Iranian women celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) 2005 in Tehran and various cities in Iran. Two of the celebrations reported were in Sanandaj and Saggez, two Kurdish cities in Iran. All of the celebrations were organized by NGO’s.

In Sanandaj 3000 men and women participated in this celebration organized by a women’s organization, The Society for Support of Women (web site in Persian).

There were speeches by various members of this organization and others including one by a youth organization. The speech from the youth organization was delivered by a young man.

The declaration for IWD in Sannandaj included demands for the rights of women such as (these are informal translations from the Persian text):

• We condemn Gender Apartheid.
• Equal rights for men and women in all social, economic and political arenas.
• We condemn all forms of violence against women.
• We demand equal pay for equal work.
• Homemakers are workers. We demand health, disability, and retirement benefits for them.
• Spouses and children of the working class suffer under harsh living conditions. We support all demands of the workers such as wage increases and family welfare programs.