Abstract
This collection of papers in this special volume explains how school funding policies and community policies perpetuate racial and socioeconomic inequities in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
These papers highlight two important research themes in school finance that have been missing: (a) the role that race plays in creating enduring educational funding disparities and by extension school facilities; and (b) the danger that privatisation poses for meeting the resource needs of less affluent and minoritised communities.
This commentary explains how these papers contribute to the burgeoning field of critical school finance.
In the complex socio-political context of Iran, women’s bodies have been instrumentalised and constrained as symbols of social control and power; the interplay between politics, religion, and culture have forged a society wherein women often find themselves at the intersection of theocratic governance and patriarchal norms (Mahdavi Citation2009).
Since the drastic shift brought about by the 1979 Islamic reforms, social control in Iran has tightened, creating a suffocating environment for women (Amini and McCormack Citation2021; Zargarian Citation2019). Under the misogynistic regime, violence against women is perpetuated, yet often goes under reported due to lack of legal support and the culture of shame and silence (Zargarian Citation2019). Within this context, conversations about sexual harassment are often suppressed.
which is further exacerbated by the absence of comprehensive sexuality education (Ebadijalal and Weisi Citation2021; Karimi-Malekabadi and Falahatpishe Baboli Citation2022; Zeighami et al. Citation2022).
Despite the societal constraints and barriers of fear and repression, the #MeToo movement gained momentum in 2020, breaking through the silence. In this paper, we explore the implications of this movement for informal leaders who have harnessed the power of social media platforms, particularly Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), to address the issue of sexual harassment in Iran. The feminist leaders and activists of women’s rights in and outside Iran have used these online spaces to raise awareness and to provide a platform for women to find solidarity instead of shame. Moreover, they have had a significant role in filling the void caused by the absence of comprehensive sexuality education, in effect, creating an alternative educational platform for women seeking to navigate the complexities of their bodies and relationships.
Over the past decade, social media has evolved into a battleground and sanctuary for women in Iran. The #MeToo movement, originating from a global movement against sexual harassment, has taken a character in Iran that diverges from the Western narrative, reflecting the complex interplay of culture, religion, and politics in this context. Reviewing both formal academic literature and informal social media posts and drawing on the first author’s lived experiences in Iran and engaging with Iranian social media, this paper ventures beyond the more common interpretations of #MeToo and its implications, outlining how social media has been harnessed as a powerful tool within this specific Iranian context. What sets this examination apart is the emphasis on the critical role of informal leadership in Iran where #MeToo lacked legal or social power to exercise pressure on the perpetrators (Rostampour Citation2023) or policy change. Iran is one of the three countries in the Middle East with the lowest level of legal protection for women (Friedland, Afary, and Hoppen Citation2023). Therefore, the implications of #MeToo are driven by individuals who passionately advocate for change. These informal leaders have played a vital role in reshaping the discourse surrounding sexual harassment.
This paper explores the transformative role of informal leadership within and post #MeToo movement in Iran, shedding light on their pivotal role in challenging societal norms, breaking the chains of silence, and paving the way for a more equitable future for women in Iran.
Methodology
This is a critical review essay informed by our post-structuralist feminist theoretical framework outlined below. After presenting the historical context, we review the formal academic literature with references to informal social media posts, finishing with an argument about the significance of informal leadership spaces provided by online platforms.
The processes shaping this paper involved an exploration of the literature on Iranian #MeToo and online feminism as well as social media search for keywords/hashtags and educational pages. In our search for the main keywords #metoo, #metoo_movement, and #Iranian_metoo_movement # من _هم , we observed a lack of consistent terminology for Iranian #metoo and expanded the search to include more localised keywords:
#tajavoz تجاوز # (rape) چرا _گزارش _ندادم (why did I not report) #خشونت_علیه_زنان(violence against women) خشونت _جنسی# (sexual violence) قربانی _ نکوهی # (victim blaming). Searching was both in English and Farsi.
