Why the Iranian women’s movement is central to political change in Iran Russia’s ‘dealer’ is now making art

It was Ayatollah Khomeini who declared war on Iranian women. A few weeks after the victory of the revolution in 1979, he announced in a speech that henceforth it was their “sacred duty” to wear the hijab (headscarf). At the same time, the cleric repealed the 1967 “Law for the Protection of the Family”, won by the Iranian Women’s Movement, which mainly covered marriage and divorce.

The reaction of those affected was not long in coming. On March 8, 1979, International Women’s Day, tens of thousands of women and men took to the streets to demonstrate against the misogynistic actions of the new rulers in Tehran. The nationwide protests lasted for four days before being brutally crushed by police.

The Islamic State gradually enforced the new dress code. The new marriage and family law privileged men, who could now decide whether their daughters could marry, study or work. Only in the early 1990s did Iranian women manage to relax the repressive dress code.

The hijab was sliding further and further back now. The clothes also became shorter and tighter, the lipstick brighter. In 2014, Iranian women even began to remove their headscarves in public.

And again the women protested

Until now, most Iranian women had hoped to push through political reform within the Islamic system. It wasn’t until 2017 that the voices of those calling for “regime change” in Tehran slowly grew louder. However, the voices of anger and outrage in Iran only increased to hurricane strength after President Ibrahim Raisi came to power in August 2021.

The reactionary preacher wanted to lead his country back to “Islamic virtues”. However, with his repressive actions, Raisi made the already deep chasm between the ruling clergy and Iranian civil society unbridgeable.

“Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” – woman, life, freedom – has been the slogan of the protest movement since the death of the young Kurd Mahsa Amini. By publicly burning headscarves, a symbol of women’s oppression since the 1979 revolution, they declared war on the regime.

“The wave of protests in the name of Amini,” emphasizes Iranian political scientist Homayoun Alizadeh, “is a sign of widespread support for women’s political power and agency, which are central to political change in Iran.” (aargauerzeitung.ch)