SonjaBe.com International Relations – Be Here | Be You | Be True

How we identify ourselves is a mystery. Do we identify ourselves through religion, through status, through our families, through society, through peers, through culture or through ourselves? Are they all inter-connected? What makes you, you? Why do I believe in what I believe in? How do you identify yourself? What is your identity and where does it root from? Does your identity belong to a school of thought? Read More »

There are infinite ways of using “identity” to associate, relate and make sense of individuals, groups, states and cultures to the social world but in order to understand this multi facetted topic, it is vital to define its context to fully grasp a sense of the term. Read More »

Iranian women have endured a long and struggling roller-coaster ride filled with inequality, segregation and torture. Perhaps they have yet to achieve their ultimate goal of equality, however Iranian women have not stopped fighting for their rights. In 1918 when women were demonstrating outside the parliament demanding equal rights, it was clear that they refused to accept inequality as a way of life. [1] In 1953, President Mossadegh submitted a bill to the parliament for gender equality however,  a handful of ayatollahs rejected the bill.[2] Finally in 1962, their efforts proved effective when voting rights were granted to women by the Shah. The Pahlavi era sought to discourage veiling of women and encouraged mixed participation in a variety of public gatherings. [3] Not everything was perfect for women but in comparison with other countries in the Middle East region where women lacked rights, Iranian women were ahead of the times ... Read More »