ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Women in Iran have long struggled with the state’s strict dress code. Now they are worried as a new law is about to come into force. Dubbed the “chastity and hijab” law, the legislation has been criticized for severely restricting women's liberties, including the ability to express their identity through their appearance, and imposing heavy penalties for noncompliance.
"When I am in Tehran or other big cities, I have no motivation to go out unless I have work to do. Even then, I try to handle it online from home. Going out feels like being in a tight, suffocating space. In such places, without any clear reason, it’s evident that there is a psychological pressure weighing on you, even if you don’t know where exactly it’s coming from," a student at Tehran University told Rudaw English, agreeing to speak only on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.
Women in Iran have been obliged to cover their heads with a veil since the early days of the Islamic republic that was established after the revolution of 1979. Pressure to abide by that rule leaves women feeling constant fear and anxiety.
“It is obvious that you are always expecting something to happen or someone to warn you if your hijab is even slightly problematic to them. For example, if you wear a hat instead of a scarf, you will feel stressed all the time,” the student said.
Drafting the new law started with the judiciary's reaction to the social unrest of 2022.
Widespread anti-government protests engulfed Iran that year following the death of Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini while in custody of the so-called morality police for allegedly violating the hijab laws.
The nationwide protests posed the biggest threat to the Iranian regime in 40 years. Protesters chanting “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” (Woman, Life, Freedom) started by calling for greater freedoms. The movement grew into an anti-government revolution that was met with harsh repression by the authorities.
During the protests, the veil became a symbol of Iranian women’s struggle, with images and videos of them removing their headscarves going viral. Posts on social media showing women sitting in public without a headscarf raised hope that enforcement of the law may have been relaxed.
That hope did not last long.
Authorities began to crack down on women violating the strict dress code. In March of this year, Amnesty International said in a report that Iranian authorities are subjecting women to “draconian” punishments, like Roya Heshmati who was sentenced to 74 lashes after appearing unveiled in public.
“Iranian authorities are waging a large-scale campaign to enforce repressive compulsory veiling laws through widespread surveillance of women and girls in public spaces and mass police checks targeting women drivers,” the rights organization noted in a report, based on testimonies from over 40 women ahead of International Women’s Day.
The new law will come into force this month.
A source affiliated with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the ‘Bill for Supporting the Family through Promoting the Culture of Chastity and Hijab,’ was drafted by the judiciary and was the subject of numerous exchanges between the parliament and the Guardian Council.
The Guardian Council is Iran’s governmental body, composed of 12 members who act as an upper legislative body specialized in Islamic canon law and are appointed by the supreme leader. It reviews all the bills passed by the legislative body and maintains the power to either approve or reject bills proposed by the legislators, ensuring that the decisions of parliament do not contradict the constitution or Islamic principles.
In May of last year, former President Ebrahim Raisi approved the bill proposed by the judiciary for the "completion of formal legal procedures."
The discussions about the draft bill took place alongside the rise of campaigns within Iranian society against the mandatory hijab.
The White Wednesdays, My Stealthy Freedom, and Girls of Revolution Street campaigns starting in 2017 were among the widespread campaigns joined by a large number of people in Iran in an effort to oppose the compulsory hijab law.
The citizens attempted to express their disagreement with the hijab law by wearing white outfits and scarves on Wednesdays and dispersed images on social media using the hashtag #WhiteWednesdays.
In 2018, authorities arrested at least 29 women for protesting the country’s mandatory dress law, which has been in place for over forty years.
The new measures do not have unanimous approval within the government. Raisi’s successor and Iran’s current president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has expressed concerns over how they will be enforced.
“I do not see such a platform ready in our administrative system and I see such behavior as somewhat problematic, we should sit down and discuss and see how this is going to happen,” Pezeshkian said in an interview on Wednesday, as cited by the state IRNA news agency.
The newly-elected president of the Islamic Republic claims to have reformist principles at the heart of his agenda.
“We must do something to preserve the principles and values of beliefs and do something not to disturb the consensus. If we don't do something well, it will get worse,” he said.
Pezeshkian’s legal advisor, Majid Ansari, also expressed hesitation about its enforcement and suggested an amendment be drafted, IRNA reported.
Iran’s more hardline figures frequently blame Pezeshkian and his cabinet for not complying with the values shared by more conservative elements of the government.
The bill was approved by the Guardian Council and passed a vote in the parliament with a trial implementation period of three years, a source affiliated with the supreme leader claimed.
Some Iranians believe that the government lacks the ability to enforce the new hijab law, and are worried that, if this is the case, tensions will resurface.
“In my opinion, this law will not be implemented. Of course, my opinion may be wrong, but considering the volatile state of society and the Islamic republic's awareness of this situation, along with its fear of renewed unrest and the return of Donald Trump to power, the Islamic republic only uses the threat of force against the people but does not act on it,” an Iranian man from the country’s west told Rudaw English, requesting anonymity.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf late last month that the law would be forwarded to the government for the president's signature, enabling governmental bodies to enforce it starting on December 13.
