"...A previously unknown historical anecdote cited by a US scholar in a recent book best illustrates the point. It concerns the protection of the Iranian Jews living in the occupied Europe during the II World War. According to the author the Iranian Government of the time managed to procure them safe conduct from the authorities of the Third Reich on the false pretence that these citizens, having lived in Iran for over two millenniums, have been assimilated in the Persians (Arian) race .
The status of women is another case in point. Under the Pahlavis the Iranian women were brought to the society's mainstream. The mushrooming institutions of higher learning opened their doors to women. Teachers, doctors, lawyers and administrators were trained and fielded in different walks of life. The right to vote (even if only nominal), to seek divorce and be protected from an abusive husband was - to the dismay of the clerics - written into the law. Today, the Iranian women remain one of the vanguards of resistance to scourges of the fundamentalist rule..."
