One of the struggle and resistance that I have witnessed through my life is fighting over the Hijab (veil) by Iranian women, government, and supporters/opponents of wearing veil for 100 years. In Iran’s modern history, there are three instances where the hijab gained political meaning. The first being Reza Shah’s forced unveiling; the second before the 1979 Revolution and the last during the creation of the Islamic Republic.
The last Shah's father (Reza Shah Pahlavi) decreed that all women must unveil. Women who had been veiled and secluded all their lives were suddenly compelled to appear with uncovered heads in public. For many, this felt like being naked, and it drove them deeper into seclusion. Stories are told of women whose husbands
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That in turn encouraged a move towards more traditional values and ways of living, which included dressing more modestly for both men and women and even wearing the scarf or the veil for some women. For many women making the decision to wear the chador was not based on religious grounds, but it was a conscious effort to make a statement against the Pahlavi regime. It was against this backdrop that the Islamic Revolution of 1979 took place; a revolution, which one could argue, could not have taken place without the active involvement of women.
After the 1979 revolution overthrew Shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), what women wore in public again became an issue, though in this case the new Islamic Republic of Iran insisted that they return to more traditional forms of dress. Ironically, Khomeini's decree, requiring women to wear Hijab, came on March 7th, 1979, a month after his return to Iran and one day before International Women's
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Literacy rates among women are drastically increasing and the parliamentary polls have been hailed as models of transparency. Despite the government-biased rulings against women, more and more women can be found working as engineers, doctors and nurses. In Iran today, many young women resist the hijab requirement by allowing their hijab to slip back, or hair to escape from their scarves, or by wearing colors. Today, while a large sector of Iranian women voluntarily wear the hijab, women from all parts of Iran and all socioeconomic backgrounds are still defying hijab restrictions, and the struggle between them and the authorities and conservative citizens continues.
According to Farzaneh Milani in “Veil and Words”, it was not long before that there was a "renewed interest in the veil". This time the traditional and religious women were not the only ones who observed some degree of Islamic Hijab; some of the more liberal and non-traditional women of middle and upper classes also took up the scarf and the observance of the
The article “My Body Is My Own Business” by Naheed Mustafa is about an Islamic women’s principle that putting on her usual headscarf, or Hijab, actually empowers her as a female, contrary to the popular principle that the hijab represents male oppressiveness. She ex...
With such a unanimous resentment, particularly in the dominating religious sect of Iran, it is important to address the ideologies within the religion enforce the country’s patriarchal social structure, i.e. the “form of social organization in which males dominate females” (text 38). Furthermore, with the Islamic Revolution of 1979, these attitudes were the driving force behind many of the discriminatory laws that confined women in Iran to a life defined by its limitations.
The author talks about how this was not something that happen overnight, but has been discussed about from a very long time such a 1989. The views of people that the author chooses to look at are Ernest Cheniere, who raised the statement of banning headscarves in public schools in 1994 and Francois Bayrou minister of education in 1994 who saw muslim headscarves as a way of proselytizing. Then Joan Scotts talks about why the timing played into affect, how racism such as colonial legacies were effected, secularism, individualism of the veil, Muslims being looked as threats, how uncivilized Muslim people were, and sexuality. Joan Scotts goes into detail in all the sub topics and shows how does this affect a common Muslim girl that wears a hijab and how does the French government view
There are many examples throughout the text that specifically focus on the overbearing treatment of women. During the country's revolution there is a shift to extremely conservative religious conviction that force women to cover themselves head to toe while in public. Ultimately, Nafisi refuses to wear a veil while teaching at the University of Tehran which leads to her expulsion. These examples presented throughout the text along with various outside sources, can be a tool to interpret and scrutinize the oppressive treatment of people in unjust societies like that of Iran's.
