Reproducing and Resisting Colonial Feminism in 20th Century Iran: Analyzing the Work of Latifeh Alvieh
By Morgen Shirin Kaufman
Latifeh Alvieh (1926–1999) was the wife of renowned Iranian scholar Ehsan Yarshater (1920–2018). This relationship warranted her inclusion in archives at the Stanford University Library, but Alvieh was a prominent Iranian feminist in her own right, who was involved in several women’s organizations in the 1950s and 60s and was integral to the fostering of Iranian feminists’ transnational relationships. Despite these accomplishments, she has largely been absent from the historical narrative, reduced simply to the wife of a scholar. Using new archival research, this post seeks to interrogate the relationship between Iranian feminists and colonial feminist rhetoric by looking at Alvieh as a key historical actor. In Rethinking Global Sisterhood, Dr. Nima Naghibi argues that elite Iranian feminists drew upon colonial narratives by depicting the veiled Persian woman as oppressed while representing their unveiled selves “as epitomical of modernity and progress,” thus replicating colonial rhetoric of veiling as an oppressive practice (Naghibi, xviii).
Photograph of Latifeh Alvieh printed alongside “17th of Dey – Emancipation of the Iranian Woman” in Tehran Journal Magazine (Tehran, Iran), January 7, 1958. Courtesy of Stanford University Libraries Ehsan and Latifeh Yarshater collection.
Alvieh wrote several articles and frequently gave lectures in which she made important interventions pertaining to Iranian feminism in relation to the “West.” Through an analysis of some of these texts, I highlight how Alvieh’s arguments for women’s unveiling and her tendency to privilege Western models of women’s emancipation indeed reproduced colonial narratives under the guise of modernization and progress. Yet, she also articulated a sensitivity to critiques of feminism and sought to complicate colonial narratives. As such, rather than simply replicating the rhetoric in its entirety, Alvieh was engaged in a more dynamic relationship with colonial feminism.
In one article titled “17th of Dey – Emancipation of the Iranian Woman,” Alvieh discusses the history of women’s status in Iran. She argues that “for centuries Iranian women, like their sisters in other oriental countries, had been shrouded in black veils which covered their body head to foot.” She remarks on the “psychological effect of this dark prison” and that Iranian women “were not active members of the society and were not generally regarded as equals of men.” Alvieh argues that the first step towards women’s emancipation was the Unveiling Act of January 7, 1936 (Dey 17, 1314 s.h.) in which Iranian women were forcibly required to remove the veil. In titling her article after the Unveiling Act, Alvieh asserts that the emancipation of Iranian women occurred with unveiling, reiterating the rhetoric used in colonial feminist narratives of Iran in which modernity and women’s emancipation is only achieved through the unveiling of women.
However, she also presented arguments that complicated and refuted Western depictions of Iranian women’s oppression, one of the most notable being her hesitancy to condemn Islam. While she advocates for unveiling, she makes it important to state that Islam is not the cause for women’s oppression. In one essay titled “Women in Iran” she argues that the introduction of Islam in Iran improved women’s condition by abolishing the caste system and recognizing the legal identity and economic freedom of women and that it wasn’t until the Safavid dynasty “which supported an extreme form of Shiism” coupled with “religious fanaticism advanced by some religious leaders” that the position of the Iranian woman declined. She further notes that the veil “was never intended as a hindrance to women” and acknowledges the veil as a symbol of status. It was not until later when the veil would become widespread that it would become associated by some as a marker of women’s inferiority. Taken as a whole, her argument might better be understood as a condemnation of extremist interpretations of Islam and religious fanaticism rather than a condemnation of the Islamic faith.
In another speech titled “The Role of Women in a Changing Society,” she admits that “Western ideology” is not fully suited for the Iranian people: “the new ideas of social change came from the West … nearly all new ideas were enthusiastically, if indiscriminately, embraced,” but “not all of them were suitable or immediately applicable to the Iranian situation.” Instead, she advocates for a more adaptable mode of social change and progress in Iran that does not fully seek to emulate the West but rather develops a notion of Iranian modernity that draws from both Western social ideas and Iranian tradition: “Suggested educational and social systems should not be thrust upon any group but rather adapted to suit their needs, incorporating those national traditions and customs which have lasting value.” In this quote, Alvieh acknowledges the earlier application of Western ideas in Iran while also noting that this intense Westernization was not always careful nor productive in progressing the modern Iranian nation.
As seen in this brief exploration, Alvieh’s engagement with colonial feminist language was complex. In her work, she grappled with the narratives of colonial feminism while also developing a distinctly Iranian feminist ideology. In discussions of veiling, Alvieh depicted the Unveiling Act and the Westernization of Iranian women as an emancipatory process through which women in Iran were able to enter the public sphere and engage in Iranian society. While her intentions may not have been to further subjugate the Iranian woman, her utilization of Western colonial rhetoric in descriptions of veiling as well as her emphasis on more Western presentation did contribute to this inequality. However, by acknowledging the problem of forced Westernization and the indiscriminate application of Western models in Iran as well as a hesitance to condemn Islam as the cause of the Iranian woman’s condition, she articulated a critique of the ways in which feminism and women’s rights had been utilized by the state and Western women. In doing so, Alvieh presented a model of feminist ideology that sought to blend models, fashioning a more dynamic idea of modernity. While we still see the utilization of colonial feminist narratives of the veiled and oppressed Iranian woman today, the work of earlier Iranian feminists such as Alvieh showcases how resistance to these narratives has been an ongoing battle and encourages us to approach the topic of contemporary Iranian women’s rights more critically.
Morgen Shirin Kaufman (she/her) is an Iranian-American scholar of South West Asian and North African history and culture with a focus on gender and sexuality. She graduated from Reed College, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in History.
This blog post is adapted from the author’s 2026 Reed College senior thesis, “Rethinking the ‘Woman Question’: Modernization, Colonialism, and Women’s Rights in Twentieth-Century Iran.” The author thanks Professor Candace Mixon for encouraging the development of this post and for her invaluable support and feedback. The author also acknowledges Professor Liz Matsushita, whose guidance throughout the thesis-writing process made this post possible.
All articles quoted are courtesy of the Stanford University Libraries Ehsan and Latifeh Yarshater collection.