In 2011, the Kurdish artist Hadi Ziaoddini created a sculpture of the Kurdish women poet and chronicler Masture Ardalan (1805-1847). Located in the city of Sine (Sanandaj) and carrying a book in her hand, the statue is a unique example of a woman figure standing in the Islamic Republic of Iran. She occupies an important place in the upper part of Sine and is the only woman statue in Iran which does not wear hijab but Kurdish kofi. The many details of her outward appearance were long negotiated with the regime. What is more, the sculpture was reproduced in a smaller size and found its way to the Kurdish houses, bookstores and museums. As stressed by many women artists: “Masture carries a book and represents herself, a woman individual who managed to find herself and did something interesting in her life” which corresponds with their own desires to develop professional skills and to express themselves through art and literature. In recent decade the figure of Masture Ardalan and her sculpture by Ziaoddini inspired many young women in Iranian Kurdistan to – as they say – “enter the men’s world” and develop their interests in modern literature, painting and photography. Furthermore, depicted in Kurdish cloths Masture makes visible the marginalised Kurdish identity which along with the Kurdish slogan “jin, jiyan, azadî” (woman, life, freedom) attracted attention of the Iranians who took to the streets in September 2022 after the killing of Jîna (Mahsa) Aminî. As stressed by Bærenholdt and Haldrup (2015) the process of heritage-making can be understood as a performance engaging the artist who recreates the past, the site where the representation of the past is located and the people who interpret and make further use of the artwork. It can illuminate the marginalised aspects of the past by bringing the female subject into view (Morgan 2016). It challenges the subtle forms of dehumanisation (Kozak 2006, Tarnowska 2012) by highlighting the intellectual and artistic potentials of women. Hence, it inspires women agency where self-development and self-confidence become the crucial factors ‘to enter the men’s world’ in order to transform it. Based on the interviews with Hadi Ziaoddini and the seventeen women artists, writers and activists conducted in Iranian Kurdistan in July 2022, as well as on my photography project, in the presentation I am going to discuss the nuanced relationship between the Kurdish heritage-making and the women agency and empowerment.