Many women in Iran share their photos and videos without headscarves, both indoors and in public, in response to the country’s increasingly tightening clothing laws.
According to the Sharia laws that came into force after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, all women were required to wear a headscarf and long, loose clothing in public places, and women who did not wear a headscarf began to be fined and imprisoned.
However, it is stated that years after the revolution, government officials had difficulties in enforcing this law and that women’s clothing was not controlled equally throughout the country.
Women’s rights defenders state that the authorities decided to toughen their stance and resorted to new methods to enforce the headscarf requirement.
One of these methods is the ‘Hijab and Chastity’ day, which is held on July 12 for the first time this year. A number of activities are held on this day to ensure that women comply with the headscarf rule. For example, it has been reported that a rally will be held at a football stadium in Tehran, the capital of Iran, to encourage women to cover their heads.
On the other hand, the head of the judiciary in Iran called the headscarf opponents “sworn enemies of the Islamic Republic” and demanded that the intelligence services take action against them. Police officials, on the other hand, said that those working in public transport services, government institutions and banks should not provide services to women who do not wear a headscarf or who do not wear it properly.
Women decided to take off their headscarves
In response to all these pressures, women decided to take off their headscarves. Many men in the country also supported this movement.
Speaking to the UK-based Independent newspaper, Allan Hogarth from Amnesty International said that Iran puts pressure on women who want to use their right to choose the clothes they have been wearing for a very long time, and continued his words:
“The brave women in Iran who take a stand against these sexist laws are aware of the risk they are taking. Three young Iranian women, Monireh, Yasaman and Mojgan, were sentenced to more than 30 years in prison for handing out flowers to women in the subway without a headscarf in Tehran. These women are Iran. She hoped for a future in which all women in the UK had the freedom to decide what they wore.”
‘No to hijab’
Iranian and American journalist and women’s rights defender Masih Alinejad said in a post on social media that “Iranian women will shake this religious regime and take off their headscarves and take to the streets with the slogans ‘No to the headscarf’ and ‘March with their heads uncovered’.
https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1546654986544840706
Masih Alinejad described it as the Women’s Revolution, adding that men will join women too.