Over the bridge.

[UNVERIFIED CONTENT] In 1979, revolution in Iran succeeded in bringing down the monarchy of the Shah. Soon afterwards, the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini, who had led the revolution from afar, returned to establish the Islamic Republic of Iran. Inspired by hopes for democracy, economic prosperity for all classes, gender equality and a leadership that would not allow Iranian culture to be swallowed up by Western values, many Iranian women joined the 1978-'79 rebellion against the rule of the Shah. Women came together to protest such sexist attitudes as expressed by the Shah in 1973 when he said, "A woman is important in a man's life only if she is beautiful and charming. . . . You are equal to a man in the eyes of the law. But excuse me for saying so, you are certainly not equal [to a man] in your capabilities." But did the Iranian Revolution and the Islamic Republic come through for women? Did it give them the freedom, the equality and the dignity that it promised?