What may be surprising to many is that it wasn’t that long ago when women shared the same amount of freedom in appearance and movement as their Western sisters, and proof of this can be found in back issues of a magazine, called Zan-e Rooz (sometimes romanized as Zan-i Rūz). Zan-e Rooz was a women’s weekly magazine, and the Persian title translates to Women of Today. The magazine was started in 1964 as a Western-inspired gossip magazine, in which the women could read about their favorite Hollywood or European actors and read their horoscopes, find dating advice and get fashion and style inspiration. But after the Revolution—also known as the Islamic Revolution —in 1979, Zan-e Rooz was forced to change its format and style to conform to the new morality code enforced by the government. Its editorial board and reporters had been almost exclusively female, but most of the original staff resigned as a result of having to conform to the rules.
