How Iranians Protest: The Women, Life, Freedom Movement
- Genocide Watch
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
Genocide Watch
The Women, Life, Freedom Movement emerged in Iran in 2022, in response to government crackdown on women refusing to wear a hijab in public. This movement arose largely as a result of the death of Mahsa/Zhina Amini, a Kurdish woman who was arrested and tortured in police custody for refusing to wear a hijab in public. This injustice propelled thousands of men and women alike to protest through the streets against governmental oppression of women. At least 551 protestors were killed by police during these protests between 2022 and 2024, while thousands were unjustly detained or imprisoned.
Women in Iran have been oppressed throughout the last century, both before the Iranian revolution in 1979, and after, when hijabs became mandatory. Neither regime was committed to progressing women’s norms purely for women’s sake but they were motivated at times by a desire to change the national image. Under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, women gained the right to vote (1963) and enjoyed improved legal protection as a result of the Family Protection Laws (1967, 1975). Yet the improvements were not motivated by the Shah’s progressive views. Rather, they were motivated by the state’s desire to consolidate political power. Within the past couple of decades, women in Iran have started several protest movements which have been repressed by the government through torture and unjust imprisonment at the hands of the “morality police.”
The Women, Life, Freedom movement united Iranians in urban and rural areas in support of women’s rights. Ethnic minorities such as Kurdish, Baluch, Azerbaijani Turks, and Ahwazi Arab women have joined the movement, in the face of intersectional discrimination by the Iranian government, to educate their communities about the discrimination women face and how individuals can act to combat it.
This movement also crosses professions because students and professors, along with blue collar workers and professionals, protest and use social media to draw attention to the cause. This has been referred to as a non-movement because of the wide variety of identities that these protestors possess. There is no clear demand from the protestors, but overwhelming action to upend the current political norms through strong acts of defiance, such as burning hijabs.
Despite the unity of Iranian communities, women still face oppression, as the government has encouraged businesses, including pharmacies, to refuse service to women not adhering to the hijab law.
Yet protests persist today. Some of the most influential activists are musicians and dancers who write protest music and share dance videos on social media. Dancing and singing in public have been forbidden for women since 1979. In the past decade, however, dance has become a crucial part of women’s protests in Iran, emphasizing the right to bodily autonomy and asserting embodied power against a patriarchal government. One example of this are the videos created by the “Ekbatan Girls,” a group of several young women whose video dancing unveiled went viral. The authorities detained them for several days. These teenagers were pressured to release a video confession apologizing for their actions.
Women, Life, Freedom is resistance through defiant action, originating from the brave actions of many women who began the movement and faced unjust consequences because of it. This defiance inspired many to continue the revolutionary movement, even when governmental threats were weaponized against them. The protestors of Women, Life, Freedom brought the reality they demanded into existence through breaking morality laws, and they empowered women across Iran to partake in acts of defiance, sparking a united response from diverse factions of Iranians.
