Azadeh Moaveni on the Ongoing Iranian Demonstrations Fueled and Led by Women

The ongoing protests in the past months have rocked Iran to its core. What began as a wave of street demonstrations and protests has by now turned into a veritable revolution led by courageous and defiant women. What is the broader historical context regarding these current events? How has the oppressive patriarchal regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran paradoxically generated forms of public participation, collective action, and mobilization, which have empowered women? What is the role of the media and of patterns of solidarity emerging in these protests and could these potentially lead to a transformation of the regime, or, in fact, to its end?