Women-Led Movement

Written By BIBI Banous in Building Industry

On Saturday, October 29th, the day of “Cyrus the Great" I was wondering about the irony of this legend. He was the visionary leader who established the FIRST, yes, the first Declaration of Human Rights in the world more than 2,500 years ago in Iran. He practiced tolerance of religion for all faiths within the Persian empire and wrote the first International Charter of Human Rights. One of his popular quotes: " Success should always call for showing greater kindness, generosity, and justice; only people lost in the darkness treat it as an occasion for greater greed." - Cyrus the Great 600–530 BC

Yet in the 21st century in the same land, Iranian women and girls are fighting for their rights, something as basic as the right to decide what to wear or not to wear! It seems unfathomable to some of us that not covering your hair is a crime. Even worse, there's an organization named Morality Police whose only charge is to control women and how they dress; women are even penalized for dancing, singing, writing, and so on and so forth…

BIBI Banous in Building Industry

BIBI (Banous In Building Industry) is an informal circle of Iranian-ancestry professional women dedicated to providing support, networking, mentorship, advice and camaraderie to other women in our industry, whether locally, nationally and globally. We represent a grassroots group of female-identity professionals in planning, architecture, interiors, engineering, landscape, construction, lighting, academia, and the arts, who elevate each other. Our group will maintain a comprehensive range from students to entry-level to mid-career to senior level to partners to retirees, in order to expand our reach and to mentor each other. We aim to stay fluid and evolve over time, serving as a model for other professional groups and as a design resource to the community.

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