The Democratic Organization of Iranian Women (DAW; ) is the women's wing of the Tudeh Party of Iran.
Led by Maryam Firouz, it was founded in 1943 as the 'Organization of Iranian Women' (OIW) () and joined Women's International Democratic Federation in 1947.
The organization "demanded radical transformations in the laws governing the rights of women in the family and at the workplace", according to Hammed Shahidian.
It supported reform of women's rights, operated day care, women's professional courses and published women's magazines, and was one of the first Iranian women's organizations to campaign in favor of women's suffrage alongside the Womens party of Iran.Hamideh Sedghi, “FEMINIST MOVEMENTS iii. IN THE PAHLAVI PERIOD,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, IX/5, pp. 492-498, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/feminist-movements-iii (accessed on 30 December 2012).Afkhami, Mahnaz (2002). "The Women's Organization of Iran: Evolutionary Politics and Revolutionary Change" in Women in Iran From 1800 to the Islamic Republic by Lois Beck and Guity Nashat (eds.). University of Illinois Press. . The Democratic Society of Women managed to have a suggestion of women's suffrage put before the Majilis in 1944, but it was defeated by the religious conservatives.Hamideh Sedghi, “FEMINIST MOVEMENTS iii. IN THE PAHLAVI PERIOD,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, IX/5, pp. 492-498, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/feminist-movements-iii (accessed on 30 December 2012).Afkhami, Mahnaz (2002). "The Women's Organization of Iran: Evolutionary Politics and Revolutionary Change" in Women in Iran From 1800 to the Islamic Republic by Lois Beck and Guity Nashat (eds.). University of Illinois Press. .
They published a monthly magazine named Bidari-e Ma (), edited by Zahra Eskandari-Bayat.
OIW was banned in 1949, along with Tudeh itself and other affiliates, but the party managed to revive it in 1951 with another name: 'Democratic Organization of Iranian Women'.
References
External links Official website