How to help Iranian women and girls amid ongoing protests

After 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody in Iran in September, anti-government protests in Iran led by women and girls have steadily continued. Demonstrators which also include men, high school students, oil workers, and professors have led to some of the boldest challenges to Iran’s theocracy in years.

According to Iran Human Rights Watch, an Oslo-based nonprofit, at least 201 protestors have been killed by Iranian security forces amid the protests following Amini’s death. Amini, a native of the Kurdistan region in Iran, died while in custody of the country’s “morality police” on Sept. 16 for not following strict Islamic dress code. An Iranian state coroner’s report maintains she died from “underlying disease,” although Amini’s family says she did not have any pre-existing illnesses. Because of Iran’s history of violence against women and those who dissent in the country, many believe Amini died because of foul play.

Young schoolgirls have become more vocal in the fight to secure their basic rights and against the largely patriarchal structures in the country. Several countries, including the U.S., have expressed solidarity with the demonstrations, and protests have spread across the globe. “The United States stands with Iranian women and all the citizens of Iran who are inspiring the world with their bravery,” President Biden said in a statement before the U.N. General Assembly in September.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke out, saying he is “deeply heartbroken” by Amini’s death but condemned what he has characterized as “rioting” that he says “were designed by America and the Zionist regime, and their employees.”

Protests in Iran are not new, however. Millions of Iranians took to the streets in 2009 as part of the so-called Green Movement – a series of protests against election results.

For these protests, Iranian women and girls across the world have taken to the streets and social media in outrage over the gender inequalities in the country.

Here are some ways to help Iranian women and girls in their fight for equity:

The Iranian American Women Foundation accepts funds to aid their platform for empowering, networking, and mentoring younger generations of Iranian women in the U.S. and across the world.

United for Iran, an independent nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, is working for civil liberties in Iran and also accepting donations. United for Iran maintains a glossary of Iran’s judicial system and builds technologies such as apps and web resources to increase the capacity of Iranian civil society.

The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran is raising funds to support their continued work against the gender-based inequities in Iran. The committee serves as a major source of information inside Iran and frequently attends international and regional conferences on women’s issues.

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