When we talk about feminist movements in the Middle East, there is no one that stands out as much, has as much acceptance among the population it concerns, and at the same time is as ignored in the West as the Iranian feminist movement. The struggle of 47 million women hardly gives rise to news or headlines. Why in the world of #metoo y #niunamas Are they so deliberately ignored?
This movement dates back to the late 70s, when, after the Islamic Revolution Under Ayatollah Khomeini, the veil and Islamic dress codes were imposed on the female population. During the reign of Shah Reza Pahlavi, women had experienced unimaginable social development following numerous reforms regarding citizens' rights, all in his attempt to "Westernize" Iran. Although this was a positive change, the corruption and authoritarian nature of his government (facilitated by a CIA coup to the democratic government of Mohammad Mossadeq) ended up causing the population to rise up against him. However, the most fanatical sector ended up taking control of the revolution, whose strict rules of conduct based on Sharia and imposed on women provoked, in turn, numerous protests.
Every attempt to fight against this tyranny imposed on half of the population has been contained by the Islamic regime through violence and the fiercest submission. However, today, small gestures of rebellion can be seen among many Iranian women: a loose veil that shows part of the hair in the face of the strict commandments of the government; pants several inches above the ankle, as required by law; a hashtag viral in support of those who dare to go further in their battle for their rights. And the differences between men and women are abysmal.
While Muslim women only can they marry a muslim man, the men They can marry Christians and Jews, and have a total of four wives. Women they only inherit half of what a man can inherit; the compensation for the death of a woman It is only half of what a man's would be; in case of divorce, the children automatically belong to the husband; he testimony of a woman it is only equivalent to half that of a man; a man can physically admonish his wife if she refuses to obey him, and the woman must always understand her inferior position in front of man, “by virtue of the preference that Allah has given to some over others”; a woman accused of adultery or “crimes against modesty” can be executed.
The Iranian regime uses different methods to ensure that women comply with its will. The best known in the West is the moral police, groups of women dressed in a dark chador (black cloak that covers the entire body and only allows the face to be visible) that fines and physically attack to women who “expose themselves immodestly” by wearing tight clothing or showing part of their hair. But they are not the only asset of his theocracy: the spread of messages full of hatred towards women through clerics and imams They provoke violent reactions among the most fanatical members of their population. Acid attacks on women are common: cases of Ameneh Bahrami and Marzieh Ebrahimi, who was attacked by a man in the street for not wearing her hijab properly.
The Iranian parliamentary measure based on Sharia that incites, quoting the quran, to “order what is recognized and prevent what is reprehensible” tends to serve as a justification for attackers, who accuse their victims of acting inappropriately. In the most extreme cases, honor killings can be justified by unfounded accusations towards the victims (as long as there are either 4 male witnesses, or 8 female witnesses, even if they have no evidence). Although there are no exact figures, police officer Hadi Mostafaei stated that honor killings account for about 20% of all murder cases in Iran. In the mid-80s, the case of Soraya Manutchehri became known, stoned to death after being accused of adultery, whose unjust end was recreated in the 2008 film “The truth of Soraya M.”. More recently, Romina Ashrafi was beheaded by her father after being manipulated by a 35-year-old man into marrying her. She alone was 13 years old.
This situation has led hundreds of women to decide to take action on the matter: in 2017, Vida Movahed decided climb on top of a trash can on Enghelab Street and wave her veil in the audience in protest. His gesture and subsequent arrest mobilized dozens of women to follow his example, among them Narges Hosseini, Azam Jangravi, Shaparak Shajarizadeh, Maryam Shariatmadari, Saba Kordafshari and Hamraz Sadeghi, known as 'the girls of Enghelab street'. Most have been arrested on charges of corruption, prostitution and sinful acts, with sentences of 2 to 24 years in prison, including physical punishment and whipping. Her bravery inspired more women to rebel against the regime.
In April 2019, Yasaman Aryani, her mother Monireh Arabshahi and Mojgan Keshavarz were arrested after filming oneself without the veil in public, distributing flowers, and sentenced to a joint sentence of 55 years. Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, defender of Iranian women's rights, has been sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes for your support of these women. Shortly after, fellow lawyer Soheila Hejab was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Athena Daemi y Narges Mohammadic, activists against the death penalty and women's rights, were sentenced in 2015 to 14 and 16 years respectively for their work. Daemi spent 55 days on hunger strike to protest her situation. Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and her husband, Arash Sadeghi, were arrested in 2014 and tortured after government agents broke into their home and discovered a story on Iraee's computer against female stoning, inspired by the cases of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (arrested and on death row for 9 years for alleged adultery and conspiracy to murder her husband, sentenced to death by stoning) and Fariba Khalegi. In 2016 they were sentenced to a minimum of 6 years in prison for blasphemy.
