Editor’s note: Mahnaz Afkhami was the minister of women’s affairs in Iran’s government before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Her most recent book is “The Other Side of Silence: A Memoir of Exile, Iran, and the Global Women’s Movement,” published by the University of North Carolina Press. Iranian women have been deprived of the rights that they know and for which they have worked. This may be the first women-led counterrevolution in history — and it’s one in which men and women have participated together. Join us on Twitter and FacebookIn every area of endeavor that does not need government engagement, the women of Iran have succeeded.

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Persons: Mahnaz Afkhami, ”, CNN —, Mahsa, Mahnaz, Mahsa Amini, Ruhollah Khomeini, “, Mohammad Khatami’s, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Organizations: Women’s Learning, Foundation, Iranian Studies, Global, University of North Carolina Press, CNN, Getty, Green Movement, Protesters, Twitter, Facebook, Islamic Locations: Iran, Kurdish Iranian, Islamic Republic, Tehran, Qom