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Women in Iran barely have any sources of information about sexual health or legal protections. Through her app, Hamdam, disguised as a period tracker, Soudeh Rad (she/they), a queer feminist is sneaking that information to them.
Soudeh Rad is an Iranian women’s rights activist who lives in France. When in Iran, she was married. Her husband used to beat her. When she asked him for a divorce, she realized that, “I had no rights, like the right to file a divorce, the right to leave the country without permission. When I wanted to leave Iran and come back to France, I realized my husband was trying to ban me from leaving the country.”
She left on the first flight out.
This experience, along with her observations about the life of women in Iran, prompted her to submit the idea for the Hamdam app to IranCubator, a contest held by the NGO United for Iran, to make Android apps that protect Iran’s oppressed by promoting civil liberties. She knew that there was a great need for this, as the little information available to women, is “biased, heteronormative, and male pleasure–centered.”
“In Iran, anything related to women’s bodies is taboo. I recognized that there was an urgent need for education about women’s sexual health, which gave me the idea for this app. I decided to develop an app because the Iranian population is very young and the majority of them spend many hours every day looking at apps on their phones,” she says.
The innovative and convenient features of the Hamdam app are:
The app has received a lot of support among Iranian women. It has been downloaded more than 165,000 times. “I get a lot of positive feedback not only about the period tracker part but also about how we are raising awareness about domestic violence and … putting a name on the things many women are already living under,” says Rad.
Iran’s Constitution and laws institutionalize violence against women, and sanction the cruel punishments of flogging, stoning and blinding. Sexual harassment, forced marriages, compulsory veil, etc are realities that they live with. Iran also has one of the tightest internet censorship regimes in the world. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have been blocked in Iran for several years. Telegram was blocked last year, and recently, there was talk of banning Instagram. In such a scenario, where access to information and freedom of expression is tightly controlled, apps like Hamdam are an invaluable resource.
The theme of International Women’s Day, 2019, which falls on March 8th, is “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change”. #IWD2019
With women still a minority in science, technology & related innovation, it’s time to shine a spotlight on female innovation champions! Enjoy our Women Innovators Around The World series, where we profile 19 inspiring women innovators, from 19 countries, whose work has a big social impact.
Want to know what other innovations women around the world have pioneered? Read about Sooinn Lee here.
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Dushyanta clearly remembered everything. But he didn't have any intention to accept a poor woman from a remote hermitage as his wife and her son as theirs.
Dushyanta clearly remembered everything. But he didn’t have any intention to accept a poor woman from a remote hermitage as his wife and her son as theirs.
She sat motionless on the royal bed, her knees drawn up to her chin, staring vacantly outside the palace window.
She was sheathed in exquisite scarlet red silk, shot through with golden threads forming intricate traditional patterns. Chests of gems and jewellery were strewn all over the bed. The maids were fussing over whether a diamond-studded necklace would suit their queen or a gold choker would look better. Another younger maid was arranging her tresses in a coiffeur.
Actor Siddharth sent out a distasteful tweet in response to a tweet by Saina Nehwal, in what he thought were clever words, but this slur on any woman is not acceptable.
Trust me when I say I’ve run out of patience in stopping myself from calling this ‘liberal’, self-proclaimed feminist actor out umpteen times in the past.
Let me count them out for you.
Parliament refuses to criminalise marital rape in India. How long will we focus on saving 'culture' at the cost of women?
Parliament refuses to criminalise marital rape in India. How long will we focus on saving ‘culture’ at the cost of women?
“What mark is that? Goes well with your saree print!” I told my domestic helper as a blue colour popped up near her blouse. She tried to hide it and in the process I noticed that she had more than one of those blue prints on her. She looked at me with the most heartbreaking tears when she perceived that I had a suspicion as to why her skin was discoloured. Yet, I wasn’t ready for what I was about to hear about what I saw.
Trigger alert: This post contains descriptions of violence that could be disturbing for some readers.
When we looked for Indian women who have made a difference to other women's lives, we came across these 8 women whose work speaks for itself.
When we looked for Indian women who have made a difference to other women’s lives, we came across these 10 women whose work speaks for itself.
“The lamps are different, but the light is the same” – Rumi
These women have proven that the light within us shines so bright; it illuminates the entire environment where we live in.