Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman in Iran, was not an activist but was detained by morality police in Tehran on September 13. The 22-year-old died in police custody three days later. The authorities said that underlying health problems were the cause of Amini’s death which her family refused to accept. Her crime was that she did not wear a hijab or headscarf as per the dress code for women in public set by Islamic Republic.
This freak incident sparked public outcry and protests began throughout the country as never before and despite crackdowns, women have held demonstrations in cities across Iran since then. The violence by the security forces has so far resulted in the deaths of around 83 people and arrests of hundreds, says a human rights group. It is a new wave of women’s outrage against the cleric-led establishment which has set special rules for women after the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power.
This time, crackdown forces have failed to contain the spread of protests as protesters now hold demonstrations in small groups in as many cities as possible instead of massive marches held in the capital city of Tehran in the past. This mode of agitation has disabled the security force’s effective operations against protesters.
As days pass, protests gather more strength with writers, media persons, artists, filmmakers, sports persons, etc. extending support to agitators and so it has become a serious challenge to the establishment. Anger and frustration of women are apparent in their dissenting actions against the long history of cracking down. Protesting women in confrontation with police are seen removing headscarves and burning them in heaps and also cutting their hair. Perplexed and worried, the authorities now seem compelled to take action against even celebrities who have expressed support for demonstrators.
On the surface, it may appear to be an issue of women dress code violation but beneath the veil unfolds oppression of women’s voices for decades by a regime led by the conservative clerics. Any action against violation of Islamic dress code is symbolic and a warning that women should not cross the boundaries of freedom of expression. In spite of strict warnings, Iranian women in major cities who have scarcely adhered to the Islamic dress code in its entirety have played a game of cat and mouse with the authorities. It is very unfortunate that women sometimes have landed in police custody for wearing a loose headscarf like Mahsa Amini.
Amid clampdowns and shut down of Internet, women now come out in the streets to protest, facing guns and bullets. This was unimaginable a decade ago anywhere in Iran. It is understood that women are not protesting against compulsory hijab like just a small piece of cloth but they claim it is a fight against conditioning, for dignity and the slogan ‘my body, my choice’. The current unrest has flared up with students, middle- class professionals and working-class men and women coming to the streets.
Before Islamic Revolution in the country, only upper classes used to wear hijab and women in rural areas were naturally unable to wear it as they worked in farms and agricultural fields. The women who grew up in the days of monarchy remember a country where women were largely free to choose how they dressed. However, in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini announced that all women must wear hijab. The very next day, tens of thousands of unveiled women marched in protest as they knew that it was not just about hijab but the taking away of women’s rights. It is a fact that many women didn’t own a hijab at that time.
What is happening now is not unexpected and was in the making for long. There has been a long history of women protesting and defying the establishment in Iran. Throughout the late 19th century, women were in the forefront of street protests. In Iran’s first democratic uprising of 1905, many towns and cities formed local women’s rights committees. A period of social and political reforms with secular views followed under shahs and in the 1930s, the military officer-turned-king Reza Shah banned the wearing of veil in public.
Decades later, Iran ushered in a new Islamic era in the wake of Islamic Revolution and women’s hijab became an important political symbol of the country. Years of US sanctions against Iran and subsequent economic grievances of common people and their protests made the leadership grow hardened and uncompromising. The 2021 presidential election was an eyewash. Ebrahim Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, became the president after all other contenders were disqualified despite record low voter turnout.
Iranian women argue that compulsory hijab is a kind of conditioning by the conservatives. Many of them had worn hijab for years but discarded it later. They remark that wearing a veil or hijab has a strong influence on a woman’s life and that’s why one feels unsafe and less confident for years after abandoning it. Such is the grip and impact of this piece of head covering cloth, they add.
In some countries, wearing hijab is compulsory and it is punishable unless one wears it in public while in some others, wearing hijab, especially covering face, is prohibited and it is an offence if one wears it so. But in India, one wears a headcover or not, there is no difference and hence no discrimination and offence.
BY: KS Rajagopal
Post Your Comments