Moments Of Defiance: Times Women Of Iran Broke Shackles Of Patriarchy

The condition of women across the globe has never been easy and for the women in Iran, it has been miserable, to say the least. Iranian chess player Sara Khadem is making headlines for all the wrong reasons lately. The 25-year-old took the internet by a storm not for her game but for playing a tournament without a hijab, Iran's mandatory dress code for women. As soon as her pictures from the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan, without her hijab appeared online, she reportedly started receiving multiple calls warning her against going back home.

In Early January, Khadem moved to Spain with her husband film director, Ardeshir Ahmadi and 10-month-old son Sam. Recently, pictures of the Iranian chess player with Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez went viral. A footage from the Prime Minister's office with Khadem and Sanchez chatting went viral online.

Not just Sara, Atefeh Ahmadi, a member of Iran's national ski team recently applied for asylum in Germany. The 22-year-old was one of the finest ski team members in the country and has been preparing for world championships in France. She is not the first woman in sports to have sought refuge in other countries. Many other Iranian sportswomen in the past have moved out of Iran due to the restrictions. Limitations include women getting approval fromthe Iranian regime over the hijab and their husbands or fathers to travel outside Iran. Women are also restricted from participating in fields like swimming.

Behin Bolouri And Samin

Sisters Behin and Samin started singing professionally in Iran about eight years ago. However, Iran forbids women to sing. When the protests began in September 2022, the sisters released their Italian version of the popular song Bella Ciao. The song came as a silver lining for those protesting in Iran. Behin in an interview back then said, “We never stop dreaming and these are the dreams that come to our songs.”

Vida Movahed

Iranian human rights activist and protester, Vida Movahed first made news during the Girls of Enghelab movement. Movahed was believed to be the initiator of the movement. During this protest, she removed her headscarf and stood on a utility box with her headscarf tied to a stick. The protest was against the mandatory hijab law. Following this, she was arrested and released only after a month of being in police custody. After her release, Movahed held another protest against the compulsory hijab and was immediately arrested and sentenced to a year in prison for encouraging people to commit corruption and prostitution.

Masih Alinejad

Iranian - American journalist, Alinejad has been the face of protests in Iran against the restrictive hijab laws. The journalist has been supporting and encouraging the women of Iran to fight for their freedom. Alinejad is again making headlines, this time for her alleged assassination plot. Reportedly, three men were hired to kill the Iranian American journalist on the US soil.

The Hijab Row

Hijab is an Arabic word meaning curtain. It is a scarf or clothing worn by women of the Muslim faith as a symbol of religious devotion. The roots of hijab go back to ages ago when Muslim societies first emerged and the practice of veiling was introduced. Today, more than an Islamic dress code, the hijab has become a symbol of despotism in Iran.

It was the 22-year-old, Iranian woman Mahsa Amini's death in police custody that first sparked the big, violent protests. Amini was allegedly arrested for breaching the Islamic dress code for women in a public place. However, a day later, she was admitted to a hospital where the police officials claimed that she had suffered a cardiac arrest. However, some reports suggested that she died of multiple fractures. This further led to public outrage, and massive protests with women removing their headscarves, and demanding the death of their Ppresident, Ebrahim Raisi.

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Despite warnings from the authorities, multiple homicides and disruptions, protesters continued to call for mass demonstrations all across and both big and small cities became protest centres, followed by Iranian women cutting off hair.

For the unversed, according to Iranian literature, cutting off hair is believed to be a symbol of mourning and protests. Following Mahsa Amini's death, women from across the globe shared videos of themselves slashing their hair.

Hijab Not A Personal Choice?

In the year 1979, hijab became compulsory for women when Iran became a theocracy. In Islam, hijab is believed to have the power to evoke the feeling of faith and pride, however, for Iranian women, hijab has become a sign of marginalisation and there seems no silver lining. For them, hijab is their identity, something they have to live with, no matter what their individual choice is. Over the years, hijab has turned into a political tool, it is more than just a garment.

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Dearth Of Fundamental Rights

A UN expert in a report to the Human Rights Council shared that women and girls are treated as second-class citizens in Iran. Women's rights are gravely restricted in the country and will shake you to bits. Women across Iran are not only forced to wear the hijab but deprived of basic human rights. The legal age of marriage for a girl in Iran stands at 13. Girls in Iran are only taught arts to strengthen the stereotype that suggests their gender is physically and mentally weaker than their male counterparts.

Men are given powerful legal tools in the country which further leads to the deprivation of basic human rights among women. Do you know a married woman can't even leave the country without their husband's permission?

Coming back to Sara Khadem, many other Iranian women in the past too have broken barriers and continue to in different professional spheres. However, the torture against the women of Iran doesn't seem to stop. Our thoughts are with every Iranian woman fighting for their rights, and standing up against prejudice.