‘Family-centered Islamic lifestyle’
The Chastity and Hijab law is in reaction to challenges the government faced enforcing its existing hijab laws in the face of widespread protests.
With the 1979 Islamic revolution, the hijab was imposed on women in public places and governmental institutions without clearly specifying strict obligations. Instead, clothing was only prohibited if it was deemed to "violate Sharia, promote corruption, or breach public modesty." According to the constitution, violators would face detention, a minor fine, or lashes.
Over time, the enforcement of the hijab law became stricter, with harsher punishment sentences, effectively legitimizing the use of more violence by authorities to crack down on violators.
The new law uses the phrase “family-centered Islamic lifestyle” and the first article says that any individual acts in the public sphere, including social media appearances and activities, that “leads to the destruction of peace between men and women in the family, the spread of divorce and social harm, and the decline in the value of the family… is prohibited according to the provisions of this law and other laws.”
Almost every aspect of social practices shaping people’s lifestyles will be impacted by this law. The production of clothing, toys, and even imports to the country must comply with the imposed censorship. National broadcast content must also align with the new law and its values.
Article 37 of the law dictates that “anyone who insults or ridicules the hijab in social media or in real life” will face strict punishments.
There will be strict limitations put on civic activism on social media platforms and participation in any activist or human rights organizations.
Business owners or shops providing services to women who do not wear the hijab will be fined and face the threat of closure.
All employees in the public sector and governmental bodies will have to participate in yearly training aimed at developing the “family-centered Islamic lifestyle.”
The law has been harshly criticized by international human rights monitors.
This law “will further exacerbate the already suffocating surveillance and policing of women’s bodies and require the Islamic Republic’s various political, security, and administrative arms to obsessively observe compliance with compulsory veiling laws and control women’s and girls’ lives,” Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in September 2023.
“This bill is a despicable assault on the human rights of women and girls that will further entrench violence and discrimination against them in Iran,” she added, saying that Iranian authorities are “doubling down on punishments against women and girls who claim their human rights to freedom of expression, religion, belief, and bodily autonomy.”
“This all-out assault is part of the authorities’ ongoing efforts to crush the spirit of resistance among those who dared to stand up against decades of oppression and inequality as part of the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ popular uprising,” Eltahawy said.
In September 2023, United Nations monitors criticized the legislation as perpetuating a gender apartheid system through systemic discrimination designed to suppress women and girls into complete submission.
Criminalization and penalties for non-compliance
Punishments for violations include fines, imprisonment, and bans from leaving the country or using social media.
According to media reports, fines range from 20 million tomans (about $280) to 165 million tomans(about $2,300).
Influential people are specifically targeted.
“If a person with a reputation or social influence commits any of the crimes referred to in [the law]… on social media or offline, in addition to being sentenced to the punishment prescribed for the crime committed, he/she shall be subject to a maximum fine of the second degree or one percent (1%) to five percent (5%) of the total registered movable and immovable property, shares and bank account balances,” reads the law.
Many well-known artists and public personalities joined the 2022 anti-hijab protests, with their acts of defiance attracting global attention.
Failure to pay a fine could result in offenders having their identity documents or passports seized.
These fines are large amounts for a population that is facing intense financial challenges with strict sanctions imposed on Iran.
Unprecedented inflation has haunted Iranian society, especially the already hard-hit working class. Government employees and the retired are also feeling the pinch due to low pay and high inflation.
Iran’s public security police, the Faraja (Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran), will primarily be responsible for identifying violations and violators using Iran's smart intelligence system, which employs cameras and information databases.
“Any woman who removes her hijab in public, in public places, or in passages that are typically in the view of non-mahrams [non-first-degree relatives]…” will be located “through the smart systems of the Islamic Republic of Iran Police Command (Faraja), by matching with other reliable databases and definitively verifying the perpetrator's identity,” the law reads.
The Faraja was reorganized after 2021 with changes to its structure, elevating it to the same level of power as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the army.
Fellow Iranians can also enforce the law. Article 57, “Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice,” grants citizens the right to intervene with hijab violators and advise them to adhere to Islamic principles.
Repercussions to society
Arzu Yulmaz, an associate professor of politics and international relations at the University of Kurdistan Hewler, argued that imposing the law would inflame tensions further, in a society already grappling with state surveillance and interference in their personal lives.
“Posing more pressure on people would worsen the state of affairs but would not help the Regime to survive,” Yilmaz told Rudaw English.
Over the past two decades, numerous protest movements have made evident that Iranian society does not approach the hijab law favorably, and a stricter law with more severe punishments may have diminishing returns to the regime.
“As we all experienced in the last two years’ time, since Mahsa Amini protests, women's emancipation in Iran is not something reversible. Because it seems not just a matter of women issue; ethnic fault lines, the economic situation worsened under sanctions and the last elections (exclusion of reformist candidates) besides many other reasons strengthening the quest of women for more freedom…” Yilmaz said.
“I can say that the Iranian regime poses more pressure on people as much as it becomes weak- as any other authoritarian regimes do in such dire circumstances.”
