My Pink Tehran Diary

Two CODEPINK co-founders — Jodie and Medea, feminists and peace activists — visit Tehran, where they go shopping for a dahling manteau and an adorable 30-piece set of silverware — pink, of course. The cause of international sisterhood thus strengthened, they ride the subway back to their local quarters. Now, guess what they love about public transportation Tehran-style? They love that there are separate cars for men and women.

All the young women in the subway car have graduated from college — an urban planner, sociologist, doctor, teacher and mother’s with their young children. It is much saner than the men's car and we get the wisdom of the separation.

"We get the wisdom of the separation." Yes, nothing like publicly praising apartheid of the sexes to show how committed you are to gender equality.

One imagines Jodie and Medea going to 1970s Johannesburg and hanging out in black townships where they bond beautifully with the residents — only to conclude that John Vorster's brutal racial segregation is a most admirable thing because it gives the coloreds a chance to be themselves.

Western feminists who defend or whitewash the oppression and inequality of their burka-clad sisters — it's nothing new, but it's never less than jaw-dropping.