Born: 1898, Iran
Died: 1951
Country most active: Iran
Also known as: Persian: مستوره افشار
Mastoureh Afshar was an Iranian intellectual, feminist, and leading figure in Iran’s women’s rights movement. With fellow feminists Mohtaram Eskandari and Noor-ol-Hoda Mangeneh, she co-founded the radicalist Patriotic Women’s League of Iran in Tehran in 1922. She became the society’s president in 1925, a position she held until 1932. Her sisters Alca and Heide were also active politically with the Patriotic Women’s League.
Afshar, along with contemporaries like Sediqeh Dowlatabadi, Mohtaram Eskandari, advocated for the creation of girls schools and increased political rights for women. She attended the first conference on Muslim women held in Damascus in 1930, as part of the Iranian delegation with Sediqeh Dowlatabadi and a Mrs Tabatai.
In 1932, the Iranian government invited her to organize and open the second Eastern Women’s Congress in Tehran from November 27 to December 2 of that year. The congress was attended by women from 15 countries, who passed a 22-point resolution that promoted women’s suffrage, equal opportunities in education and work, the reformation of family law, and prohibition of polygamy and prostitution. However, after the Congress ended, the Iranian government took over the Patriotics Womens League and it ceased to exist.