Mohtaram Eskandari was a fearless pioneer of Iran’s early women’s movement, whose legacy continues to inspire generations of Iranian women.
Born in 1895 into a progressive branch of the Qajar dynasty, Mohtaram Eskandari was raised in Tehran by a father who championed modern education and constitutional ideals. Despite suffering a debilitating spinal injury in childhood, she pursued learning with remarkable determination, mastering Persian and French literature and later becoming a schoolteacher and principal.
As the promises of the Constitutional Revolution faded, Eskandari became disillusioned by the lack of tangible progress for women. In response, she co-founded the Jam’iyat-e Nesvan-e Vatankhah (Society of Patriotic Women) in 1922—one of the first Iranian organizations dedicated to women’s education, civil rights, and national self-reliance. Under her leadership, the group launched adult literacy classes, encouraged economic independence by promoting domestic goods, and published a bold journal addressing taboo issues such as child marriage, inequality, and women’s autonomy.
But perhaps the most iconic episode of her activism came in direct response to a misogynistic pamphlet titled “Makr-e Zanan” (“The Deceit of Women”). This inflammatory tract, which mocked women’s intellect and independence, was distributed openly in Tehran’s streets by young boys shouting its title aloud. Outraged, Mohtaram Eskandari and her colleagues from the Society of Patriotic Women devised a dramatic act of protest.
On a planned day at 10 a.m., she and seven other women gathered in Sepah Square. Each woman purchased several copies of the pamphlet, and together—right in the middle of the square, a site once used for executing constitutionalists—they lit them on fire with matches they had brought in their purses.
This act of defiance marked a turning point. Mohtaram Eskandari was arrested shortly after and became the first woman in modern Iranian history to be detained for political activism. Her arrest, rather than silencing her, amplified the cause she championed.
Even while hospitalized due to complications from her spinal condition, Eskandari remained an unwavering leader. She continued dictating articles, drafting organizational plans, and mentoring other women from her bed.
Mohtaram Eskandari died in 1924 at just 29 years old, but her brief life left a lasting imprint on the trajectory of Iranian women’s rights. After her death, leadership of the Society passed to others, and in 1932 it organized the groundbreaking Eastern Women’s Congress.
Today, Mohtaram Eskandari is remembered not just as an intellectual and educator, but as a symbol of courage, defiance, and vision—an Iranian woman who risked everything to ignite a movement.
