3/9/09

Shirzanan: The First Iranian Women Sports Magazine


Shirzanan (شير زنان or literally 'Lion-Women' in Persian) is an online weekly magazine and the first publication on Iran women's sports.

Shirzanan’s main page is in Persian and it focuses on women’s sports in Iran and other Muslim countries. Shirzanan's first issue was published online in May 21st 2007. It publishes every week on Saturdays and it covers news on women’s sport within and outside Iran and it covers national and international women’s sport issues on its different areas:


  • news report

  • editorial

  • interview

  • photo

  • video report

The website explains its origins in this way: “It was first in the year 2000 that the idea of this weekly magazine was presented to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance (in Iran) in order to get the publication permission. After 4 years of bureaucratic process and endless hardship the proposal for a sport magazine dedicated to women’s sports was rejected.”
In addition Shirzanan writes: “The first Iranian women’s sports weekly magazine, Shirzanan, aims to fill the lack of the news coverage in the national media on women sports in Iran. Shirzanan is a private magazine.” Shirzanan’s editorial board includes journalists and reporters who have been working closely with Iran’s national press.
One of the most significant parts of Shirzanan is its photo report page. This is the first time that the images of Iran women’s national teams - in different fields - are being published. Shirzanan also has an English version, which translates its main page from Persian to English.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirzanan