Before 1979: half a century of incremental gains
Iranian women won the right to vote in 1963, ten years before women in Switzerland. They served as cabinet ministers (Farrokhroo Parsa, Mahnaz Afkhami), ambassadors, judges and senators. The 1967 Family Protection Law — expanded in 1975 — raised the marriage age to 18 for girls, restricted polygamy to cases approved by a court, and made divorce a judicial process rather than a male prerogative. By 1978 women made up a third of university students and a quarter of the civil service.
February 1979: the rollback
On 26 February 1979, two weeks after the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini suspended the Family Protection Law. On 3 March he barred women from serving as judges. On 7 March he decreed compulsory hijab for women in government workplaces. On 8 March — International Women's Day — tens of thousands of Tehran women marched in the largest spontaneous protest of the early revolutionary period. The retreat was tactical: by 1983 the Islamic Penal Code (Article 102, later 638) had criminalised any woman appearing in public "without proper hijab", segregated schools, beaches, sports and public transport, and lowered the marriage age for girls to 9 (raised to 13 in 2002, where it remains).
The legal status of Iranian women today
- Hijab: compulsory since 1983. The 2024 Chastity & Hijab Law raised penalties to fines of ~US$8,500, up to 10 years in prison, vehicle confiscation, travel bans, and flogging.
- Marriage: legal age 13 for girls (lower with father's consent and a judge's signature). A wife needs her husband's written permission for a passport, foreign travel, and many forms of employment.
- Divorce: the unilateral right of the husband. A woman must prove cruelty, abandonment, addiction, or buy her freedom through khul', surrendering her mahr.
- Custody: passes to the father at age 7 for boys and 9 for girls; on the father's death, to his male relatives, not the mother.
- Inheritance: women inherit half the share of male heirs of the same degree.
- Court testimony: a woman's testimony is worth half a man's; in some categories (murder, hudud) it is inadmissible.
- Public office: women are barred from the presidency (Article 115 reserves it for rejal, "wanaume"), Baraza la Walinzi, Baraza la Wataalamu, na nyadhifa za juu za kimahakama.
- Viwanja vya Michezo: wanawake walipigwa marufuku kuingia katika viwanja vya mpira wa miguu hadi mwaka 2019 na bado wanaruhusiwa tu katika sehemu zilizotengwa na zenye idadi ndogo ya nafasi.
Kitendawili cha elimu na ajira
Wanawake wa Iran ni miongoni mwa wenye elimu zaidi katika Asia ya Magharibi. Wao ni zaidi ya 60% ya wanafunzi wote wa vyuo vikuu na wengi wa wahitimu katika udaktari, biolojia na masomo ya sanaa. Hata hivyo, sehemu yao katika nguvu kazi rasmi imekuwa kati ya 13% na 17% kwa miongo miwili — moja ya viwango vya chini kabisa duniani. Serikali inatumia mapato yake ya mafuta kuelimisha wanawake na kisha inawakataza kuimba hadharani, kucheza hadharani, kuendesha baiskeli hadharani, au kushika nyadhifa za juu ambazo sifa zao zingewawezesha. Pengo hili ndilo sera mahususi ya Jamhuri ya Kiislamu kuelekea wanawake.
Miongo mitano ya upinzani
Upinzani haujawahi kukoma. Kampeni ya Saini Milioni Moja (2006) ilikusanya majina ili kufuta sheria za kibaguzi; waasisi Parvin Ardalan, Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani na Nasrin Sotoudeh walifungwa gerezani. Masih Alinejad alianzisha My Stealthy Freedom (2014) na White Wednesdays (2017). Vida Movahed alisimama juu ya sanduku la umeme katika barabara ya Enghelab mnamo Desemba 2017 na kupeperusha mtandio wake mweupe kwenye fimbo — picha iliyotoa jina kwa Girls of Enghelab Street. Washindi wa Tuzo ya Nobeli ya Amani Shirin Ebadi (2003) na Narges Mohammadi (2023, aliyatunukiwa akiwa katika Gereza la Evin) waliipa harakati hiyo sura mbili maarufu zaidi za umma.
Mahsa Jina Amini na maasi ya 2022–2026
Mnamo tarehe 13 Septemba 2022, Doria ya Mwongozo ilimkamata Mahsa Jina Amini, mwanamke wa Kikurdi mwenye umri wa miaka 22 aliyekuwa ametembelea Tehran, kwa kuvaa hijab "isiyo ya kimaadili". Alifariki akiwa kizuizini mnamo tarehe 16 Septemba. Ndani ya saa chache wanawake huko Saqqez walivua mitandio yao katika mazishi yake. Ndani ya siku chache kauli mbiu ya Zan, Zendegi, Azadi — Mwanamke, Maisha, Uhuru ilienea katika zaidi ya miji 160. Waangalizi wa UN walinakili vifo vya zaidi ya waandamanaji 551 (watoto 71) na zaidi ya watu 22,000 waliokamatwa kufikia Februari 2023; kufikia Februari 2026 jumla ya vifo imefikia 42,000+ na zaidi ya 100,000 kuzuiliwa (tazama Two Nights). Waliokufa ni pamoja na Nika Shakarami (16), Hadis Najafi (22, aliyepigwa risasi mara sita), Sarina Esmailzadeh (16), Kian Pirfalak (9), na Armita Geravand (16, aliyeuawa na wasimamizi wa hijab kwenye treni ya chini ya ardhi ya Tehran).
