Shahla Sherkat

Shahla Sherkat (born March 30, 1956) is a journalist, prominent Persian feminist author, and one of the pioneers of Women's rights movement in Iran.

Shahla Sherkat is founder and publisher of Zanan magazine (zanan means "women"), which focuses on the concerns of Iranian women and continually tests the political waters with its edgy coverage of everything from reform politics to domestic abuse to sex. Zanan has been the most important Iranian women's journal after Iranian revolution.

Sherkat has had to appear in court on several occasions when Zanan's content was considered to be pushing boundaries too far. In 2001 she was sentenced to four months in prison for attending a conference in Berlin at which the future of politics in Iran was discussed following the success of reformist candidates in a parliamentary election.

Sherkat was born in Isfahan, Iran. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Tehran University and a certificate in journalism from Keyhan Institute, also in Tehran. Since 2002, she has been working towards her master's degree in women’s studies from Allameh Tabatabai University.

Honours and awards

• 2005 Louis Lyons Award, The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University
• 2005 The Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF)

See also

• Women's rights movement in Iran

References

• Shahla Sherkat, Iran, International Women's Media Foundation

External links

• Farideh Farhi, The Attempted Silencing of Zanan, Informed Comment: Global Affairs, Friday, February 1, 2008, [1].
• Amal Hamada, Zanan: An Iranian Reformist Women's Magazine, IslamOnline, Tuesday, February 17, 2004, [2].
• Zanān (Women) Magazine: [3].