Dividing the Just City? Women's Rights, Islam, and the City

This paper deals with the complex workings of the state, gender and the urban space. It offers an analysis of the Iranian state’s spatial politics and urban policies through the lens of gender and class. I contend that  gender has been central to the Iranian state’s urban planning and that the two distinctive discourses of  gender equity  and gender equality have shaped the discussions around women’s “right to the city” ever since 1979, when the Islamic Republic was established. Rather than rooting for one discourse over the other, I intend to show the material effects of these discursive frameworks: How do these frameworks shape the discussions about the “Islamic city”? What notions of femininity and masculinity inform such debates? What kinds of spaces and sociabilities do these discourses enable/produce? I am particularly interested the ways in which the Iranian state has justified and pursued its policies of gender segregation as part of its Islamization project. The  Islamic Republic of Iran sought to revolutionize the public appearance of its cities by implementing new rules to regulate (gendered/classed) bodies and spaces. One such rule was gender segregation of public spaces. I track the history of gender segregation in Iran to show where it fits in the debate between promoters of gender equality and advocates of gender equity? How do various actors in the political field read/interpret the policies of gender segregation? Why and under what circumstances have women resisted/welcomed/challenged the implementation of such policies? Could segregation promote equality/equity?