5 Unbelievable Things Women Can't Do In Iran
The nationwide protest sparked in Iran a while ago as a result of the gross abuse of power by the so-called moral police made me look more into what goes on in that society.
What I found out made me realize the protest wasn't just a result of the death of that lady, as a matter of fact, the whole sociopolitical atmosphere was already sitting on a keg of gunpowder, and all it took to light it up was the tragic death of that young woman.
In other words, the Iranian government has had it coming for a long time.
For years, the women of Iran have suffered a lot of restrictions and human rights abuse. So much that the world economic forum’s 2017 global gender gap report ranked Iran 140, out of 144 countries, for gender parity. Iran was also ranked 116, out of 153 countries, in terms of legal discrimination against women.
It hasn't always been like this though, as a matter of fact, during the Pahlavi dynasty that ruled over Iran from 1925 to 1975, women had and enjoyed a lot more freedom. This was because the rulers wanted the country to become a more European-esque civilization. Women's rights and freedoms were very much protected.
Unfortunately, this didn't last due to the 1979 Iranian revolution under Ebrahim Raisi's regime. Iranian women soon saw a crackdown on their dress codes and further human rights violations and restrictions which include
1. Women entering stadiums
There was a time in Iran when women weren’t even allowed to enter stadiums to watch any kind of match.
The defense of lawmakers was that it was the duty of women to stay at home and watch over the kids as opposed to wasting their time in any stadium. As a result of this, women had to dress in men's clothing and wear fake mustaches to get a chance to watch matches in the stadium.
In 2006, president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lifted the ban because he felt it would promote chastity, this was later overturned a month later by the supreme leader of Iran.
Forward to 2018, 35 women stood outside the match between two Tehran football clubs, demanding to be let in. This drew the attention of Fatma Samoura, the secretary general of FIFA, who pulled some strings and got the govt to end the ban once again, and on November 2019, women were allowed to attend stadiums without restrictions and in numbers determined by the demand for tickets.
Earlier that same year, a female football fan was arrested for appearing in public without wearing a hijab. She had actually attempted to sneak into a football game dressed up as a man.
The woman, Sahar Khodayari, set herself ablaze in protest outside a football court in Tehran. This, in combination with the pressure from Fatma Samoura, arm-twisted FIFA into lifting the ban, and shortly after, more than 3500 women attended the world cup qualifier match against Cambodia at Azadi stadium. They were still confined to a roped area though.
To this day, women are banned from attending matches where one of the teams is not Iranian. There was also a case where security officials were seen pepper spraying women who simply came to watch a football game, even though they were holding tickets.
2. Dress restrictions
Women who go out have to cover their hair with a headscarf known as Rusari and a long overcoat known as Manteau. Failure to do this could lead to fines and even imprisonment if you’re a repeat offender.
3. Husbands can ban their wives from working
Under Article 1117 of the Iranian civil code, a man can ban his wife from working if he feels it could jeopardize her usefulness in the family, as well as her dignity.
What's even more shocking is that there are some cases where the man is allowed to ban his wife from working if he feels it's an attack on his dignity and ego.
There was a time when the central bank of Iran advertised vacancies for various positions. On the notice, it was clearly stated that out of the 47 vacancies, 36 were open to only men, while 11 were open to both men and women. Also, men and women were both allowed to join the statistics sector of the bank but the accounting sector was strictly for men.
4. Women can't run for president
Women in Iran are allowed to run for a spot in parliament and of the 290 vacant seats, only 9 of them are women, I think you can see the problem here.
President Hassan Rouhani appointed a handful of female ministers, with one of them being one of Iran's 12 vice presidents.
However, anytime a woman wants to run for president, she's always blocked by a powerful group known as the guardian council. The guardian council consists of old men whose job is to screen and vet any candidate running for public office.
5. Wives need permission from their husbands to travel
Parisa is one of the many women who have lived abroad for many years but occasionally come back to her home regularly. She has a PhD in chemistry and has been the head of her household for more than 15 years.
She narrated one of her experiences during one of her travels.
“As the political and economic situation got worse in Iran, we left the country,”
she said.
“Immigration damaged our marriage. In the meantime, my mother got sick, so I renewed my passport to visit her in Iran. Then the ‘husband’s permission’ law stopped me from leaving the country.”
When Parisa got to the airport to fly back to the US, staff at the immigration service stamped a ban on her passport. When she went to complain, they instructed her to go to the passport office where she had to wait for her husband's permission.
She was shocked when she found out that her husband signed and filled out new forms for her new passport. In the forms, he only gave permission for a one-time travel as opposed to multiple trips.
It was then Parisa realized that her husband wanted her out without any dispute. She had sensed a brewing resentment towards her, probably due to her success.
“I went to the consular office and back to the police station and talked to the immigration and passport officers,”
she said.
“I was shouting and distraught walking around those buildings, worrying about my children’s food and their schools. I kept telling my story to anyone I thought might be able to do something.
I talked about my six-year-old daughter, who needs me to be with her, and about my two sons who need my care. I showed photographs of my home, my notebooks, family albums, and whatever I had, but they kept telling me that there was no other way to leave the country but by asking for my husband’s permission.”
Her husband didn’t answer her calls.
“I called him from a number he didn’t know and he pretended not to hear me. He wanted to find an opportunity to take revenge, as he felt inferior during all these years he was faced with my strength. He enjoyed hearing me cry and beg him.
For four months I ran between the offices and felt very worthless and humiliated. The rules helped him oppress me and kill my soul. I felt powerless, without any control over my life.”
After begging for about 4 months, her husband, for the sake of the children, finally permitted her to go back home. She filed for a divorce soon after.
I don't need to explain this too much, the narration already clearly shows what the women of Iran face regularly with regard to travel
Conclusion
There’s no way any country could ever live like this and expect everything to just keep running smoothly. Like I said before, this protest has been brewing below the surface and that tragic incident was what it took for it to finally explode.
I just hope something like this will happen in North Korea, or is it mere wishful thinking?