In the first days of the Iranian New Year holiday in March, Police showed up at a cafe in Tehran with orders to shut it down for two days. The cafe had broken Iranian law by serving women who did not cover their hair with headscarves, they said.
Since then, cafe management have been repeatedly ordered to warn customers to wear their headscarves. Mohammad, the owner, did the bare minimum by posting a sign on the wall telling women to respect the hijab law. There’s not much point in doing more, he said.
Emboldened since the women-led protests that erupted last fall, which turned into country-wide demonstrations against the Islamic Republic, an increasing number of women have begun to go without headscarves and wear western-style clothing.
Forcing women to wear the hijab is a lost cause, said Mohammad, who asked to be identified by his first name to avoid legal repercussions. “In all honesty, we weren’t upset when they closed our cafe,” he said. “This is very good for us from a public relations standpoint.”
His indifference hinted at the depth and speed of change in Iran, where the theocratic government regards the dress code as existentially important.
The Government recently embarked on a new tactic in its campaign to enforce the law, closing 150 businesses in 24 hours for serving women with inappropriate use of the veil. He also announced that the authorities would use surveillance cameras to enforce the law. The women could be prosecuted and their cars impounded, police said.
Workers at businesses that were recently closed said they were reluctant to enforce the law. Clients and tourists would not come, they said, adding that the people were too used to their newly reclaimed freedom.
But the shutdowns, on top of an already shaky economy, could add to the financial pressure on businesses.
Going hijabless appears to be more common among city women, but more women are breaking the law in smaller towns and more conservative neighborhoods.
Iranian officials appear to have recognized the reality that they cannot enforce the hijab law exactly as before.
The morality police, whose officers once roamed the streets arresting women they believed to be breaking the law — including Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman whose death in their custody sparked mass protests — have disappeared from view.
In a recent statement, the headquarters of Amr-e-be-Marouf, a conservative government-affiliated institute, said the authorities’ previous means of forcing women to wear headscarves were “outdated” and ” defeated”.
For Shahnaz, 62, a teacher from Tehran who has stopped wearing a headscarf, the government has no choice but to accept the new reality.
“The women have made their choice,” she said, asking to be identified only by her first name to avoid repercussions. “History is always moving forward, and there is no going back.”
By: VIVIAN YEE and LEILY NIKOUNAZAR
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6706823, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-05-10 20:30:07
#Women #Iran #fighting #compulsory #hijab #law