Summary
Dr Farrokhroo Parsa (1922–1980) was an Iranian physician and educator who in 1968 became the first woman to serve in an Iranian cabinet, as Minister of Education under Prime Minister Hoveyda. She expanded girls’ education, removed compulsory veiling from public schools, and rewrote textbooks to remove sexist passages. The Islamic Revolutionary Court convicted her in absentia and again at a 5-minute hearing on 8 May 1980, of "spreading corruption on earth" and "warring against God". She was sewn into a sack and shot the same night in Tehran’s Evin Prison.
Early life and medicine
Born in Qom in 1922, Farrokhroo Parsa was raised by parents who were activists for women’s suffrage — her mother had published a pioneering women’s magazine in the 1910s. She qualified as a physician at Tehran University and worked as a school doctor and biology teacher in Tehran in the 1940s and 1950s.
In government
Elected to the Majlis in 1963 as one of Iran’s first women parliamentarians, she was appointed Minister of Education in 1968 — the first woman to hold a cabinet post in Iran’s history. Over the next three years she opened thousands of new schools for girls, doubled the literacy budget, removed the chador from public school dress codes, and ordered the rewriting of school textbooks to remove passages depicting women as inferior.
Arrest
After the 1979 revolution she was arrested as a member of the Pahlavi cabinet and held at Evin Prison. She refused to recant her record on women’s education. From prison she wrote to her children: "I am a doctor, so I have no fear of death. Death is only a moment, and no more. I am prepared to receive death with open arms rather than live in shame."
Trial and execution
On 8 May 1980 she was convicted by Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali’s Revolutionary Court of "spreading corruption on earth", "warring against God" and "plundering of the public treasury". Witnesses report the trial lasted five minutes. That night she was sewn into a hessian sack — to prevent any male executioner from touching a woman’s body — and shot at Evin. She was 58.
Legacy
Farrokhroo Parsa is widely commemorated as a martyr of Iranian women’s rights. The European Parliament cited her in 2023 alongside Mahsa Amini in awarding the Sakharov Prize. Schools in the Iranian diaspora bear her name. Her last letter — "I am prepared to receive death with open arms rather than live in shame" — is read aloud at women’s-rights gatherings in Iran and abroad every May 8.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Farrokhroo Parsa?
An Iranian physician, educator and politician who in 1968 became the first woman to serve in an Iranian cabinet, as Minister of Education.
When was Farrokhroo Parsa executed?
She was shot by firing squad in Evin Prison, Tehran on 8 May 1980.
Why was Farrokhroo Parsa executed?
Sadegh Khalkhali’s Revolutionary Court convicted her of "spreading corruption on earth" and "warring against God" — citing her work expanding girls’ education and removing compulsory veiling from schools.
How was Farrokhroo Parsa executed?
Witnesses report she was sewn into a hessian sack before being shot — a practice used by the early Islamic Republic so that male executioners did not touch a woman’s body.
Was Farrokhroo Parsa Iran's first woman minister?
Yes. She was the first woman to hold a cabinet portfolio in Iranian history.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Iranica — Parsa, Farrokhruʾ
- Abbas Milani, Eminent Persians
- Iran Human Rights — historical executions database
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