Sattareh Farman Farmaian

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Sattareh Farman Farmaian was one of the daughters of Persian nobleman Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma of the Qajar dynasty.

She was born in Shiraz 1921, but moved to Tehran to the Farman Farmaian family compound shortly afterwards. Her father, Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma, required that she undertake a modern European education in addition to her traditional Persian education. Consequently, she studied French, Painting, Classical Persian Music, Poetry, and Maths amongst many other subjects. She attended the Tarbiat elementary school until she was 12 afterwhich she continued her education at the American School for Girls, a Presbyterian missionary school. In 1944 she became the first Iranian to attend the University of Southern California where she studied sociology. In 1946 Sattareh continued her education by entering USC's professional school for Social Work where she immersed herself deeply in her studies, graduating with a Master of Social Work degree in 1948.

In August 1958 Sattareh opened the first Iranian school for training social workers with government backing. The Tehran School for Social Work was a totally independent school whose strenuous curriculum was set by Sattareh herself. It ceased operations several years after the 1979 revolution.

Through the efforts of the social workers school she also set up community welfare centers across Iran.

She helped found the Family Planning Association of Iran, and set up a clinic in the Tehran maternity hospital to teach new mothers how to best manage their families futures.