Description
Ever since the early years of the Islamic Revolution and the women’s mass demonstrations in March of 1979, Iran has not seen any major public women’s rights demonstrations. In the beginning of the establishment of the Islamic Republic and the finalization of the new Islamic constitution in 1979, Iranian women lost some of their most basic rights. Although there has not been a major public women’s rights demonstration in the past forty years, women in Iran have been able to gain some rights back as a result of women's activism. This research analyzes the role that women’s “silent” protest, especially their resilience against compulsory hijab, has had on advancing women’s equality in Iran. Over the years, women in Iran have moved away from more conservative head coverings mandated by the governing regime to more lenient and modern ways. This type of protest is visible by the many individual women who wear bright colored headscarves, loose shawls, show portions of their hair under their headscarves, or those who in recent years have started to completely take off their head covering in the public sphere. This "silent" protest refers to actions of women that are not in an organized collective manner, as seen in major public women's rights demonstrations, but they still represent a visible form of defiance to patriarchal clothing laws. I argue that the change in women’s approach to wearing the veil is, in fact, a feminist movement that cannot necessarily be categorized as an opposition to the whole existence of the Iranian governing regime, but that it has been a catalyst for advancing women's equality, nonetheless. With the lack of ability to conduct in-person data collection for my case study, this paper builds on the work done by other scholars, many of whom are recent immigrant women from Iran. Furthermore, this study takes a comparative and historical approach, analyzing women’s rights in Iran and other majority Muslim countries. In conclusion, this study introduces multiple policy proposals for foreign nations and international organizations that could assist Iranian women in achieving equality in their country.
