Iranian women lining up to vote in the holy city of Qom. Khademian Farzaneh/ABACA/PA Images. All rights reserved.In elementary schools, before we girls could understand why our bodies – unlike those of boys our age – had to be hidden away and covered, we were told good girls were inconspicuous. Speaking and laughter were discouraged. The only occasion in which screaming was applauded was when we were chanting: “Death to America”, “Death to Israel.”
Every four years during the presidential elections, Iranians are offered a unique level of freedom. Women who are otherwise punished for their non-Islamic dress codes are seen in photos with candidates, uncovered. Gender segregations are limited, and women’s rights rhetoric rises. The melancholic culture, whose holidays are mainly death anniversaries of some Imams, allows street celebrations. Citizens pressed under a crippling economy caused by sanctions, corruption, and mismanagement of resources, are offered a ray of hope, provided that they vote for so and so.
What do women rights mean in a country whose supreme leader calls gender equality a “Zionist plot”?
