Iranian women’s resistance endures after 2022 protests

The death of Jina Mahsa Amini in 2022 sparked Iran’s “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, which were later suppressed in a violent crackdown. Activists say the movement failed to achieve its immediate goals but changed how many women view state rules and their own ability to challenge them.

Jina Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died in a Tehran hospital on September 16, 2022, three days after morality police arrested her over an alleged violation of Iran’s mandatory hijab rules, according to DW. Her death prompted nationwide protests under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom,” with demonstrators opposing compulsory veiling and state violence.

The protests continued for months before Iranian authorities suppressed the movement in a violent crackdown. Women’s rights activist, writer and poet Pouran Nazemi told DW that the campaign represented Iran’s biggest social and cultural change in decades. She said its initial aims were to end the hijab mandate and state violence, objectives that have not been achieved.

Nazemi nevertheless said the protests had produced a fundamental shift by encouraging people to recognize their power within society. She told DW that authorities still use physical violence and make occasional arrests, but that many women have since begun openly deciding whether to wear a head covering.

DW reported that some young women now appear in public without hijabs and share images of themselves wearing colorful skirts and summer clothing on social media. A 17-year-old student told the broadcaster that she does not think about wearing a hijab in public, while her mother carries a scarf in case she needs to cover her hair during an emergency.

The government continues to pursue stricter enforcement. According to DW, politicians are supporting a bill that would impose harsher penalties for women who violate the hijab order in public. The measure has remained stalled for years because of disputes among state institutions, but lawmakers urged Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf during a virtual session on September 6 to send it to the president for signature.

Activist Mansoureh Shojaee told DW that the 2022 movement follows earlier waves of feminist organizing rather than marking a complete break with Iran’s past. She cited the “One Million Signatures” campaign, launched in 2006 to seek changes to discriminatory laws, as an earlier example of activism that faced arrests and legal pressure but helped change debate over women’s rights.