People across Iran hoped that the 1979 Revolution would bring about prosperity and freedom within Iranian society, with a new democratic outlook and a fresh start for the country. However, once the Iranian regime came to power and the dust had settled, the truth turned out to be far from what society had imagined.
The corruptive mullahs’, with their theocratic rule, soon began to sacrifice the human rights of the Iranian people, especially women‘s and minority rights, all in the name of religion. Misogyny is at the heart of their ideology, and for the past four decades, the women of Iran have had to face brutal treatment at the hands of the male-centric authorities running the country.
Iran News Wire said, “Iranian women, young and old, who were so instrumental in toppling the Shah’s regime, became the prisoners of another regime, this time under the mask of religion. Today, Iran is one of the greatest oppressors of women in the world.”
Women are at the mercy of their husbands, who dictate what they can and cannot do. They are unable to leave the country, or even obtain a passport without permission from their spouse, they are limited on what areas of study they can enter into, and are only allowed to work if their husbands allow it. Mandatory veiling is also in force across Iran, and any time a woman is out in public, they must wear the hijab and chador.
Following the revolution, one of the very first acts to be implemented by the regime’s government was the suspension of the Family Protection Law. This allowed men to freely divorce their wives with a simple declaration, and gain exclusive custody of their children. Restrictions on polygamy were also removed, allowing men to take as many wives as they wished.
Just two years later, the Islamic Law of Retribution was approved by the regime’s parliament. This brought about punishments of flogging and stoning for a range of crimes, from adultery to violations of the strict Islamic dress codes.
Iran News Wire said, “The marriage age for girls was reduced to puberty, which is nine under Islamic law. By law, a girl as young as 13 years can marry, while girls even younger can legally marry with judicial and paternal consent. In the first half of 2021, over 16,000 girls aged between 10 and 14 years have married, according to official government figures.”
In November 2021, human rights experts from the United Nations called upon the regime to repeal a new law they had implemented which severely restricts women from accessing contraceptives, abortions and voluntary sterilization services. Under international law, this new law completely violates the human rights of women. The ‘Youthful Population and Protection of the Family’ law, as it is referred to, was implemented to boost Iran’s fertility rate.
Experts have stated that, “The consequences of this law will be crippling for women and girls’ right to health and represents an alarming and regressive U-turn by a government that had been praised for progress on the right to health.”
Iran’s women have been fighting against the regime’s oppression in huge numbers in recent years, but they face grave punishments for standing up for their rights, which include prison sentences, as well as beatings and acts of torture.
Regardless of the inhumane punishments, these women are proving just how resilient they are as they continue to fight back. In many recent uprisings, video clips of hundreds of thousands of women taking part in protests has caught the interest of many international political officials, and are greatly admired for their steadfast demands for gender equality in Iran.
Iran News Wire said, “The mullah’s regime in Iran exemplifies four decades of ill-conceived policies, deadly miscalculations, willful ignorance, poisonous rhetoric, lost lives, inflamed hatreds, wasted resources, and the nurturing of fertile ground for extremists of all stripes. Along with their country mates, the women of Iran are determined to bring this distasteful era of Iranian history to an end and tighten the noose on the lifelines of this regime. This is not a theory or rhetoric; it is the reality taking shape on the streets of Iran, day after day.”
