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# United They Stand
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/united-they-stand/
- Published: 2008-10-12T21:10:12.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:41:53.000Z
- Author: Helen Coskeran
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:49

Iranian women are a force to be reckoned with. Their various campaign groups, such as the One Million Signatures Campaign, are [going strong](<http://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/helencosk/2008/08/21/a-petition-we-cannot-sign>) and there are [success stories](<http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/5050/iran%5Fstop%5Fstoning%5Fnow>) which show the strength of their cause. Perhaps as a result, two disputed articles proposing a relaxation of the polygamy laws and discriminating against women who marry foreigners in the Iranian ['Family Protection Bill'](<http://www.awid.org/eng/Issues-and-Analysis/Library/Widespread-opposition-to-Iran-s-Family-Protection-Bill-From-bad-to-worse-and-beyond> ) have now been scrapped by the government. And rightly so. Those groups, aided by the involvement of high-profile figures like [Shirin Ebadi](<http://nobelprize.org/nobel%5Fprizes/peace/laureates/2003/ebadi-autobio.html>), who have [voiced concern](<http://www.irwomen.info/spip.php?article6119> ) about the bill, must be encouraged by this. So let's hope this brave, united and ongoing pressure on the government will encourage the removal of the remaining contentious articles and help to create a Family Protection Bill that *does* protect the family...