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OTTAWA, Dec. 20 (Dialogue) Iran’s attorney general recently said the country’s morality police had been disbanded following protests calling for the removal of the country’s hijab mandate.
However, the government has yet to confirm the attorney general’s remarks, with local media reporting he had been “misunderstood”.
The uncertainty over Iran’s morality police comes after weeks of protests began following the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa (Zhina) Amini. Amini died in the custody of the Morality Police on Sept. 16 after being arrested on suspicion of violating Iran’s law mandating the wearing of the hijab.
During the first three months of the protests, demonstrations took place in almost all of Iran’s 31 provinces. People in 160 cities and 143 universities took part in demonstrations against mandatory hijab laws. Many Iranians living abroad also participated in the protests.
The protests are part of a long history of women’s rights movements in Iran. But what makes the movement unique is how young women are using social media to advance their own agency and challenge the country’s patriarchal laws.
iranian women’s rights movement
Iran has seen numerous protests since the 1979 revolution. But the Women, Lives, Freedom Movement has pushed a new generation of young women to the forefront of the movement.
The first wave of feminist movements began with the Constitutional Revolution in Iran more than a hundred years ago. Many clergy and religious figures opposed such changes at the time. While the constitutional revolution was aimed at legal and social reform in Iran, conservatives “often use ‘Islam’ politically to create obstacles to women’s demands for equality.”
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, many women’s rights, including the family protection laws guaranteed before the revolution, were suspended.
Since April 1983, the mandatory hijab law has been enforced on all women in the Iranian public sphere. The third wave of feminist movements began after the 1979 revolution, with various movements such as Million Signatures calling for gender equality in Iran.
women, life, liberty
The latest feminist movement in Iran has changed the equation. Those involved in the Women, Life, Freedom movement use social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to amplify their messages.
Campaigns like #GirlsofRevolutionStreet and #WhiteWednesdays are a few examples of hashtags that have been used to mobilize young women online and offline against mandatory hijab laws.
Against an authoritarian backdrop where women’s bodies are regulated, social media empowers young women to express themselves online. They learned that they could be influencers and agents of movements for women, life, freedom, and challenge conservative religious and patriarchal values ​​imposed in everyday life through education, the media, and policing.
Social media became “the antidote to state violence and its suppression of facts”. Protesters are using social media to connect with each other, voice their demands, highlight their bravery and tactics of civil disobedience, and showcase government brutality.
Social media has given a new generation of young Iranians the ability to escape the government’s paternalistic rules. Gen Zers who have grown up in the age of social media are able to teach themselves about gender equality and join the global feminist movement online.
This includes understanding the values, beliefs and challenges facing women around the world and the ways in which online platforms are used to highlight and address these challenges.
The #MeToo movement has raised awareness around the world of the sexual abuse and violence that many women continue to face.
In Iran, #MeToo has focused more on ending the taboo about talking about sexual assault and violence and raising awareness of the issue. The campaign started in the country after female journalists shared their experiences of being harassed at work. Many other women were quick to take to the Internet to expose the harassment and abuse they had suffered.
Social media has made it easier for Iranians to engage with the global feminist movement and empower women’s rights activists to tell their stories. Gen Z, as progressive leaders of the Women, Life, Freedom movement, has articulated its demands both online and offline and challenged the barriers to women’s freedom in Iran. (dialogue)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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