Farrokhroo Parsa

Who was Farrokhroo Parsa?

Farokhroo Pārsāy, was an Iranian physician, educator and parliamentarian. She served as Minister of Education of Iran in the last pre-Islamic revolution government and was the first female cabinet minister of an Iranian government.

Pārsāy was an outspoken supporter of women's rights in Iran, and was executed by firing squad on 8 May 1980 after the Islamists came to power in Iran, on religious-revolutionary charges stemming from this position. Some journalists, based on informed sources, say that her execution was carried out by putting her in a large bag and then hung, the rope got cut off and they did the firing squad . In the early 1960s, she wrote a letter to the Shah requesting the right to vote for women; the late Shah replied, “I will seek my nation’s vote on the matter, my people do not consist only of men.”