Women's affairs researcher Banafsheh Hejazi has recently written a book entitled "Zaeifeh" (the tender sex).

She wrote that women have always played an important metaphysical role in myths.

In Greek, Hindu, Roman and Egyptian mythology, the goddess is as important as the god. But where do Iranian women stand in the myths? According to Hejazi, in Iranian culture, the metaphysical nature of women is taken into consideration, too. Six of the twelve angels or the Zoroastrian religion are female, and Anahita is the most important.

All goddesses were symbols of creativity, blessings, and good fortune. Their fertility symbolizes their creativity. Of course, women were absent in some cases. For example, there are no pictures of women in Persepolis, but their presence is tangible.

As long as Iranian women lived in a simple society, men and women were equal, but when society became more complicated and roles and responsibilities were differentiated, women were marginalized. This was especially true during the Safavid era. Before this time men and women were equal, but in the Safavid era, not one queen ruled the empire.

The difficult situation of women is obvious.

Several questions arise, such as: What is the nature of these problems? Is it legal? Is it social and cultural? Is it political? Or is it religious? Ms. Hejazi believes women's problems are very abstruse and profound. She writes that chauvinistic laws are the source of the problem and that the legal system must be rectified in order to solve women's problems.

She believes that the ideas of religious intellectuals on women's issues are based on theoretical discussions, but our women want security most of all. She wrote that security requires an efficient legal system and that all theoretical discussions are meaningless until security is established. She also believes that the role of vigilant jurists is more important than the role of enlightened theoreticians.