Iranian women are announced to receive the Simone De Beauvoir prize for Women’s Freedom in 2023. The prize recognizes the work and actions of individuals, who contribute to the freedom of women around the world.
The jury of the Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women’s Freedom has unanimously chosen this year to honor the “Woman, Life, Freedom!” movement, in memory of Amini.
The prize, created in 2008 in honor of the French feminist philosopher and author of “The Second Sex,” is awarded annually to a person or group that defends and promotes women’s freedom.
Previous awardees have included Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and Pakistani activist for the education of girls whom the Taliban attempted to assassinate; Giusi Nicolini, the mayor of the Italian island of Lampedusa, who fights for the rights of refugees and migrants; the Polish abortion rights movement Save Women and its leader, Barbara Nowacka; the authors Aslı Erdoğan, Leila Slimani, Sonia Terrab.
De Beauvoir’s support for Iranian women against Khomeini
By awarding its 2023 prize to Iranian women and in memory of Amini, the jury seeks to express its “full support of the widening of the revolt into a revolutionary movement,” according to a statement from the Simone de Beauvoir prize committee.
The 2023 award will be presented Monday, Jan. 9, Simone de Beauvoir’s birthday, in a ceremony open to the public presided over by Sylvie Le Bon-de Beauvoir, a professor of philosophy, author, and Simone de Beauvoir’s adopted daughter.
De Beauvoir, who died in 1986, had a deep connection to Iran. Her 1949 book, originally titled “Le deuxième sexe,” was read widely by Iranian feminists and activists. De Beauvoir supported the revolt of Iranian women against Ayatollah Khomeini, who came to power in 1979 and imposed fundamentalist rule, including making wearing the veil mandatory and other restrictions on women.