An extraordinary woman, Fatemeh Sayyah was the first female university professor in Iran (Tehran University). She was also the first woman to have been sent on an international mission and the only woman to be a member of the Soviet and British cultural institutes in Tehran.
Born in Russia to a Russian mother and Iranian father in 1902, she gained her education including her PhD in Moscow. She moved to Iran in 1934 and married her cousin before divorcing him three years later.
Fatemeh was a vocal proponent of women’s rights, being one of the founding members of the Women’s Society in 1936.
She attended Iran’s delegation to the 17th session of the League of Nations (first woman to be on a diplomatic mission) and used opportunities through international travel to learn and bring that knowledge to advance the role of women in Iran.
She co-founded the Women’s Party of Iran (with Safieh Firouz) with the goal of “improving the economic, social and political situation of Iranian women, banning polygamy, elevating women’s educational opportunities, child-caring education, establishing equality between men and women and suffrage for women.
Suffering from diabetes, she died of a heart attack on 4 March 1948. Fatemeh made a significant contribution to the field of women’s equality in Iran, and many attribute her to inspiring them to follow in that path.
Women, Life, Freedom 