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| Iranian women wearing headscarves shop on the streets of Tehran, Iran in 2021. (Source: Reuters) |
Last year, Iran saw tens of thousands of women burn their hijabs in mass protests against the government. The protests have since subsided, but the authorities are now threatening to arrest any woman who flouts the law.
Public outrage began to erupt after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022. Amini is believed to have died after being arrested by police for not covering her hair properly and wearing tight jeans.
Nationwide protests have prompted Iranian police to stop enforcing the country's strict Islamic dress code, with women now often walking the streets without headscarves.
However, this will soon have to end as Iran's state media has just announced that the morality police will return to ensure women obey the law.
So how important is the hijab in Iranian society?
History of hijab in Iran
After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, wearing the headscarf became mandatory for Iranian women.
Although economic Quran (the holy book of Islam) and Hadiths (the teachings of the prophet Mohammad) do not explicitly say whether women should cover their faces, but the Iranian government uses these edicts to justify its dress code policy for women.
Islamic dress codes are closely monitored by Iran's morality police. Every day, officers patrol the streets and arrest anyone deemed to be wearing "inappropriate" clothing. These patrols are known as gasht-e ershad. (patrol guide).
Despite the threat of arrest, millions of Iranian women have publicly protested the law, wearing them loosely over their heads or draped over their shoulders.
The protest came almost immediately after the Iranian government announced a regulation requiring women to wear headscarves.
In 1979, when Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini said that women should adhere to Islamic dress codes, there were such protests that the government had to clarify that Ayatollah Khomeini's opinion was only a recommendation.
But they became regulations in 1983.
Protests have continued since then, culminating in women burning headscarves and dancing in the streets last year.
Repressed anger
Before the Islamic Revolution, during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, many Iranian women wore headscarves of their own choosing. They did so for a variety of reasons, including tradition, identity, religious expression, or family pressure.
However, according to Iranian poet and journalist Asieh Amini, unlike in the past, the main problem today is that women are required to cover their faces, which comes with punishments such as being whipped or imprisoned if they do not comply.
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| Kurdish women in Iran perform a traditional dance to celebrate the Persian New Year, March 2016. (Source: AFP) |
“But this has made many people averse to wearing the hijab,” Amini said. “Women have been through so much oppression. They can’t stand this oppression and want to fight for their rights.”
Mahsa Amini's death has sparked pent-up public anger, especially on issues of personal freedom.
Another problem surrounding the current hijab law is that the clothing of many other ethnicities and religions in Iran is not respected, according to an anonymous Iranian social activist.
“The Islamic government also does not support other types of hijab and traditional ethnic costumes.”
Iran is a multi-ethnic country, home to Persians, Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Lurs, Gilakis, Arabs, Balochis and Turkmens. Each ethnic group has its own traditional costume with different colors, patterns and styles.
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