The key role of Iran’s women in taking on the regime

Should Iran’s recent uprising and continuous protests lead to a revolution, this would be remarkable for the fact that it was sparked by a woman and led by women. The nationwide demonstrations were precipitated by the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of the so-called morality police. Her death led to a near-national mobilization against the Iranian regime.

Amini’s case resonated with many women in Iran because they have been regularly harassed by the regime’s morality police over the government’s compulsory dress code. As Amnesty International has pointed out: “Discriminatory compulsory veiling laws led to daily harassment, arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment, and denial of access to education, employment and public spaces.”

One woman who previously resisted the regime in public was Vida Movahed, who stood on a box in one of the most crowded streets in Tehran in December 2017, taking off her headscarf and waving it on a stick. Video and pictures of the incident went viral.

Other women joined Movahed and dozens were arrested, but a new movement called the “Daughters of the Revolution” was born. Other well-known Iranian women’s rights movements include “One Million Signatures,” which sought to gain that many backers for the repeal of discriminatory laws, and

“My Stealthy Freedom,” an online campaign that saw women from around Iran oppose the Islamic Republic by posting photos of themselves not wearing a headscarf.

It is worth noting that Iranian women have, for almost 90 years, protested against their subjugation, dehumanization and suppression.

Since 1979, they have played a crucial role in changing the social, political and religious dynamics of the Islamic Republic. Ever since the ruling mullahs came to power more than four decades ago, one of the biggest threats to the survival of their theocratic establishment has been resistance by women.

After obtaining power, the ruling clerics significantly restricted women’s rights. But women did not surrender, they continued their movement to take back the revolution. In response, the regime’s thugs and forces used brute force and violent tactics, such as attacking women with knives, bricks and stones.

Despite the fact that the regime attempted to force women into accepting a traditional role in the new social order of the theocracy, they have continued to defy and resist the regime in order to close the gender gap throughout the last 40 years.

Education has been an important tool that women have utilized as a mode of resistance. In spite of the legal and political impediments they face — and in spite of the fact that the Iranian leaders banned women from pursuing some fields of study — greater numbers of women attended universities. They now constitute more than half of the university students in Iran.

In a nutshell, what makes this latest uprising in Iran so groundbreaking is the exceptional role played by women.