40 Million: The Struggle for
Women’s Rights in Iran

In celebration of International Women’s Day, TIME presents this short documentary about the women’s movement in Iran.

DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, WRITER: JEFF KAUFMAN
PRODUCER: MARCIA S. ROSS
SUPERVISING PRODUCER: JUSTINE SIMONS
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: OMID MEMARIAN
EDITOR: SPENCER BAKALAR
TRANSLATIONS: PARISA SARANJ

On International Women’s Day 2013, Iranian attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh addressed a meeting in Tehran and spoke about the “common female experience” that links women’s rights activists in her country over many decades of struggle. That experience has been shared by women all over the world.This documentary starts with a woman being executed for demanding equality in Iran in 1852, which was just a few years after the Seneca Falls Convention in the United States.The parallels and lessons between our countries continues today.Producer Marcia Ross and I have had the privilege of getting to know a number of the women in this film. We feel it is important to bring attention to them and their cause, especially as many languish in prison or exile.Through gains and losses and remarkable resilience, these women have refused to give up or be silenced. As Nasrin’s friend, colleague, and now fellow political prisoner Narges Mohammadi said, “To achieve human rights, it is necessary to achieve women’s rights.”

- Jeff Kaufman, Ms. Magazine / March 8, 2020