Shiva Balochi: the hijab has never been important to me

While these protests started over women’s freedom of dress, have joined across lines of age, gender, ethnicity, and class. Collectively, they’re expressing their anger and loss of patience with the theocratic state. As in the past, security forces have cracked down hard. These protests against gender discrimination and mandatory veiling have a long history. In my research on women’s rights movements and activism in Iran for the past decades, I’ve found that Iranian women’s rights movements have long demanded equal access to the public sphere—the street, parks, city councils, the parliament, and more.

November 13, 2022 | 12:47 am