On September 13, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini was detained by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s “morality police” in Tehran. Three days later, she died in police custody. Protests erupted around the country, and while their causes are manifold, they have been led by women and take as their primary target what Iranian composer and founding member and co-artistic director of the Iranian Female Composers Association Niloufar Nourbakhsh calls “gender apartheid.” In a statement condemning the “horrific murder” of Amini, the IFCA writes, “We firmly believe that the arts can only blossom in a politically and socially free society, and the right to choose what to wear is one of the fundamental aspects of such a society.” I spoke with Nourbakhsh by video chat from her home in Maryland about supporting her countrywomen from abroad, her 2017 work of musical protest, “Veiled,” and the striking unity of the demonstrators.
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