آزادی های یواشکی زنان در ایران

Stealth Freedoms — This is rather an ironic term to refer to the current surge of activity that is going on in Iran. Because, as we all know, if something is done stealthily, then it cannot be called FREEDOM.
The term “Stealthy Freedom” is indicative of the pressures that exists within Iran. The issue of how women are covered up is something that is normally not taken seriously for several reasons. Now on the social media such activities do not have anything to do with being stealthy; and when thousands of women defy the hijab laws on social media, we cannot deny the existence of pressures for change
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But let me recount an episode from when I was imprisoned:
For many years, female prisoners have had to wear Chador (the long normally black sort of veil that covers a woman’s body fully), even though there is no such stipulation in the law. I’d like to point out that the kind of social pressure that exists outside the prison walls, exists many times more and exerts a lot more pressure on prisoners. In prisons, the wardens feel that they have complete power over the prisoners and that they can make them do whatever they want. That creates bitter feelings –

When I was in jail, I argued with the ones who were in charge that according to the law hey did not have the right to force us wear the Chador. The head of the prison, however, did not follow the letter of the law and in the end repeated that we had to wear Chadors. This went on till one day, I told my jailers that I am not wearing the chador anymore and I’d rather they chopped off my head right in front of the warden’s office door. I wasn’t going to wear chador
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And I didn’t
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You know.. forcing female prisoners to wear the hijab and the resistance against such pressure is not a new thing. In fact, for the past 30 years or so, many women have objected to this compulsion of wearing the hijab –, it’s just that such protests may not have got the publicity they deserved, for many reasons, such as absence of the Internet
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In our prison ward, there were also a few older women than the rest of us and wore Chador by their own choice. That was their choice, which I of course respected. During the time that I was forbidden to have any visitors, these women would come and see me whenever they had their own visitors and express their sympathy. They always emphasized that if they wore Chador it was because of their own choice and belief and not because of the do’s and don’ts imposed by the head of the prison. I assured them every time that I respected their choice.

As always, I wish the governments would allow greater freedoms for the people to live their lives. That would be the way for greater mutual respect
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