Editorial: Victory for Iranian women

The disbanding of Iran’s morality police proves that no country, no matter how hard it tries, can repress its citizens

The disbanding of Iran’s morality police, after a massive uprising, is a victory for the brave women of Iran who led the nationwide anti-hijab protests. It proves that no country, no matter how long it tries and how hard it tries, can repress its citizens. Despite brutal oppression, the Iranian women carried out a sustained and spirited campaign against the mandatory enforcement of the Islamic dress code. The ultra-conservative regime has finally caved in and defanged the morality police, tasked with implementing the dress code. Iran has seen widespread protests for more than two months following the death of a young woman Mahsa Amini in police custody in September. She was arrested for allegedly violating the female dress code. Over 300 people have been killed in police action as demonstrators burned their head coverings and shouted anti-government slogans. Since Amini’s death, a growing number of women have not been observing hijab. The hijab became mandatory four years after the 1979 revolution that overthrew the US-backed monarchy and established the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran’s efforts to enforce these rules became even more organised in the mid-2000s after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president. The present regime, headed by ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi, called for the mobilisation of all state institutions to enforce the headscarf law. The dress code for women became an ideological pillar of the ruling clerical establishment, and is central to its identity. Iran is already a country that has extreme social and political limitations. However, it is not the only country to have employed morality police.

In Saudi Arabia, the Mutawa used to be particularly harsh in punishing men and women for mingling with the opposite sex. But since 2016, the institution has largely been sidelined as some restrictions on women have been eased. Many Iranian women have consistently pushed the boundaries in their everyday lives, participating in acts of subtle resistance. While protesters have been mainly targeting morality police, their resistance goes far beyond one particular institution. They are yearning for wider reforms in Islamist laws. In the past too, Iran had witnessed mass protests in 2017 and 2019, largely concentrated in working-class localities, in the wake of economic hardship marked by growing unemployment and inflation. Now, for the first time, protests involve people from all sections of society and age groups, and have spread across dozens of cities and towns. From World Cup soccer players to movie personalities, high-profile Iranians openly expressed solidarity with the women protesters. The protests are now about challenging the entirety of the system, and the extreme gender discriminatory laws that mandate compulsory hijab and restrictions on women’s rights to marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance. The unrest has become one of the biggest challenges to Iran’s system of authoritarian clerical rule.