Influential Iranian Women: Pari Abasalti (1935-)

The Iranian expatriate community in Los Angeles know Pari Abasalti, the editor in chief of the magazine Rah-e Zendegi (Way of Living) for 40 years, as a member of the Iranian parliament before the 1979 revolution and as a veteran journalist who has written extensively about women. More than half a century ago, she was editor in chief of the popular women’s magazine Ettela’at Banovan.

Abasalti was born in Tehran in 1935 to an educated family. The same year King Reza Shah issued a decree banning all Islamic veils. Her father had studied at French schools and her mother came from a family of doctors and had been tutored at home, including in French. Her family did everything to provide their daughters with the best possible education.

As a child, Abasalti participated in school literary programs. She participated in a contest in a high school contest that required writing and drawing. In an essay titled ”The Ideal World,” she wrote that she would fly to Michigan, study medicine, would go back to Iran, practice medicine in underprivileged rural areas and serve the people. She did win that contest and her essay and drawing were published in the only student magazine in Iran, with her picture on the cover.

Later, while still in high school, Abasalti was the only girl along with six boys who were chosen in Iran for a contest organized by the UN for students worldwide to write an essay titled “The World We Want.” She pursued her passion for writing throughout high school by producing the school’s newspaper.

After she graduated from high school, Abasalti still dreamed of becoming a doctor and even took the entrance exam for the medical school but, in the end, her passion for writing and literature won, and she pursued a bachelor's degree in English literature at Tehran University’s School of Literature. But she did not stop there and studied for a master’s degree in psychology and education.

Life as a Journalist

Ettela’at Banovan started publishing in April 1957. In its first issue, the magazine asked writers aspiring to join the staff to submit an article. Abasalti wrote a report about her college and she was asked to join the magazine as a reporter.

For 11 years, Sabeti was a reporter, translator and writer for Ettela’at Banovan even while she was still studying at the University. But her earlier dream of becoming a doctor has not completely left her and, as she herself said in an interview, sometimes she published her articles under the byline “Dr. Pari Abasalti.”

It was at Ettela’at Banovan that she met and later married Houshang Mir-Hashem, who shared her passion for writing. She says that as a reporter, she started looking at ways to serve the people. She was deeply interested in the issue of gender inequality and wrote about women’s rights and gender equality movements in other countries as well.

Ettela’at Banovan established a social gathering place for women called Girls and Women’s Club. Abasalti managed the club, which offered an opportunity for women to learn an array of subjects, including but not limited to dressmaking, hairdressing, cooking, typing and the English language. It also opened the door for women’s sports. Many national games were played and won by its women’s sports teams, which also traveled abroad to participate in competitions. She also established a weekly event where famous singers would perform for the members so they could enjoy the live music together, something that would have been impossible otherwise.

In all these activities, her husband Houshang Mir-Hashem and Iraj Mosta’an, who was the editor in chief of the magazine at the time, supported and helped her.

Ten years after her first article appeared in the magazine, Abasalti was chosen as the editor in chief of Ettela’at Banovan, becoming the first-ever woman to become the editor in chief of a magazine in Iran. In her new role, she was invited to foreign countries to report about women. She was granted interviews by public figures, including Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman astronaut. She met with editors of international publications such as The New York Times, Daily Telegram, and The Guardian. She traveled across the world from Ethiopia to Venezuela along with the Shah of Iran and Queen Farah as their official reporter.

Her work as a journalist made her increasingly interested in politics. She says that many people who worked with her also encouraged her to enter politics, which she did. In 1975, she declared her candidacy for a seat in parliament as a representative of Tehran, handily won the election and remained a parliament member until the 1979 revolution.

Refusing to Print Khomeini’s Picture

At the time of upheaval in Iran before the downfall of the Shah, she was asked to publish a picture of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic, on the cover of Ettela’at Banovan. She refused and left the country with her husband to visit their son who was a student in the US, thinking that they would return after the revolutionary fever had cooled down. But the situation in Iran changed rapidly and they decided to start a new life as immigrants.

In the US they started writing for the expatriate Iranian community, something that they were very good at.

Abasalti first pursued a PhD in journalism at New York University but, after a year, she and her husband moved to Los Angeles where many Iranian immigrants lived and started a new venture, Rah-e Zendegi.

While in Iran, Abasalti had also gained 10 years of experience in producing and broadcasting radio programs about Iranian women. After some years, Radio Iran, the only Persian-language Radio at the time in the US, asked her to do the same in an hour-long daily talk show which would cover news, interviews and entertainment. So she started a new venture alongside the publication of Rah-e Zendegi. The daily reporting of world’s news made her talk show one of the most popular radio programs for the expatriate community.

Abasalti also organized trips. While in Iran, she had organized several trips for members of the Girls and Women’s Club. Because of her extensive travels around the world, both in her personal life and in her professional capacity, she was able to organize tours, both inside the US and internationally. She managed the logistics of the trips and accompanied the participants for the duration of the travels while providing entertainment for them.

Her activities in the Iranian community in the US led her to be three times the president of the Coalition of Iranian Entrepreneurs and twice the president of the Rancho Rotary Club.