Back in Iran, she had to wear the veil again. At college, she spoke out against an even more oppressive veil her school wanted to force upon its female students. She ended up designing one that would work for everyone. Even while wearing the veil, Marji and other women would resist the law by letting a few strands of hair show or wearing makeup or nail polish. As Emma Tarlo discusses in her essay, no matter how many laws the government put up, nothing could stop the people from being themselves, veil or not. Still, with this sense of confinement, many Iranian women detested the law, wishing they could have some freedom in what they wanted to wear. Freedom of dress, as Arezou Zalipour discusses in her essay, is both the freedom to wear or not to wear the veil. Despite this, Satrapi focused on how restrictive forced veiling was for herself and many of the women she knew in Iran. In her book, Satrapi explores ideas of freedom and confinement, specifically through the veil she is forced to wear while in her home country; despite this, she and her people found ways to resist this regime, even if some of them had originally supported such a
People who see women as “second-class” or as an “object”, when they fail to realize that the reason that people continue to be on this world is because of a woman. Document #4 is a picture of the former president of Iran, Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini, saying that he is looking to take Iran back 1400 years to the time of Rasool’ Allah, who is the Islamic god. During those times women were treated even worse than now. Document #3 is an article titled “Behind the Veil”, which speaks of Muslim women who have a religious commitment and their reasonings to why they wear veils. Many years ago the Shah tried to westernise the Middle East. People who don't really like change, like to be independent, or have specific beliefs felt as if their Islamic identities were being threatened. Some women had stopped wearing burqas, which lead to oppression, while on the other hand, some women had been subject to prejudice for wearing them. Women’s rights have never been favored in the middle east. In the Middle East there is a justice system called, Jirga, which is an assembly of leaders, who are all male, that make decisions by consensus and according to the teachings of Islam. This justice system is never in favor of women, and they see women as objects to trade. The Jirga believes that women can't go out without a male figure, can’t really be educated, don't have a voice, or that women are an equivalent to men. Document #8 speaks of women specifically in Saudi Arabia not being able to drive. It quotes “The vast majority of women do not drive in [Saudi Arabia] and there remains much opposition to female drivers.” A 25 year old Saudi Arabian man said “I think women driving is the key to a lot of things”. Basically saying that women shouldn't be allowed to drive because women in the Middle East will be thinking that they can go or do whatever they want. Then he proceeded to compare women driving, to how women
Professor Leila Ahmed, active Islamic feminist, in her article “Reinventing the veil” published in the Financial Times assumes that there is a connection between “advancement” and veiling, which means that unveiled women are advanced and vice versa. In addition, she supports that it led to increasing rate of violence. She questions why women wear veil, that is considered as “symbol of patriarchy and women’s oppression”. However, research changed her position towards wearing veil. Firstly, she states that wearing veil was essential for women, because it could be beneficial and influence to how people treat women, in terms of job, marriage and free movement in public. Secondly, her assumption was explained while interviewing women, who stated
One of Sultana Yusufali’s strongest arguments in “My body is my own business” is her scrutinization of the exploitation of female sexuality. Initially Yusufali writes about the injudicious individuals that assume she is oppressed by her hijab. Thereafter, she describes them as “brave individuals who have mustered the courage to ask me about the way I dress”. Moreover, Yusufali’s word choice is intriguing as she utilizes the word “brave” when laymen hear this word they habitually associate the aforementioned with heroic, valiant and courageous. Consequently, Yusufali ensues to comprise her opinions on the hijab and how it carries a number of negative connotations in western society. Furthermore, Yusufali proceeds to strike on the importance
To understand the changing role of women starting during the Islamic Revolution, it is important to briefly review the lives of Iranian women and the role of Islam during the final years of the secular regime of the Shah. Mohammad Reza Shah was disliked by the majority of Iranian population, but his secular and prominent Western attitude allowed for some reforms of women’s rights in Iran. For example, in 1963 he created a reform program which would eventually be known as the “White Revolution,” which included suffrage for women (Beck and Nashat 114). This decision led to a violent reaction, especially from strong Islamic leaders such as Ayatollah Khomeini, whom would eventually play a pivotal role in the revolution and women’s rights. Although the Shah allowed for women’s reform, he was popularly known as a dictator and appeared to be in complete favor of maintaining a traditional patriarchal society.
The religion of Islam was imposed upon Iranians, whether they liked it or not. Marjane and her classmates “...didn’t like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to”(Satrapi 3). The young girls were against wearing the veil because they were not practicing
Most of these things it is possible to see through the analysis of the situation that exists in practice and analysis of several court cases. In France, for years women with Hijab encounter problems, both in education and in ...
Women in many countries have had to face issues of gender inequality and for several countries it is an ongoing issue. If Iran can get out of the cycle of moving towards gender equality and then backing away, there is hope that it could become a leading country in women’s rights.
Another reason for the hijab is the issue of modesty. The women want to be known for their skills and intelligence as opposed to being evaluated by their looks and sexuality. An Iranian schoolgirl once stated that, "W...
A revolution is a mass movement that intends to violently transform the old government into a new political system. The Iranian Revolution, which began in 1979 after years of climax, was an uprising against the Shah’s autocratic rule resulting in much religious and political change. Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi made efforts to remove Islamic values and create a secular rule and “westernize” Iran through his White Revolution. In addition, his tight dictatorial rule and attempts at military expansion felt threatening to the people, who desired a fairer governmental rule immensely influenced by Islam. Afterwards, governmental affairs became extremely influenced by Islamic traditions and law which created changes religiously and politically for years to come. Although the Iranian Revolution was both a political and religious movement in that it resulted in major shifts in government structure from an autocracy to a republic and that Islamic beliefs were fought to be preserved, it was more a religious movement in that the primary goal of the people was to preserve traditional ideology and in that the government became a theocracy intertwined with religious laws and desires of the people.
Though outward appearance should not determine how people view others, it contributes to vital first impressions and influences even the most intelligent. When those in the west view Arabic women, they often see the hijab, their veil, as a symbol of oppression, rather than a religious choice. Though Queen Rania has never worn the veil, she understands the reasoning behind it. “We think it’s a personal choice. Unfortunately, in the west people look at the veil as a sign of oppression or weakness. This is not true as long as a woman is wearing it because of her belief. I always say we should judge a woman according to what’s going on in their heads rather than what’s going on top of their heads” (“Women Changing the World”). In a 2008 interview with CNN, Rania stressed that outside pressure to dress modestly comes from conservative cultures, not Islam itself.