Stories of Iranian Women

To have many children is part of our culture and part of our lives. Children carry on our traditions and help us in our work and in our old age. Children are compared among the women all the time. Children are part of the life cycle, but that cycle is supposed to run in a certain way. We marry, we have our children as soon as possible, all in a row, and then we settle into a different mode, raise our children, watch them get married and have children of their own, and help care for the grandchildren.

Having a child late in life creates problems because it says something about my private life to everyone else in the community. It tells them that I am still sleeping with my husband, for one thing. There are modern ways of preventing pregnancy, but they are difficult for us to do. When I tried, the pills made me feel sick. The importance of children is great, but we also place importance on doing the right thing and on living in a way that fits with the norm in our group. I was ashamed that I had not done this even though it was not my faul

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situation. I could live with my family, but I found it impossible to live with his. I know that different people saw what happened in different ways. I would not live with Ali's family any longer. My family believed he sent me away like a servant because they told him to, but I wanted a house of my own. I did not go back until we could be living alone. Sometimes leaving a husband is a good way to make a point and to get what you want. SIMIN My story shows how women are able to bring about change in the household, as I did when I married Avdal. At the time, his father, Tamas, and Trab were fighting over land inherited form their father. I did not know of the many problems this had caused when I first arrived, including the medical problems facing Tamas and other sin the family at the time. Moving into this house was difficult, and I was afraid for all that this would mean. I really did not know Avdal at all, and even if this is the common custom, I was afraid and fought against being violated. Afterwards, though, I knew that I was a woman now and became part of the family group as a matter of course. I spent most of my time with the women in the compound and saw little of the men. Avdal and I had the good room, thoug
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Deh Koh, Avdal Aziz, Deh Rud, Tamas Trab, Erica Friedl, ali's family, ali build house, village life, ali build, build house,
Approximate Word count = 1793
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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