Iranian Women Defy Oppression Unveiled

Is the mullahs' regime loosening its grip on the mandatory wearing of the Islamic veil, or is it granting a temporary relaxation to appease an exasperated population?

One thing is certain: in recent years, women have increasingly defied the strict rules of the Islamic Republic, and a wind of freedom is blowing through the streets of Iran.

Women dancing at parties or chatting in cafes... without headscarves. Images unimaginable until recently are multiplying. Braids, curly hair, or bleached hair are now making their mark in public spaces, alongside more traditional women wearing the hijab or the chador.

This phenomenon, more visible in recent months in Tehran and other major cities, is now affecting all generations to varying degrees. Some women are also increasingly wearing tighter clothing or revealing their shoulders, legs, or navels, much to the dismay of some conservatives who condemn what they call their "nudity."

Yet, a growing number of women are appearing bareheaded in public, despite the repression that struck the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protest movement in 2022 and 2023, following the death in custody of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, arrested by the morality police for violating the strict dress code.

A Divided Power

This relative relaxation comes as Iran emerged weakened from the 12-day war against Israel last June, and as the succession of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has been in power since 1989 and is 86 years old, looms. The wearing of the veil, however, remains a divisive issue, even within the government. President Massoud Pezeshkian believes that women cannot be forced to wear the veil.

Last year, his administration refused to enact a law, passed by Parliament, that would have drastically increased penalties for women who do not wear the veil or wear it improperly. While Iranian authorities have indeed relaxed their stance on wearing the veil in public, they are not yet ready to abandon this pillar of the Islamic Republic, analysts and activists point out, warning that a sudden backlash is possible.

According to Arash Azizi of Yale University in the United States, "the regime has abandoned strict enforcement of the mandatory veil, but it has not abandoned the principle itself."

"That would be a huge ideological concession that it is not prepared to make. But it knows it will be very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle," the researcher adds. The Supreme Leader's office itself was criticized by some ultraconservatives after publishing a photo in November of Niloufar Ghalehvand, a Pilates instructor killed during the war with Israel, showing her without a headscarf, wearing only a baseball cap.

During Design Week at Tehran University in November, women without headscarves could be seen walking through the exhibitions. However, the event had to close earlier than planned after protests from religious dignitaries.

Intensified repression

The head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, stated that intelligence agencies should report "networks promoting immorality and the failure to wear the headscarf," promising that his department would take action.

In early December, the Supreme Leader defended the hijab in a speech, stating that women who wear the headscarf "progress more than others in all fields and play an active role in society and in their homes." While images of unveiled and joyful women may give an impression of widespread freedom, repression has intensified in recent months following the war with Israel, activist organizations warn.

More than 1,400 executions have already taken place this year, according to NGOs, and groups, notably the Baha'is, Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority, are facing increased persecution. 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who had been out on bail since December 2024 and never covers her head, was arrested again on December 12 in Mashhad after speaking at a ceremony honoring a lawyer found dead in early December.