Tehran, Iran ? Hundreds of Iranian women marked International Women’s Day on Saturday with a demonstration demanding equal social and political rights to men, a first in this conservative male-dominated country since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The women, wearing the headscarves and long coats required by law, and a small group of men staged a rally in a central Tehran park. Watching them was a large contingent of police — including some 400 women who in January became the first females to undergo training to be officers since 1979.

“Half of the votes cast in favor of lawmakers were by women. How can you fail to recognize and support the rights of your wives, mothers and sisters? Why aren’t women given top managerial or ministerial posts?” activist Zohreh Arzani asked the gathering.

In the crowd, some women held up signs against violence by men — and against a war on Iraq.

Women have been strong supporters of Iran’s reform movement seeking to change the Islamic government’s tight social and political restrictions. While the reformist-dominated parliament lifted a ban on unmarried women studying abroad, other bills supporting women’s rights have been rejected by the hard-line Guardian Council, which must approve all legislation.

Under the strict form of Islamic law used in Iran, a woman needs her husband’s permission to work or travel abroad. A man’s court testimony is considered twice as important as a woman’s. Men can keep four spouses at once, a right not granted to women.

And while Iranian men can divorce almost at will, a woman seeking a divorce must go through a long legal battle and often relinquish rights in return for divorce.

“How can we celebrate this day when our women are not entitled to choose their husbands, are not allowed to demand divorce and get just half the blood money a man gets?” protest organizer Noushin Ahmadi said, referring to the practice of giving the family of a female murder victim about half the average compensation paid to a male victim’s relatives.

The rally was organized by the nongovernmental Women’s Cultural Center.