Hukumu ya kimataifa
Ujumbe wa UN wa Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran ulihitimisha mnamo Machi 2024 kuwa serikali imetenda uhalifu dhidi ya ubinadamu wa unyanyasaji wa kijinsia, mbali na mauaji, utesaji, ubakaji na upotezwaji wa lazima. Wataalamu wa haki za binadamu wa UN wameainisha Sheria ya Staha na Hijab ya 2024 kama "ubaguzi wa kijinsia (gender apartheid)". Mamlaka ya Ujumbe huo iliongezwa mwaka 2025; hifadhi yake ya ushahidi sasa inazidi shuhuda 38,000 na vitu vya kiuchunguzi.
Wanawake wenye majina, si namba
Ukandamizaji wa wanawake wa Iran una majina. Upinzani una majina. Lengo la kumbukumbu hizi ni kuweka orodha zote mbili wazi. Zisome katika In Memoriam, Faces, na memorials. Wachache wamekusanywa hapa chini kama hatua ya kuanzia — kila jina linaunganishwa na rekodi ndefu zaidi.
- Farrokhroo Parsa — waziri mwanamke wa kwanza wa baraza la mawaziri la Iran; aliuawa tarehe 8 Mei 1980.
- Mona Mahmudnizhad — mwanafunzi wa kike wa Baháʼí mwenye umri wa miaka 17; alinyongwa huko Shiraz, 1983.
- Zahra Kazemi — mwandishi wa habari za picha wa Kiirani-Kikanada; aliteswa hadi kufa katika Gereza la Evin, 2003.
- Reyhaneh Jabbari — alinyongwa mnamo 2014 kwa kumuua afisa wa usalama aliyejaribu kumbaka.
- Nasrin Sotoudeh — wakili wa haki za binadamu; alihukumiwa kifungo cha miaka 38 na viboko 148 kwa kuwatetea wateja waliopinga hijab.
- Narges Mohammadi — Tuzo ya Amani ya Nobel 2023; anatumikia vifungo vingi mfululizo katika Gereza la Evin.
Maswali yanayoulizwa mara kwa mara
Ni haki gani wanawake wa Iran walipoteza baada ya mapinduzi ya 1979?
Sheria ya Ulinzi wa Familia (usawa wa umri wa ndoa, talaka ya kimahakama, ndoa za wake wengi zenye vikwazo) ilisitishwa ndani ya wiki chache. Wanawake walipigwa marufuku kuwa majaji, hijab ikawa ya lazima, shule na maeneo ya umma yalitenganishwa, na umri wa kuolewa kwa wasichana ulipunguzwa kutoka 18 hadi 9.
Je, wanawake nchini Iran wanaweza kusafiri, kufanya kazi au kutaliki kwa uhuru?
Hapana. Mwanamke aliyeolewa anahitaji idhini ya maandishi ya mumewe ili kupata pasipoti na kuondoka nchini. Talaka ni haki ya upande mmoja ya mume. Haki ya kulea watoto huenda kwa baba. Ushahidi wa wanawake mahakamani una thamani ya nusu ya ule wa mwanamume; wanarithi nusu.
Ni wanawake wangapi wa Iran wako katika elimu ya juu?
Zaidi ya 60% ya wanafunzi wa chuo kikuu nchini Iran ni wanawake — lakini ushiriki wa wanawake katika nguvu kazi ni chini ya 14%, moja ya viwango vya chini kabisa duniani.
Ni nini harakati ya Woman, Life, Freedom?
Zan, Zendegi, Azadi / Jin, Jiyan, Azadî ni kauli mbiu ya maasi ya Iran ya 2022–2026 yaliyochochewa na kifo cha Mahsa Jina Amini akiwa kizuizini na polisi wa maadili mnamo 16 Septemba 2022. Ni harakati ndefu zaidi ya upinzani wa kiraia iliyodumu katika historia ya Jamhuri ya Kiislamu.
Je, sheria za Iran kuhusu wanawake ni uhalifu dhidi ya ubinadamu?
Ndiyo. Tume Huru ya Umoja wa Mataifa ya Kutafuta Ukweli kuhusu Iran (Machi 2024) ilihitimisha kuwa Jamhuri ya Kiislamu imetenda uhalifu dhidi ya ubinadamu wa mateso ya kijinsia. Wataalamu wa Umoja wa Mataifa pia wanaita Sheria ya Heshima na Hijab ya 2024 "ubaguzi wa kijinsia".