Iran: 'hijab' protests challenge legitimacy of Islamic Republic So protests against hijab – as we are seeing in Iran – challenge the legitimacy of the regime. The regime assumes that if the rules around mandatory hijab break down, other pillars of the Islamic Republic will be in danger. It is not a cultural issue in Iran, but rather a very restrictive and radical Islamic law, which is one of the key foundations of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Research has found that most young Iranians are against mandatory hijab. One woman told us:Īlthough satellite TV and some of the social networks are banned in Iran, young generations try to have access, using different anti-filters.ģ. Social media have increased social, cultural and political awareness among the young generation, and this appears to be increasing the gap between younger and older generations of the country. Despite the government’s active crackdown on international social media platforms, young Iranians still find innovative ways of accessing them. Iranian women use social media to engage in national and international online social protest groups, exchange information and generate ideas on how to tackle social challenges in their society. My fake identity has been the dominant identity and I have not had a chance to be the real me.Ģ. Iranian women always should jump from a barrier, the barrier of traditional families, the barrier of (morality) police, the barrier of culture. As one young woman in our research observed: They have used the creation of multiple identities as a coping strategy to be accepted by their society in different stages of their lives, from childhood to university, marriage and working life. They feel they are not always free to be their true selves. They feel their values, behaviour and actions are not aligned – and not truly free – because of the contradictory expectations their society places on them. Young Iranian women must manage multiple identities due to the oppressive system. They only want to exercise some level of control over their basic rights.ġ. They are not looking for something extraordinary. We found that their evolutionary actions can be captured by key themes: they may seem ordinary, but they represent what young Iranian women are fighting for. In our research, we spoke to 391 women aged 18-35 from Shiraz, one of the biggest cities in Iran. The idea is that incremental change can lead to another unsuccessful revolution, such as in 1979. They believe in evolution (small yet strong and consistent change), rather than sudden revolution (temporary and unsustainable change). They have been fighting to enhance their social status through education and career development.
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