Persian woman il at once good and
clever she may easily gain strong in
fiuence over her husband. Last Decem-
Der. at the time Of the coup-d'e tat. a
young Persian Of my acquaintance was
quartered with several others In the
mosque Of separSalar. One evening he
parliament house. Next my friend there
stood a man OF the people. with his rifle
at his feet. 1T is five days now" he ex-
claimed. "since have had any news from
complaint or a cry Of characterization.
In reality It was when he thought Of the
wife and the children whose future he
and his comrades held In their hands
that he was best enabled to do his duty.
Aids With Her Sympathy.
Woman. upIifted in, her own eyes by
the esteem Of man. has sought more
clearly to understand her master, who
has become her lover; she has sought to
aid him with all the power of her heart
and all the energy OF her persuasion,
for education counts for little in the
splendid movement among the women Of
Islam. With considerable native intelli-
gence. the Persian woman has remained
generally quite ignorant: To read: to
write. to cipher Q bit-that has been about
the extent Of her learning.
How. then. have such women suddenly
become able to comprehend q liberal
movement and to applaud and second It?
Because for several years they have
More frequent contacts with the occident.
the return Of young men educated In Eu-
ropean universities and the increase and
Improvement Of schools have aroused the
women's interest and awakened their
curiosity. Reali1ing their own igno-
daughters sent to the American school
or to the French school founded by Rich
ard Kahn. Many Persian fathers con-
sented. provided that their daughters
would agree to keep the veil.
Nevertheless. one OF the girls discarded
it. She had no father and lived with her
mother upon her own earnings. Born at
Teheran in 1886 and educated at the
American school. Agha Koutchoulou
('the little centenary spoke English
Persian mandolin. Pretty. with the
blond beauty 80 rare in Persia. she came
and went unveiled through the streets.
thus registering her protest against orr
entail prejudice. Without daring to imi-
tate II. the women admired her courage:
reverent and compassionate throng fol-
lowed her body to the grave, bearing wit
ness to their sympathy with the ideas she
incarnated.
Interest in Affairs.
Agha Koutchoulou died too soon to be-
hold the dawn Of liberty. but her infiu-
ence had a tremendous effect upon the
women Of Teheran. When the revolu-
ton broke out they all manifested re-
markable enthusiasm. 1t seemed that
their lips, like their hearts. had been long
familiar with the words. Liberty. Equal
ny. Fraternity. They interested them
selves in the reforms. talked OF them
with one another. kept themselves In
formed regarding them by questioning
their fathers and brothers and husbands;
they read the newspapers; some of them
contributed articles of their own; they
encouraged the men. The parliament at
once became the object Of their worship.
Like the men, they staked all their hopes
upon H.
Ali public affairs enlist the women's
keen interest. In the early days of the
revolution. when parliament proposed the
creation Of a national bank and the press
dilated upon its advantages. the, women
sent a round robin to the Habb- oui-
jewels to the establishment Of the ma
tional treasury. When the clash with
Turkey occurred. as a result Of an In
vasion by the Kurds. they groaned in
their inactivity. found the governments
they would themselves take the saddle
II Persia's territorial integrity was men
aced
The Veil Question.
This movement 10 not confined to Te
heran The women Of the provinces are
equally ardent in their zeal for civil and
political liberty.
What do they expect to gain by this rev.
olution. to which they have devoted their
best thought. their best affection? Even
the most intelligent OF them. 60 far as
can learn, have not yet ventured to de-
mand an Immediate change in their So
cial condition. Indeed. the finest thing
about their enthusiasm Is precisely this
disinte restedness. They are all sentiment
ally patriotic: their ideal consists of gen.
eralities. Their first desire Is that their
country may escape the menace Of for
eign influences: that 1t may be able to
maintain respect abroad and liberty at
home; none Of them has as yet raised
her voice In the name Of a personal in
terest. The men meanwhile welcome un-
reserved1y-even proudly-the cooperation
Of the women.
Is this saying the Persian women cher
ish no ambitions for the future? That
would be overstating the case. The veil.
sanctioned by age-long custom. is not to
them the symbol Of utter bondage 1t Is to
US. and yet 1t is beginning to irk them.
But they are too shrewd to wage pre-
mature warfare against this prejudice,
which Is one Of Islam's most inveterate.
For the moment they content themselves
with poking fun at 1t. One Of them signs
her newspaper articles "Assirol-Djeval
Khanoum (''The Lady in the Bag'O. Pru-
dencs impels them to wait. What they de-
mand now Is education. but they demand
it with such insistence that 1t seems rea-
sonable to infer that they regard 1t as
prelude to emancipation.