Iraee was temporarily released after a 71-day hunger strike by her husband, but was forced to return to prison, where she is threatened with death by other inmates. Maedeh Hojabri was arrested after posting a video on social networks dancing (which would have already been enough to condemn her) without a hijab. Instagram star Sahar Tabar was arrested for alleged blasphemy, insults to the Islamic veil and 'moral corruption'. The chess champions Dorsa Derakhshani y Mitra Hejazipour They were expelled from the national team for participating in international tournaments without a hijab. In the most radical act of all, the young Sahar Khodayari he immolated himself on September 2, 2019 in front of a stadium after being sentenced to 6 months in prison for trying to go in to watch a soccer game. She died from her injuries a week later.
The most widespread movement of all, known as My Stealthy Freedom ("My Stealthy Freedom"), was created in 2014 by journalist Masih Alinejad. This is an online campaign inviting Iranian women to take photographs without their veils on, letting them flutter in the wind. Thanks to social networks, tens of thousands of women have shared images in which they challenge the theocratic regime, defending their rights. My Stealthy Freedom has spread throughout the world thanks to hashtags #whitewednesdays y #mycameraismyweapon, through which millions of videos and images demanding freedom and denouncing the abuses of the Islamic regime have gone viral on the networks.
Alinejad, at a summit of the Women in the World group, said: “What women in Iran and Saudi Arabia want is dignity, we want to have the freedom to choose. We are not criminals, we are human beings, and we want the rest of the world to understand that. Fighting for our dignity, we have to pay a price. Don't keep quiet. […] I don't want you to save us, but you have to understand: when people are paying a price, don't condescend to their pleas, saying that [the hijab] is an insignificant problem. Because we are not fighting against a piece of cloth, we are fighting for our identity, for our dignity. When female politicians go to my country, wearing the hijab, and say “this is your culture, we want to respect your culture,” they are insulting a nation.”
Alinejad thanked Jacinda Ardern for her support of the Muslim community following the terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch in 2019, but he criticized that “wearing and inviting people to wear the hijab, you have to be smart and understand that this is not just a piece of cloth […] it is the most visible symbol of oppression. […] When you see Muslim women fighting against the mandatory hijab, don't see it as the symbol of being a Muslim woman.” Alinejad, threatened with death by the government and several clerics, decided to leave the country in 2010, but she continues to promote the rights of Iranian women daily through the networks social. In 2020, his brother was arrested by the Iranian regime under dubious charges of insults towards the regime and sentenced to 8 years in prison. The activist claims that he was detained for refusing to coerce her into traveling to Turkey, where the Iranian government would have kidnapped her.
As all the above cases show, the Iranian feminist movement enjoys great popularity among the Persian population (according to a 2014 government survey, 49.8% of Iranians are against the imposition of the hijab, a much higher percentage than the most Middle Eastern countries). Iranian women, despite being oppressed by a system lacking fundamental rights in many areas (recently, several women have been arrested for riding a bike in public), have managed to promote their ideas through the use of education. Various surveys show that, since the beginning of the 60st century, women make up more than XNUMX% of all university students.
El 68% of graduates in scientific careers in recent years They are women. By proving their worth, female students not only challenge the regime, but are able to promote ideas about the true value of an entire sex. In many cases, education also provides a way out of the country for thousands of people. A university degree facilitates the process of emigrating to countries with a better quality of life and greater respect for human rights. However, the government has tried to make it more difficult for women to attend university in a vain effort to enforce traditional gender roles and distance them from ideas that they may consider "dangerous." In recent years, various administrations have tried to They have applied quotas, restrictions and prohibitions in certain races to prevent women from attending university. Many female graduates have reported that they are denied access to employment for having received higher education; only 20%-25% manage to find work in Iran.
Internationalist and communicator. She is fond of political debates, cinema, literature, and history. The topics she writes about most are those related to the Islamic world and international terrorism.