Following a thorough investigation of the online social media content and the literature, we created our initial themes. This process also helped identify the informal educational leaders and the content they shared on these platforms or content hosted on other platforms that they promoted through Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). The search process was limited to the time period from February 2023 to May 2024. The themes were formed and reformed in an iterative process of comparing the social media content with the literature available at the time of the study. For example, Silencing and Victim Blaming were rampant issues in the shared narratives and comments on social media and this was also a recurrent theme in the literature; therefore, it became a prominent theme in our study.
Throughout the process we drew on the first author’s knowledge and lived experience in the context of the study and the second author’s knowledge and experience as an outsider. The first author has had similar yet unique experiences in the study context, giving her an insider understanding of the experiences. Yet, she also considered herself an outsider as she has experienced living in Australia, a different context to the study. Throughout the process of this paper, both authors ensured that they were aware of their positioning, remaining curious, constantly reflecting and avoiding first impressions.
Theoretical framework
Drawing together insights from Friedland, Afary, and Hoppen (Citation2023), Foucault (Citation2009), Clark-Parsons (Citation2016; Citation2021), and Blackmore (Citation2006) helps shed light on the complex dynamics of informal feminist leadership within the context of Iran’s authoritarian regime. Friedland et al.’s (Citation2023) discussion of gender-based violence in the Muslim Middle East unveils how Islamism institutionalises patriarchalism in the Iranian context. Foucault’s theories then help us picture how social control and power are operationalised through the regulation of women’s bodies within the socio-political context of Iran. In the Context section, we will discuss in detail how the Islamic regime in Iran has imposed strict laws to regulate women’s bodies as a means to enforce Islamic ideology and maintain control. Foucault’s (Citation2009) ‘bio-power’ and ‘governmentality’ shed light on how the regime engages in disciplinary practices to manage women’s bodies within prescribed norms using legal, cultural, and social mechanisms. Given the legal and social barriers imposed, the informal feminist leaders shoulder the critical role of echoing voices (Hamidi Citation2023) as well as challenging the dominant discourse.
Clark-Parsons’ (Citation2016; Citation2021) ideas on digital feminism are pivotal within this theoretical framework as they unveil the means by which women in Iran subvert the oppressive structures using digital platforms. Digital feminism as Clark-Parsons (Citation2016) stipulates could help amplify voices and challenge the dominant discourse to bring positive change in society. Through such feminism, activists are able to make the personal political and bridge the individual experiences with the collective (Clark-Parsons Citation2021). Capitalising on social media platforms such as Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), informal leaders within the #MeToo movement have helped create a counter-discourse that challenges the control over women’s bodies, offering a space for women to voice their experiences, find solidarity, and engage in critical conversations that would otherwise be suppressed by the culture of shame and silence perpetuated by the government.
This paper explores how these informal feminist leaders have leveraged the digital sphere to educate on and raise awareness of the pervasive but underreported issue of sexual harassment in Iran. The digital sphere has emerged as a vital educational arena in a context where formal sexuality education is lacking. It unveils the transformative potential of digital feminism in dismantling oppressive structures and in amplifying marginalised voices against the mechanisms of social control.
Blackmore’s (Citation2006) feminist perspective on educational leadership practices further enriches this framework by emphasising that leadership is not merely defined by formal job descriptions but is rather a ‘situated social, and political practice’ (195). From this viewpoint, leadership can be understood as a product of accumulated experiences and actions over time, by individuals who are ‘change agents’ (193). Applying Blackmore’s perspective to the Iranian context, it is evident that the informal feminist leaders within the #MeToo movement are the ‘change agents’ who challenge oppressive norms and practices around women and their bodies. These leaders do not conform to the traditional understandings of leadership ‘defined by job description’ and with the ‘leader/follower divide’ (Blackmore Citation2006, 193) but they embody leadership through advocacy for gender equality and sparking conversations on sexual harassment in Iran. Within this framework, the feminist leaders in digital spaces exemplify leadership as a transformative and situated practice (Blackmore Citation2006), by actively working to change oppressive structures, offering support, and educating women on gender and sexuality issues through online platforms. This framework forms the basis for a deeper understanding of the transformative potential of these informal feminist leaders in Iran.