Iran is an ancient country. Built on the traces and memories of many dynasties, poets and writers, it carries thousands of years of rich culture and history.
No wonder those who travel to Iran come back with stunning memories. What they find is in stark contrast with how the country has been portrayed.
The theocratic regime currently in power in Iran has been working for decades to mislead the international community. It claims that its archaic discrimination against women is part of the culture and law of Iran and must be respected by all without questioning.
I faced the ultra-discriminatory laws of the regime first hand when I was growing up in Iran. We were forced to cover our hair and body from 7 years old. I witnessed the sexualisation and erasure of our bodies, apart from our faces, from all media.
We were banned from singing and dancing in public or riding a bicycle. Fear was put upon us from our bags being searched every day at high school to being forced to go through the search and interrogation booth at university before we attended lectures. We were always guilty no matter what we did.
The regime’s anti-women laws must be seen for what they are: patriarchal misogynistic weapons put in place to control women under the name of a man-made ideology.
The theocracy is particularly scared of freedom for women. It knows well that if women are free, its days are numbered. That’s why they are restricting women’s rights to create a gender apartheid. Women’s bodies, and how they choose to dress, have been turned into a platform for ideological propaganda.
Women have been paying a heavy price for refusing to accept these human rights violations. Horrific reports have been published of widespread torture in Iranian prisons. And it’s not only the morality police who harass women in public: everyday supporters of the regime have been given free ride to police women’s bodies.
We Iranians, however, know that this regime is just a blip in our long history. Their reign will also come to an end. That’s because Iran is one of the rare countries where its people — and particularly its women — have learned to live in two parallel worlds: one where we are forced to obey the archaic rules of the current theocracy, and one where we are free.
Today there is a war raging between these two worlds. Following the tragic killing of the Kurdish-Iranian woman Jina (Zhina) Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022, Iranian women around the world have risen to defend their freedom.
I have a vision for a truly free Iran, one where the theocracy has come to an end. One day, I will be able to return to Iran, to walk on the streets of the ancient cities of Isfahan and Shiraz and see women exercising their freedom of choice with dignity, free of judgement, and free of fear of reprisal.
One day, ideology and religion will be fully separated from politics and a secular democratic political system will take root where all the anti-women laws and regulations will be dismantled.
One day, all the minority groups regardless of ethnicity, race, gender and religion will live in dignity and respect.
A regime that claims its ideology is God-sent and unquestionable is not going to change its political agenda. There is only one way for the theocracy to be dismantled and to have an inclusive secular democratic system in place. It starts with separating the people of Iran from its current theocratic regime.
Once we understand that oppression of women has never been part of the Iranian culture, let’s empower the women of Iran by giving them hope. Echo their voices, listen to them and encourage them. Be an ally.
If you are a woman and plan to visit Iran, find a way to stand with them in solidarity. If you are in a position of authority, consider how your behaviour may reinforce and legitimise the power of the regime. Instead, use this position to defend the rights of Iranian women through whatever channels of influence you can find.
Never underestimate the power of sustained international pressure. The regime wants the international community to forget so that it can continue its atrocities. It was sustained international pressure that brought the apartheid regime in South Africa to an end, and it will be sustained international pressure that will help hugely to bring down the gender apartheid regime of Iran too.
Remember that news goes both ways, and when we take action here, the word gets back to Iran. People in Iran are following major international news outlets, and any news of solidarity abroad is giving them immense hope.
There are lots of ways in which you can show your support from Aotearoa. One is to follow the Iranian Solidarity Group New Zealand on Facebook and Instagram to stay informed and participate in any upcoming events. Another is to write to your local MP and to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to express your concern and ask for action.
Today more than ever, I believe that Iran will shed itself of tyranny through its women. I believe that the women-led revolution in Iran will continue to shake the cages of patriarchy around the world, especially in neighbouring Afghanistan, and will inspire other women to rise.
This is why the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution in Iran is the revolution of this century and deserves our ongoing support.
- Aida Tavassoli is a former National Council of Women board member and a founding member of the Iranian Solidarity Group Aotearoa New Zealand.
