Meet 1st female historian in Iran

Iranian Kurdish woman Mastoureh Ardalan was a rarity of her time and the first female historian in all of Iran!

Born into a wealthy and well-known family, she learned Kurdish, Arabic, and Persian under her father's supervision.

She was a Kurdish poet historian and writer in the 19th century, writing her book on Islamic jurisprudence—the first time that a woman had ever done so in Iran.

Based on her poems, she is considered the early embodiment of the feminine voice in Persian poetry.

Severing as a token of honor, a 4.5-meter statue of Mastoureh now stands in the city of Sanandaj, Iran’s Kurdistan Province.

AG/AG