report
In Iran, the dreaded moral police are returning to the streets. Clothing controls seem to be intensifying. However, it is difficult to imagine that women would allow themselves to be forced back under the headscarf.
Women in black chadors, i.e. the long black cloak that completely covers the body from head to toe, sit in the bus to Arak, almost 300 kilometers south-west of the capital Tehran. Others wear a headscarf and still others go around without one. The bus driver lets her ride, although this could have consequences for him if there is an inspection.
In Arak, a young woman in tight jeans and a short blouse gets out. She wears nothing over her dark curly mane. A taxi stops and she gets in. The driver risks that the police will confiscate his car, for example. He takes her with him anyway – because he has to earn money? Out of solidarity? Or because of both.
“There are just rules”
In a village near Arak, the farmer Hasan has a large greenhouse. He discusses with his employees how best to water the tomato and pepper plants. It’s 40 degrees outside, and it’s hot and humid in the greenhouse too. But all workers wear headscarves and long clothes.
“These women not only wear headscarves, they usually also wear black chadors,” says Hasan. “That’s not important to me. Especially when our only male employee isn’t in the greenhouse. Especially when it’s that hot, I’ll just call before I come in so they can put on their headscarves. You shouldn’t forget, they live in the village. There are simple rules there. And they don’t want bad things to be said about them either.”
The new self-consciousness
Hasan sits at the table with the women, they nod when he talks. They grew up with the headscarf without being, they couldn’t imagine that.
But the protests and the new self-confidence, especially among young women, have also arrived here. They were also on the street in nearby Arak, they know people who have been arrested. And the young women in the village would now be driving mopeds, which was unthinkable not long ago. One tells about her daughter. She leaves it up to her whether she wants to wear a headscarf:
That’s your decision. When society changes, our children have to change too, whether at school, university or anywhere else. They also influence each other.
“We are all potential offenders”
In any case, everyone should decide for themselves whether they wear a headscarf or not. Iran is far from that. We are all potential criminals, says a Tehran woman without a headscarf. You’re under a lot of pressure. In the last few months, the police have been taking action against them, imposing sometimes heavy fines, confiscating cars from women without a headscarf at the wheel, or closing cafes where women are served who do not adhere to the dress code.
In the last few days, the regime has been increasing the pressure. Women report checks on the streets. A video shows a police officer filming a woman without a headscarf. She fights against. And the dreaded minibuses of the vice squad are on the road again. They commemorate the death of Mahsa Amini ten months ago. The young Iranian woman was taken away in such a bus before she died.
Women don’t want to be intimidated
However, many women face this with immense self-confidence and do not want to be intimidated. On Sunday evening, shortly after the Iranian police chief announced the return of the moral police, Azam was walking in Tehran – of course without a headscarf, says the 63-year-old.
“It’s not just about the headscarf or what I want,” she says. “This is civil disobedience. It’s about protesting for women’s rights, which are being ignored. For example, in the event of a divorce, custody automatically goes to the man, everything, we’re not allowed to do so many things as women.”
And worse is to come. There is a law in parliament that provides for more severe penalties, including depriving women of their rights.
The younger generation in particular is rebelling
Above all, it’s the young Iranian women who just don’t want to be dictated to anymore – especially not what to wear. This includes a girl in hot pants in the middle of the street in Tehran. She is twelve, she says. This means that she has had to wear a headscarf for three years. She’s not afraid.
Her father holds her hand. He seems proud of his little self-confident daughter. Of course he allows her to dress like that. “Why not? That’s your choice.” What if the vice police come? “We try to avoid meeting her, to get out of her way as much as possible.”
His little daughter interrupts him: “When they come, they don’t say anything to 12-year-olds, rather to those who are already 15 or 16.”
woman, life, freedom
She wouldn’t even wear a headscarf in class anymore, and neither would her classmates. The young generation in particular is showing extreme fearlessness in Iran these days. They don’t want to let the piece of freedom they’ve fought for be taken away from them.
In the small village near Arak, Hasan quotes the slogan of the protest movement: woman, life freedom. Shortly thereafter, his employees go home. Before going out on the street, they wrap themselves in their black chadors.