Nicole Greenfield: Hundreds of women gathered in protest of Iran’s gender inequality in Tehran today, mere days before the country’s June 17th presidential elections. According to reports, the demonstration was almost immediately met with violence by police, and ended with many women being beaten and arrested. It is an interesting story on many levels, but what struck me right away was the variety of media reporting on the issue. Some examples:

The New York Times pays little attention to the outbreak of violence, failing even to refer to it in the title, “Hundreds of Women Protest Sex Discrimination in Iran.” The article reports that “police clubbed several women” and that some had been “detained and dragged away.” But the gravity of the situation is quickly negated by remarks that there were no hospital injuries and that the situation stabilized within an hour when the women dispersed.

By contrast, the BBC account, “Iran Police Beat Women Activists,” not only emphasizes the event’s violence, but the oppression and innocence of the women as well. It reports the singing of feminist songs, the great numerical advantage of the police over the protesters, and the outrage of male passers-by at the “viciousness of the attack.”

The Washington Post posted an AP report of the violence on its website, which combines elements from the two previous articles, but generates far less empathy for Iranian women that the BBC‘s does. The article detracts from the significance of the event by adding that Iranian women currently have more rights than other women in conservative Muslim countries.

A final–and the most engaging–report appears on Doug Ireland’s political blog site, Direland. The account reveals that both a prominent journalist, Jila Bani Yaghoub, and a famed poet, Simin Behbahani were among those arrested. It also provides a first-hand report from the Iranian feminists who, calling for global attention, describe the violence against elderly women and portray their sense of fear. Ireland promises more information as it becomes available and I am anxious to learn more.