The women Mobedyars’ panel titled “The era of divine awakening” was held at the 12th World Congress of Zoroastrians in New York, with the presence of Mobedyar Panthea Soroushpour, the only Iranian speaker of this congress.
In this conversation, Mobedyar Panthea Sorushpour represented the young female Iranian Mobedyars, and Teshtar Irani, Mobedyar, represented the few Parsee women mobedyars, both of whom succeeded in receiving this title last year. This meeting was conducted by Mobedyar Armita Dalal, who has recently joined the group of Mobadyars. In response to the question: why do they consider the presence of women mobedyars to be necessary and beneficial for the community, Sorushpour replied: “Zoroastrianism is one of the few religions that believes in gender equality and regardless of any historic evidence, this belief is directly and clearly based on the Gahas.
She added: “Just as women bring their own unique abilities and views with them to any job or profession, and by working abreast with men who have their own skills and perspectives, make that profession or job more complete, the same applies to their presence as mobedyar. Here also they will bring progress and flourishment.
Teshtar Irani also added that women, who are mothers and first teachers of their children, can also be the best teachers of religion, in the clothes of mobed.
Mobedyar Panthea Sorushpour also expressed her view about the future of women mobedyars; she predicts a bright future for women in this field because they have proven in our society to have great potential in having active presence. She emphasized that even though 12 years had passed since the beginning of women’s profession as mobedyar in Tehran, the world community of Zoroastrians is still not fully aware of the existence of this opportunity for women, and this issue needs to be better publicized outside of Iran. Mobedyar Teshtar Irani also emphasized creating more awareness and creating a codified training program for the training of Mobedyars.
The purpose of holding this conversation after 22 years was to learn about the experience of the women of Mobed. To compare the process of becoming Mobadyar in the time of Iranian Zoroastrians and Persians and to inform and encourage women to pioneer in this way.
Mobedyar Panthea also responded to the time and steps he went through to become a Mobadyar and said: In the beginning, I started my training online under my brother Mobad Pedram Saroshpour and after almost two years, I came to Iran to pass the exams. After passing three tests under the Mobedan Association’s supervision, I received the Mobedyari certificate.
The 12th World Congress of Zoroastrians (12WZC) was held from July 1 to 4, 2022, at the Hilton Hotel in the center of Manhattan, New York, USA, with more than 1,200 participants and nearly 40 speakers from 16 countries. The Zoroastrian Society of New York and Territories (ZAGNY), as a member of the Federation of Zoroastrian Societies of North America (FEZANA), is also hosting this occasion (WZC2022) after 22 years. In cooperation with members of the Zoroastrian Association of North America this group organizes many online programs about job issues and economic crises for the young population and for women, about the phenomenon of climate change and global warming, and entrepreneurship during the coronavirus pandemic.
