The Iranian Revolution and women
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 25 October 2022
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Many women supported Iran’s 1979 revolution against the monarchy but some later became disillusioned.
Islamic rules about how women dressed were just one of the things that women objected to. Sharan Tabari spoke to Lucy Burns in 2014 about her experiences during, and after, the Iranian Revolution.
(Photo: Iranian women at the 1 May 1979 protest. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi there, I'm Namo Lanter Combo and I'm the host of another BBC World Service |
| 0:06.2 | podcast called Dear Daughter. Maybe you've listened to our first season or maybe |
| 0:11.6 | you heard about us a few months ago when we won best podcast of the year at the |
| 0:16.3 | British Podcast Awards. I am so excited to tell you we are coming back for our |
| 0:20.9 | second season but I need your help. I'll be back to tell you more after this |
| 0:26.2 | episode. |
| 0:30.0 | Thank you for downloading the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:37.7 | Today we're going back to 1979 to the Iranian Revolution which dramatically |
| 0:44.1 | changed the lives of women. Lucy Burns spoke to Sharan Tabari about her |
| 0:49.8 | memories of the time. |
| 0:53.7 | It's February 1979 and there's a revolution going on in Iran. The Shah has been |
| 1:01.8 | overthrown after huge public demonstrations. The Islamist leader Ayatollah Khamenei |
| 1:06.4 | has just returned from exile and there are tanks in the streets of Tehran. |
| 1:10.7 | Sharan Tabari was a producer in the BBC's Persian service in London. |
| 1:23.0 | I couldn't wait to go back to Iran. I was on the phone until early morning |
| 1:28.0 | every day. People telling me what's happening. The excitement was unbelievable. |
| 1:33.4 | Sharan was part of Iran's educated left wing who had been opposed to the |
| 1:37.9 | Shah. The revolution had come about after combined pressure from left |
| 1:41.9 | wingers and Islamists and it felt to many as if Iran's moment for a democratic |
| 1:46.4 | revolution had come. Sharan took the first flight from London to Tehran. |
| 1:51.1 | Everybody in that flight was like me. We were singing there. It makes me feel |
| 1:57.7 | emotional. All crying, singing national songs all through the five, six hours |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.