Image by John Crozier.

What sparked me to write this article was the persistent and reductive narrative that resurfaced following the recent U.S.–Israel bombing of Iran. Predictably, media coverage and social media posts quickly recycled the familiar trope: that Muslim women need to be rescued, rescued from their religion, their culture, and their men. Added to this was the dangerous suggestion that yet another Western-style military intervention could somehow usher in regime change and liberation for Iranian women, a narrative disturbingly reminiscent of the justifications used for interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the Islamic Republic of Iran is undeniably repressive, particularly in its treatment of women, as seen in the heartbreaking case of Mahsa Amini, this framing tells only part of the story.

Despite real restrictions, Iranian women are far from powerless. In fact, they are among the most educated in the region, and in many cases, more educated than Iranian men. According to UNESCO and World Bank data, Iranian women have made up over 60 percent of university students in recent years, with female enrollment peaking at 70–75 percent in the early 2010s. Today, women account for the majority of graduates in medicine, engineering, and other STEM fields, and female youth literacy exceeds 98 percent. These are not signs of a population waiting to be saved, they are signs of a society where women, despite legal and cultural restrictions, have carved out powerful spaces for agency, knowledge, and resistance. Iranian women have been at the forefront of political protests, student movements, and intellectual life for decades. They do not need Western armies to “liberate” them. What they need is global solidarity that respects their voice and autonomy, not airstrikes framed as feminist interventions.

This........

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