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169 ‫بنیاد ایرا ‌نشناسی‬

Women in Business and Social Development

Anna Stamou

Being a Woman was never an easy task. Woman was always the Mother,
the wife, the preserver of the Family bond, of the religious identity of the
family. Woman was always there at work, in science, in business, in academia,
even in the most demanding tasks. Woman is capable of everything and she
has proven that through the centuries.

Today in the Western World, after all those struggles and ordeals we find the
woman in a really hard role. She has to be successful in everything, and even
though she is subjected to much discrimination despite of the opposite rhetoric
that is propagated by the mainstream media. I come from an EU country, Greece,
and what we hear about the Iranian women is a very negative image, always
oppressed, uneducated, brainwashed, unequal, inferior human being. But since
I started visiting Iran I understood fully why we were told so, why they distorted
the truth so shamelessly. This happened because women in Iran have more power
than women in Europe, but in order to oppress Us more, they spread false stere-
otypes. When I met the Iranian women then I knew the truth, that is why it is an
honor for me to be a part of this conference.

Being a Muslim woman in headscarf living in EU is a constant struggle.
The so called gender equality bends over when the woman is a Muslim, even
harder when she is practicing her faith. The job market is becoming very stiff
and full of restrictions for her, especially in the high positions. This is a fact
and that is why Women in Europe are studying harder, working harder, trying
harder, and finally are succeeding better than men.