By Darioush Bayandor
  
Throughout centuries female literally talents in Iran have been quashed and sidelined in the male-dominated socio-cultural environment of the country. Poetry is a distinct part of Iran’s cultural identity yet only five percent of some 8000 catalogued poets since the tenth century are females. Among female literary profiles in the earlier centuries two earned lasting celebrity. Both belonged to the wider cultural sphere of the Persian-language which no longer corresponds to the present-day geographical boundaries. Mahsati Ganjavi, was a twelve-century poetess living in Ganje (in to-day’s Azerbaijan) while the semi-legendry Rābe’eh Balkhi (bint Kaab) lived in or around the tenth century in Balkh (in to-day’s Afghanistan). Little of their poetry has survived and the account of their lives is shrouded in fables. This article is an introductory focus on five modern era female icons who earned fame – some stardom – blending literally talents with an ability to rise above societal inhibitions and taboos. Lire plus …