Farrokhroo Parsa

Farrokhroo Parsa (; 24 March 1922 – 8 May 1980) was an Iranian physician, educator, Member of the Parliament of Iran, and Minister of Education of Iran. She was a supporter of women's rights in Iran, and was executed by firing squad.

She served as minister of education from 1968 to 1971 under Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda and was the first female cabinet minister ever in Iran. Parsa was an outspoken supporter of women's rights in Iran.

At the outset of the Islamic Cultural Revolution, Parsa was executed by firing squad on 8 May 1980 in Tehran due to her feminist beliefs.

Early years Board of Governors of the Association of Patriotic Women (Jam'iyat-e Nesvan-e Vatankhah), Tehran, 1922–1932. Sitting on the far left is FakhrAfagh Parsa, mother of Farrokhroo Parsa.

Farrokhroo Parsa was born on 24 March 1922 in Qom, Iran, to Farrokh-Din and FakhrAfagh Parsa. Her mother, FakhrAfagh, was the editor of the women's magazine Jahān-e Zan, and a vocal proponent for gender equality and educational opportunities for women. Her views on this subject met with opposition of the conservative sections of the Iranian society at the time, leading to the expulsion of the family by the government of Prime Minister Ahmad Qavām, from Tehran to Qom, where FakhrAfagh was placed under house arrest. It was here that Farrokhroo was born, some minutes past midnight on Iranian New Year's Eve 1922 (Nowruz, 1301 AH).

Member of Parliament, and Minister of Education

In 1963, Parsa was elected to Iran's parliament (the Majles'; a position she held until 1968), and began petitioning Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for suffrage for women in Iran. Parsa was executed by firing squad on 8 May 1980 in Evin Prison in Tehran.

In her last letter from prison, Farrokhroo Parsa wrote to her children: "I am a doctor, so I have no fear of death. Death is only a moment and no more. I am prepared to receive death with open arms rather than live in shame by being forced to be veiled. I am not going to bow to those who expect me to express regret for fifty years of my efforts for equality between men and women. I am not prepared to wear the chador and step back in history." In fact, during her tenure as minister of education, Beheshti, Bahonar and Mofatteh were on the ministry's payroll. These three were to be major players in the Islamic Revolution several years later. With her ministry's funding, Beheshti established the Islamic Center of Hamburg, and Bahonar was able to set up a few Islamic public schools around Tehran.