Fatemeh Haghighatjou
Encyclopedia
Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, also spelled Haghighatjou and Haqiqatju (born 29 December 1968/8 Dey 1347) is a reformist
and a former member of the Iranian Parliament
.
Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Ph.D., an expert in Iran’s internal affairs and a leading advocate of civil, democratic society in Iran, one that granted freedom of speech and human rights, including women's rights, academic freedom, and a free press, was a member of Iran’s reformist Majlis (parliament) from 2000-2004. After a losing struggle for reform in the parliament, her resignation was accepted as the first of several members on February 23, 2004.
Before entering politics, Haghighatjoo was a psychologist and head of the Student Psychological Consultant Center of Iran University of Science and Technologyhttp://www.iust.ac.ir/home_en.php. She has held professorships at Tehran Universityhttp://www.ut.ac.ir/en/main-links/background.htm and Shahid Beheshti Universityhttp://en.sbu.ac.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=73, formerly known as the National University of Iran. She has authored a book entitled Search for Truth (published in 2002).
In 2005, Dr. Haghighatjoo completed her Ph.D. in Counseling from Tarbiat Moallem Universityhttp://78.39.184.21/portal/faces/public/portal_en in Tehran, Iran.
Almost immediately after being awarded her Ph.D., Haghighatjoo left Iran for the United States with her husband, a journalist, and their daughter. They arrived in Boston in September of 2005.
She was honored as a Young Global Leader in 2005 by the World Economic Forumhttp://www.weforum.org/.
Shortly after her arrival in the United States, Haghighatjoo became a fellow at MIT’s Center for International Studieshttp://web.mit.edu/cis/press_release_scholar.html. The following year, she was a fellow at Harvard University's Women and Public Policy Programhttp://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/wappp/for-scholars/fellowship-program/past-wappp-fellows/2006-2007. After that, she taught women’s studies courses at The University of Connecticuthttp://www.uconn.edu/ at Storrs during the academic year of 2007-2008. While at MIT and Harvard, Haghighatjoo worked on a revision of Iran's constitution. She continues this effort while also working in Iran's reform movement.
In 2008, Haghighatjoo became a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy, located at the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts Bostonhttp://www.umb.edu/academics/mgs/. She is currently working on an initiative called Women's Leadership in a Global Perspectivehttp://www.umb.edu/academics/uc/certificates/women-leadership/, which includes a week-long training program in Boston. In addition, Dr. Haghighatjoo is currently a part-time faculty member at UMass Boston, where she teaches a course called Women in Global Perspective for its Women’s Studies program.
In 2010, Fatemeh Haghighatjoo became a co-founding chair of the Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy, Inc. (NID)http://www.nidemocracy.org/en/.
Currently, Dr. Haghighatjoo works on defining “state feminism” in Iran, which is the institutionalization of women’s issues there, to how it both promotes and limits women’s position there. She has published a book chapter and several papers on the Iranian women’s movement. She is also working on a book manuscript, a memoir of her life and career, entitled A Voice for Truth.
Dr. Haghighatjoo has been extensively interviewed and quoted by the international media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, BBC Persian TV and Radio, Voice of America, CNN, and others. Since arriving in the United States, she has given numerous talks regarding efforts at forming a civil society in her native Iran, as well as women’s rights and internal politics in Iran.
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
and a former member of the Iranian Parliament
Majlis of Iran
The National Consultative Assembly of Iran , also called The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran...
.
Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Ph.D., an expert in Iran’s internal affairs and a leading advocate of civil, democratic society in Iran, one that granted freedom of speech and human rights, including women's rights, academic freedom, and a free press, was a member of Iran’s reformist Majlis (parliament) from 2000-2004. After a losing struggle for reform in the parliament, her resignation was accepted as the first of several members on February 23, 2004.
Before entering politics, Haghighatjoo was a psychologist and head of the Student Psychological Consultant Center of Iran University of Science and Technologyhttp://www.iust.ac.ir/home_en.php. She has held professorships at Tehran Universityhttp://www.ut.ac.ir/en/main-links/background.htm and Shahid Beheshti Universityhttp://en.sbu.ac.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=73, formerly known as the National University of Iran. She has authored a book entitled Search for Truth (published in 2002).
In 2005, Dr. Haghighatjoo completed her Ph.D. in Counseling from Tarbiat Moallem Universityhttp://78.39.184.21/portal/faces/public/portal_en in Tehran, Iran.
Almost immediately after being awarded her Ph.D., Haghighatjoo left Iran for the United States with her husband, a journalist, and their daughter. They arrived in Boston in September of 2005.
She was honored as a Young Global Leader in 2005 by the World Economic Forumhttp://www.weforum.org/.
Shortly after her arrival in the United States, Haghighatjoo became a fellow at MIT’s Center for International Studieshttp://web.mit.edu/cis/press_release_scholar.html. The following year, she was a fellow at Harvard University's Women and Public Policy Programhttp://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/wappp/for-scholars/fellowship-program/past-wappp-fellows/2006-2007. After that, she taught women’s studies courses at The University of Connecticuthttp://www.uconn.edu/ at Storrs during the academic year of 2007-2008. While at MIT and Harvard, Haghighatjoo worked on a revision of Iran's constitution. She continues this effort while also working in Iran's reform movement.
In 2008, Haghighatjoo became a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy, located at the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts Bostonhttp://www.umb.edu/academics/mgs/. She is currently working on an initiative called Women's Leadership in a Global Perspectivehttp://www.umb.edu/academics/uc/certificates/women-leadership/, which includes a week-long training program in Boston. In addition, Dr. Haghighatjoo is currently a part-time faculty member at UMass Boston, where she teaches a course called Women in Global Perspective for its Women’s Studies program.
In 2010, Fatemeh Haghighatjoo became a co-founding chair of the Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy, Inc. (NID)http://www.nidemocracy.org/en/.
Currently, Dr. Haghighatjoo works on defining “state feminism” in Iran, which is the institutionalization of women’s issues there, to how it both promotes and limits women’s position there. She has published a book chapter and several papers on the Iranian women’s movement. She is also working on a book manuscript, a memoir of her life and career, entitled A Voice for Truth.
Dr. Haghighatjoo has been extensively interviewed and quoted by the international media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, BBC Persian TV and Radio, Voice of America, CNN, and others. Since arriving in the United States, she has given numerous talks regarding efforts at forming a civil society in her native Iran, as well as women’s rights and internal politics in Iran.