The fight to escape the veil continues – despite threats

“Women should wear a veil to honor their mothers”. That’s the message on posters in the Iranian capital Tehran. But despite the call, more choose to skip the veil.

– It is a message to the regime. Leave us alone, says 29-year-old Vida.

Women walking the streets of Tehran, meeting in cafes and restaurants or dropping off their children at school. Without covering her hair with the obligatory veil.

The sight has become increasingly common in the Iranian capital in recent months following the violent protests that rocked the country last fall.

The protests were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini when she was held in custody by the country’s so-called “morality police”. Amini was arrested in September for not wearing the mandatory veil correctly.

Compulsory veiling was introduced in Iran in 1983, four years after the Islamic revolution. For the women who now choose not to wear the veil, there is a strong symbolism in the stance, according to 29-year-old Vida from Tehran.

– It is a message to the regime. Leave us alone, she says to the AP news agency.

Closed shops

The more visible protests after Mahsa Amini’s death have subsided. But the increasing number of Iranian women shedding the veil poses a challenge to the country’s regime.

In addition to putting up posters around Tehran urging women to wear the veil, the authorities have also closed cafes and shops that served female customers without the hijab.

Taxi drivers who have driven women without veils have been warned via text message. And in Tehran’s subway, guards have been deployed to stop women trying to travel without a hijab.

The regime has also taken even more drastic measures.

In April, authorities decided to close a large shopping mall in northern Tehran after photos of women without headscarves bowling alongside men appeared on social media.

Collective punishment?

Nodding Kasra, who works as a salesperson at the center, believes that the regime is engaged in collective punishment.

– They closed an entire shopping center with hundreds of employees – all because of a few customers’ hair, he tells AP.

Many of the Iranian shopkeepers and cafe owners have also found themselves in a difficult situation due to the headscarf requirement, according to Mohsen Jalalpour, former vice president of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce.

– They become losers no matter how they behave. Warn the women who do not wear the hijab according to the orders of the authorities, they will be boycotted by the customers. If they refuse to obey, their businesses will be shut down, he says.

“For my daughter”

The authorities have also installed cameras in public places to detect women who do not wear the veil. Discovered women then receive an SMS with a warning about the consequences.

But despite the regime’s measures, more and more Iranian women choose not to wear the veil in public – especially in the country’s big cities.

33-year-old Sorayya leaves her seven-year-old daughter at a school in central Tehran without covering her hair. She believes that the decision to break the headscarf requirement is part of a larger struggle.

– I don’t want my daughter to live under the ideological pressure that I and my generation have lived under. It’s about my daughter getting a better future, she tells AP.

FACTS

The protests in Iran

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