Women, Life, Freedom

By Basab Dasgupta

If one lives in Southern California one cannot avoid being influenced by Iranian culture. A rather large number of Iranians fled their country when the Shah regime was toppled in 1979 and many of them found the greater Los Angeles area, especially the city of Irvine in Orange County to be a perfect sanctuary.

One benefit of this association was my exposure to Iranian food which I love. Food is tasty, healthy and filling.

I often shop at a local Iranian grocery store. I was checking out a couple of items at that store not too long ago. There was an older Iranian couple in front of me at the checkout lane with a cart full of groceries. I pleaded with them so that I could go ahead of them and they agreed. I thanked them and joked, “I am from India and we are neighbors. You are just helping a neighbor”. At that time, the wife asked in a complaining voice, “then why are Indian women not supporting the women’s movement in Iran?” I was surprised, “Oh really? I did not know that”.

All I knew was that a young woman, Mahsa Amini died in September of 2022 while in police custody; she was arrested by the “morality police” for not wearing her hijab tightly enough, as dictated by the strict Islamic rule. This triggered country-wide protests and demonstrations. I did not know any more details including how this movement was progressing and reaction in India. I hit Google when I came home.

According to the internet, there is support from Indian women but with one interesting twist. While women in Muslim countries in the Middle East are protesting against forced wearing of hijab, Muslim women in India have protested hijab bans such as the ban in the state of Karnataka.

A month or so later I visited the home of an Iranian gentleman, Mr. Mirgaffari, who is a good friend of one of my classmates from India. In the course of the visit, I mentioned that painting is my pastime during my current retired life and shared with him photos of some of my paintings from my cell phone.

One of the paintings, titled “Woman” (shown here) shows a woman with her hair rolling down without any headscarf, extending her hands towards the sky, as if she is seeking freedom and blessings from God. She is lying on a geometric structure which lies tangled in a spider’s web trapping her. I intended to convey the message through the geometric structure that a woman is the originator and center of everything in life including babies, wealth, food, aging, complexity, beauty and color etc. I painted this one more than ten years ago. Mr. Mirgaffari immediately commented that it looked like a painting with a political message similar to the message of the Iranian Women’s Rights movement: “Woman, Life, Freedom”.

Now I was excited and wanted to know all about what is going on in Iran. I searched through the internet to read all the information available. I found many comprehensive articles on Wikipedia. The first shocking information for me was how Ms. Amini died. According to eyewitnesses in custody, she was severely beaten by the police. The authorities reported that she had a heart attack, collapsed, entered into a coma and was taken to a hospital where she subsequently passed away.

Secondly, hundreds of protesters have been killed by the regime over the past several months. The death count is, at least, 530 according to the US-based Human Rights Activists’ News Agency (HRANA) including 71 children as of Feb 23. The celebrities and athletes have stepped forward in their support of the movement. Death sentences and arrest warrants have been issued against them too, including a soccer player in the FIFA World Cup and an Oscar-winning actress.

I remember asking Mr. Mirgaffari, “Who is the leader of this movement?” and was surprised by his answer. He said, “There is no leader and that is a good thing. If there were a leader, he or she would have been immediately executed”.

I understood some other aspects of the movement. Women in Iran are not protesting against Islam. They want Koran and other religious scriptures to be interpreted in a more gender-neutral way. Secondly, it is not really about religion but an unequal treatment of women whereby women are treated as second-class citizens. This is not a new issue for Iranian women. Their frustration has been brewing for decades and the present movement is just an outlet for all those pent-up anger and outrage. Thirdly, it is not just a women’s movement in Iran; women in the entire Middle East are watching the developments because the treatment of women in those countries are not any better.

For example, the Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan recently announced that women would not be allowed higher education at university level and ordered the universities to stop giving application forms for admission into universities.

I felt ashamed that there is no wider or more in-depth coverage of this movement in the US news media, considering that it might be the most significant women’s movement in this century. This is in sharp contrast to what happened during the “MeToo” movement from a few years ago. I was surprised to read about wide-spread supporting activities across the globe, especially from European countries like France. I feel that Mr. Narendra Modi has an opportunity to show his commitment to the secularism of India by being more vocal and active in support.

I am neither a political activist nor a feminist but have decided to make my contribution in a very small way to the cause of this movement. First, I have decided to donate my painting to the organizers of this movement. If they like it, it can be replicated with the caption “Woman, Life, Freedom” on posters, tee-shirts, mugs, hats and virtually anything.

Secondly, I have started tutoring a female Muslim high school student from Afghanistan in Mathematics. I was given this task by a friend because he knew that I do occasional tutoring. Much to my pleasant surprise, I found my student to be intelligent, hardworking and interested to learn new things; the tutoring sessions have been a source of joy for me. Of course, it is not the same as tutoring an Afghan student in Afghanistan, but I still feel that I am doing something meaningful.

During this International Women’s History Month of March, I feel compassion, not only for the women in Iran and Middle Eastern countries but for oppressed women everywhere.

Basab Dasgupta

Basab Dasgupta has a doctorate in physics from University of Wisconsin and worked with Sony as Vice President of an operating division. Retired, he now lives in San Clemente, CA.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times  

Images courtesy of (Image: Provided) and thesatimes |

Share this post