Influential Iranian Women: Dowlat Nikmanesh (1924-2017)

Dowlat Nikmanesh was one of the first champions in women’s volleyball and track and field in Iran. She was also the first Iranian woman to have a PhD in physical education.

Nikmanesh was born to a Zoroastrian family in the historical city of Yazd, a UNESCO World Heritage site. She had two brothers and one sister.

She went to Zoroastrian girls’ schools in Tehran, first to Giv Elementary School and then to Anooshirvan Dadgar High School. She won silver and gold sports medals for her high school.

She was one of the first Iranian to receive a bachelor’s degree in physical education and was the sports coach at the elite girls’ Noorbakhsh high school. After eight years at this position, she received a medal for her services from the Ministry of Education.

Then Nikmanesh went to Tehran University and received a master’s degree in sociology as well. In the 1970s, after 16 years of service, she received a scholarship to study in Washington DC, and when she returned to Iran in 1979, she was the first Iranian woman to hold a PhD in physical education.

Nikmanesh’s record throughout the years include membership in Tehran University’s faculty, the National Women’s Track and Field Team and the National Women’s Volleyball Team. She was also the sports supervisor at various schools of Tehran University.

Nikmanesh was also both a coach and a referee of the volleyball and track and field federations. She was recognized as a volleyball referee at an international level. And, while she was at high school and played this sport, she taught lower grades and became the national discus throw champion.

Nikmanesh worked for the Education Ministry for eight years and taught at Tehran University for 23 years. She retired as a professor in 2001. In 2010, Tehran Zoroastrian Society chose her as a “Lasting Figure” of the community and put on display her pictures and the medals and cups she had won during her career.

In the last years of her life, Nikmanesh lived with her sister in an old house close to Tehran’s Revolution Square and suffered from Alzheimer's disease. She died at the age of 83 at the Zoroastrian Senior Citizens’ Home in Tehran on December 21, 2017, forgotten and ignored by the Islamic Republic’s sports officials.