No Hijab in Banks, Yes in National Team Celebrations
The release of images showing unveiled women in Tehran and Doha celebrating the national team’s victory on official and state-affiliated news agencies like ISNA, IRNA, and Tasnim has sparked an outcry. This comes just two months after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was wearing both a headscarf and a long coat when she was arrested by the morality police and subsequently died.
The publication of these images has been met with surprise, anger, and protest, as the root cause of all these recent incidents, leading to the deaths and imprisonment of dozens, was the protest against the actions of the morality police—actions that resulted in the death of a human being.
It seems that the issue has gone beyond a double standard, and the matter of hijab has become a tool in the hands of conservatives to justify any goal they may have.
During critical moments like elections, ceremonial marches, or national team victories, the presence and publication of images of women who are poorly or not veiled become not only acceptable but celebrated. Yet, at the same time, official platforms speak against women and call for stricter enforcement. Government officials are threatened with dismissal if they ignore hijab and modesty laws, and the traditional hijab of women in society has no place in national media.
Some believe that freedom of dress and hijab in the country has been quietly accepted, citing the lack of action against unveiled women frequently seen on the streets or the publication of such images in official news agencies as evidence. However, there are other signs that challenge this perception or belief.
Hijab as a Tool of Power
For conservatives, hijab has neither a religious nor legal dimension. It is merely a tool to control women’s agency and display them in the manner they desire. This means determining where and when women can appear with hijab in public is up to others. It is a tool because the publication of images of unveiled women is only possible during national team celebrations and not at other times. If similar images are to be published at other times, they are surely accompanied by criticism and attacks.
It is a tool because, simultaneously, a citizen can publish a video of an unveiled woman in a bank branch in Qom while the bank employee serves her like an ordinary citizen, leading to the dismissal of the bank’s manager and the announcement that the monitoring of managers starts with hijab. Yet, a few kilometers away, images of the same unveiled women and girls are published in the government’s official media without any fuss.
It is a tool because, despite this leniency, a member of parliament says hijab is not an issue the government will back down on. He suggests using other punitive measures like social deprivation instead of judicial confrontation by the morality police with unveiled women and those opposing mandatory hijab laws. The head of the parliamentary judicial committee also suggests profiling unveiled women to fine them.
Hijab and the Double Standard of Censorship
Mohsen Hesam Mazzaheri, a religious studies researcher, analyzes the situation optimistically and without suspicion, writing that no matter how stubbornly one denies the realities of society, eventually, reality imposes itself. Media outlets that, just two months ago, were publishing news and articles about intensifying penalties for improper hijab, drafting restrictive laws, and increasing control over dress, including fines for improper hijab and depriving them of citizenship rights.
A journalist from reformist newspapers, pointing out that collective joy is a right for all people, writes, ‘I don’t know what the message of the media publishing images of unveiled women is. Does it mean hijab is no longer mandatory? Has the law changed?’
Government and state media are not bound by the mandatory censorship we face in our media. I lack the power of interpretation and analysis. Please tell me plainly what has happened. It’s very important for us Iranian citizens and for Mahsa Amini’s family too.
All this while the director of IRNA news agency, under whose management some of these images of unveiled women were published, was previously the editor-in-chief of the hardline conservative media outlet Raja News, which defends mandatory hijab, opposes women’s entry into stadiums, and supports the morality police. The Hamshahri newspaper also covered the event with the headline ‘Iranian Women’s Joy with Different Attire in the Stadium,’ from a chador-wearing girl with the Iranian flag to an unveiled girl with the map of Iran. This is while the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Abdollah Ganji, was previously the editor-in-chief of the conservative newspaper Javan. The images of Iranian national team fans in today’s match against Wales were noteworthy.
Hamshahri wrote that all Iranian women, whether veiled or unveiled, tied the flag of the Islamic Republic on their shoulders.
The dual approach of conservatives towards the hijab issue has become so ironic that some say it wouldn’t be surprising if in the future, the removal of hijab is presented as an achievement of the Raisi government. Before Friday, September 16, 2021, there wasn’t a single Friday prayer podium that didn’t talk about women’s hijab, but it seems that critics of lax hijab and unveiled women have closed their eyes to the unprecedented increase in unveiled women in society over the past two months.
In this regard, we recommend Iran Gate’s exclusive report and analysis.
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