Fatemeh Pakravan فاطمه پاکروان

Fatemeh Pakravan was the daughter of Javad Farifteh and Olya Brilevski, who was half Polish and half Russian. Her parents met in Tiflis, Georgia, in 1917, during the Russian revolution. After her parents married, they moved to Iran, where in Rasht, in 1918/1297, Fatemeh was born. Sometime later, the family moved to Tehran, enabling Fatemeh to attend Jeanne D’Arc, a French school.

When Fatemeh was only ten years old, her parents divorced and she and her sister, Narguesse, accompanied their father to France. Initially she was enrolled at Pension Saint Honore d’Eylau, a Paris convent, and then at a public school. Upon completing high school, she pursued paramedical studies. On her return to Iran, she met Captain Hassan Pakravan in the summer of 1940, and married him the following February.

Mrs. Pakravan maintained a diverse career while raising four children. This practice was highly unusual for an Iranian woman in the 1940s. She was director of the Najmiyeh Hospital and head of maternity at the Bank Melli Hospital, teacher of French at the Institute for Foreign Languages of Tehran University, head of planning and development of the National Tourist Organization, and an active member of the Red Lion and Sun Association (Iran’s Red Cross).