Women Power

When the fight for democracy succeeds in Iran one group that will be primarily responsible for the success is women.

From Slate...

The truth is that the high turnout was the result of many years of organizational work carried out by small groups of civil rights activists and, above all, women's groups, working largely unnoticed and without much outside help.

For at the heart of the ideology of the Islamic republic is its claim to divine inspiration: The leadership is legitimate, and in particular its harsh repression of women is legitimate, because God has decreed that it is so. The outright rejection of this creed by tens of thousands of women, not just over the last weekend but over the last decade, has to weaken the Islamic republic's claim to invincibility in Iran and across the Middle East.

Regimes that repress the civil and human rights of half their population are inherently unstable. Sooner or later, there has to be a backlash. In Iran, we're watching one unfold.

I hope that the Iranian women who stood up in the face of danger will set an example for other women throughout the middle east to fight just as hard for their rights.

Update: An excellent article from MSNBC on the role of women in the recent protests.