On the occasion of the Sacred Defense Week in Iran, ifilm English website reviews the role of Iranian women in the eight-year Sacred Defense against foreign invaders.

Despite being less in numbers in comparison to male combatants, Iranian women took on defending their homes along with men throughout all those years of protecting a nation against enemy troops.

History tells us that the presence of men in the battlefields was not the only factor which secured victory for Iran. In fact, women directly or indirectly influenced the fate of battles by supporting the morale of the male troopers, encouraging men to continuously attend warfronts, nursing the injured and treating wounds, carrying out a wide range of relief operations, and safeguarding bastions behind the front lines.

During the Sacred Defense years, Iranian women handed over their jewelry and precious belongings to the combatants. They also participated in political, social, and cultural activities.

Given the importance of the role of women in Iran-Iraq war, many authors have investigated the role of wives and mothers of the martyrs who stayed at home but helped frontline fighters.

Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh, who is an Iranian history professor and the author of Women and Gender in the Iran-Iraq War, illustrated the remarkable role of Iranian women in the Sacred Defense.

Farzaneh reports that Iran had a female pilot - Shahla Dehbozorgi - who did several surveillance flights and was present in the logistics flights as well.  

Leila Hassanzadeh, the mother of Martyr Hassan Shabani, also contributed to the resistance campaign by devoting her home to volunteers.

Kicking off on September 21, Iran’s Sacred Defense Week is annually celebrated nationwide in commemoration of martyrs and war veterans of the Iraqi imposed war on Iran in 1980-88.

Braveness of the Iranian soldiers during Iraq’s eight years of the imposed war is unprecedented in the history of contemporary conflicts since everyone including young people or even teenagers gave all they had even their most valuable property - their lives - to fight against the enemies.

MM/MM