Global and Iranian history are both closely intertwined with the lives and destinies of prominent figures. Every one of them has laid a brick on history’s wall, sometimes paying the price with their lives, men and women alike. Women have been especially influential in the last 200 years, writing much of contemporary Iranian history.
In Iran, women have increased public awareness about gender discrimination, raised the profile of and improved women’s rights, fought for literacy among women, and promoted the social status of women by counteracting religious pressures, participating in scientific projects, being involved in politics, influencing music, cinema... And so the list goes on.
This series aims to celebrate these renowned and respected Iranian women. They are women who represent the millions of women that influence their families and societies on a daily basis. Not all of the people profiled in the series are endorsed by IranWire, but their influence and impact cannot be overlooked. These articles are biographical stories that consider the lives of influential women in Iran.
IranWire readers are invited to send in suggestions for how we might expand the series. Contact IranWire via email (info@iranwire.com), on Facebook, or by tweeting us.
Mahin Afshar sold off most of her dowry, which she had brought to her husband's house from her ancestral home of Malek ol-Tojar, for the 40,000 tomans she needed to finance her own business as a representative of foreign companies operating in Iran. The money helped her to receive a membership card from the Iranian Chamber of Commerce in 1957 and to register as Iran’s Iranian businesswoman. Afshar thus became the heir of those women who had gone into business before her – paving the way for many women merchants who would follow.
Despite the fact that, according to documents of the Chamber of Commerce, Mahin was the first Iranian woman merchant to hold one of its membership cards, we do not know when she was born and little is known of her family history. What we do know is that she was the grandchild of Malek ol-Tojar and studied at the Joan of Arc School in Tehran run by French missionaries. She married a Mr. Afshar, an engineer working at the Petrochemical Company, when she was 28 years old.
After her marriage, Mahin, who was the secretary of the Nationalist Women group, decided to start her own business. Women had done this before and had met success. Official statistics and historical sources suggest that, even when women were kept indoors and were unable to officially operate, they found ways to trade and often made significant profits.
Tehran statistics under the reign of Nassereddin Shah (1831-1896) shows that there were a large number of women owning significant amounts of property,. One example was Hamdam ol-Saltaneh, the wife of Zel ol-Soltan, who was the chief minister Amir Kabir's youngest daughter; she owned the Armenian caravansary.
The sister of an individual known as Pasha Khan is also understood to have owned a quarter of the goldsmiths' bazaar.
But perhaps the most important source about women merchants in the 19th century was the 1869 census carried out by Najm ol-Molk, which was published according to gender and economic status.
In this census, out of 14,256 people living in Tehran, 4,000 women had their own properties, a number of whom were counted as businesswomen and merchants.
One of Nassereddin Shah's wives, Anis ol-Doleh, owned nine shops in the bazaar. A woman named Fatemeh Soltan had a caravansary where she engaged in trade. Another woman, Haji Maryam, had 26 shops in the Dolat District of Tehran. It is said that she personally used to visit the shops to collect her earnings from the shopkeepers.
Najm ol-Saltaneh, the mother of Mohammad Mosaddeq, who was prime minister from 1951 to 1953, also had large estates and was active in purchasing and selling land. Her letters to her brother, Farmanfarma, also showed the challenges she faced in business. Toward the end of her life she even acquired the dealership for Diba elevators in Iran.
Fakhr ol-Doleh Amini, Mozafaraldin Shah's daughter and mother of Ali Amini, Iran’s prime minister from 1961 to 1962, not only had a hand in commerce, but by importing the first taxis to Iran, she initiated the country’s first taxi system.
It was with these examples that Mahin Afshar entered commerce with a relatively small capital – secured by selling off a part of her dowry. Women’s dowries were an essential tradition in Iran, at the time, and families expended huge sums to prepare the dowries they used to marry off their daughters.
Mahin was no exception and she began her marital life with a considerable dowry before using it to start a business.
Since she was the grandchild of Malek ol-Tojar, the “owner of the traders,” she was well familiar with commerce. With her initial capital and by relying on past professional experiences, Mahin was the first woman to establish a transport company, in 1967, starting her business in a rented house of about 30 square meters. Afshar also obtained the dealership rights for companies such as the Danish firms Yurmaster Andun and Yukh and the German firms Arrow, Sarazen, Sage and Ohandubear. Mahin was also the manager of a company importing diesel engines, electrical generators, and large and small welding machines.
By expanding her business, Mahin Afshar established branches of her transport agency in five large international ports, in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, London, and New York. The growth of her business encouraged Mahin to obtain the membership card from the Chamber of Commerce, which she received in 1957, thus becoming an official member of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce.
A Chamber for Commerce
Since its establishment and at the time when Mahin Afshar was a member, the Chambers of Commerce of Iran and Tehran have gone through many changes.
As the result of the influence of Iran’s merchants, the Association of Merchants' Attorneys was established in 1884 as their first guild, creating a foundation for all trade and professional activities for the commerce sector. Founded by Haj Mohammad Hossein Amin ol-Zarb, the institution also played an important role in the emergence of the Constitutional Movement. It was active under the same name until 1926.
On October 8, 1926, the name was changed to the Tehran Chamber of Merchants and was registered on the list of organizations working under the Ministry of Commerce, with Haj Amin Esfahani acting as its chairman and Haj Mirza Abutaleb Eslamieh, Mirza Abdolhoseyn Nikpur, Faqih ol-Tojar, Aqa Mirza Ali Mahluji, and Aqa Sheikh Hossein Hariri on its board of representatives.
Haj Amin Esfahani remained its chairman until 1932. In subsequent elections for the Chamber’s officers,, Haj Hossein Mahdavi, Amin-ol-Zarb's son, was elected as chairman, but maintained his position only for a year, replaced by Abdolhossein Nikpur, who was elected in 1934. Nikpur maintained this position until 1956. Under his chairmanship, the Chamber of Merchants changed its name once again and was called the Chamber of Commerce according to the international convention.
The Chamber of Commerce supported Iran’s commerce sector. That is why industrialists were also moved to establish an institution called the Chamber of Industries and Mining. In 1957, the draft scheme for the new chamber was presented to Iran’s parliament on several occasions. It was at this time when Mahin Afshar applied for membership to the Tehran Chamber of Commerce and paved the way for women in the country’s official economic sectors.
Mahin Afshar also entered politics at this time – deciding to participate in parliamentary elections. Mahin also became an accomplished antique collector and an expert in internal decoration.
At the threshold of the Islamic Revolution, Mahin became a victim of her extensive economic activities and her properties were confiscated. Mahin’s recorded story ends with these confiscations – so her last days have remained as unknown as the earliest years of her life.
Read other articles in this series:
Ashraf Bahador-Zadeh, An Iranian Mother Teresa
Neshat Jandahari, Iran's Second Woman Pilot
Mozayan ol-Saltaneh, Newspaper Publisher and Women’s Rights Activist
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