Women
From the Achaemenid days, the Persian women have had great influence and presence. One such Persian figure was Cassandane, queen consort of Cyrus the Great and mother of Cambyses II, Atossa, and Bardiya. Cyrus the Great had a special dearly love for Cassandane. Cassandane also loved Cyrus to the point that upon her death bed she is noted as having found it more bitter to leave Cyrus, than to depart her life. According to the chronicle of Nabonidus, when Cassandane died, all the nations of Cyrus's empire observed "a great mourning", and, particularly in Babylonia, there was probably even a public mourning lasting for six days (identified from 21–26 March 538 BC).
Atossa was the daughter of Cyrus the Great, and Cassandane, and the queen consort of Darius the Great; she would play a critical role in solidifying Darius's legitamcy to the throne after the overthrow of the magus impersonator of Bardiya. Achaemenids also allowed women high positions including military and royal positions, best exemplified by Artemisia I of Caria, a Halicarnassian who was an Achaemenid Navy admiral, serving Xerxes I of Persia.
During the Sassanid era, women also practiced power although in a limited scale. One such example was the Sassanid queen Borandukht who rose to power after death of her 7 years old nephew Ardashir III at the hands of a Sassanid general Shahrbaraz who was himself killed by the Persian army. Borandukht would inherit Persia at its most unstable and disorganised hour; she would start to amend the situation by first making peace with Byzantine empire and then attempting to amend the civil disturbances of the empire. She would however be murdered soon in the chaos only after a year of rule. It is this chaos that leads to election of Yazdegerd III and contributes to the subsequent Arab vicotries after their invasion of Persia.
Scheherazade, though fictional, is an important figure of female wit and intelligence, while the beauty of Mumtaz Mahal inspired the building of the Taj Mahal itself and Táhirih, the poet, had a great influence on modern women's movements throughout the Middle East. Persian women have also achieved national and international recognition in such diverse areas as sciences, politics, and entertainment. Such individuals include Shirin Ebadi, the Persian lawyer and activist who won a Noble Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts in human rights, as well as Iranian singer Googoosh who was a well known national singer in 1960s in Iran and abroad.
Although in ancient times, aristocratic females possessed numerous rights sometimes on par with men, Persian women did not attain greater parity until the 20th century. Universal suffrage was constitutionally approved for all women in January 26, 1963 under the Pahlavi regime. Persian women can be seen working in a variety of areas such as politics, law enforcement, transportation industries, health industry, military, universities, and even in the Iranian parliament.
Read more about this topic: Persian People
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