the iranian women: from persian to parsi (a brief history of the persian and parsi women of iran (persia) and india in 19th century)

the iranian women: from persian to parsi (a brief history of the persian and parsi women of iran (persia) and india in 19th century)

iran has been witnessed of different treatments of women by different religions and ruling systems during its long history. two major religions of zoroastrianism and islam have formed women’s condition in different eras. the paper explores the earliest records of women’s status in iran till the end of 19th century.

two communities are chosen for this review, one is the community of the persian muslim women of persia (iran) and the parsi women of india following zoroastrianism, the iran’s pre-islamic religion parsis as a group of migrants from iran, settled in india on 10th a.d.

the purpose of the article is to study the mutual history of persian and parsi woman before they disconnect from each other to explore their condition in two neighbor countries of iran and india in 19th century. the paper comes to a conclusion on how the educational opportunities could shape the identity of two groups of women who are originally from a mutual country but ended up in different conditions in 19th century in two neighbor countries. meanwhile the paper shows the social development of iranian women by the end of the 19th century due to accessing educational opportunities.