Iran: Women’s Voices and the Future of the Islamic Republic

Dr Sanam Vakil, 26 October 2022, 14.00 BST

Iran is experiencing one of its most turbulent times since the Islamic revolution of 1979. The death of Mahsa Amini on 16 September following reported police brutality ignited protests across Iran. The regime has had difficulty controlling the response, led by women (but with support among men too) and including bold support among school-age girls. More violence has followed and the regime’s future is increasingly questioned.

Sanam Vakil is the James Anderson professorial lecturer in the Middle East Studies department at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy and deputy director of the Middle East North Africa programme at Chatham House, where she leads project work on Iran and Gulf Arab dynamics. In 2013 she published Women and Politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Bloomsbury).