Billboards across Iran's capital proclaim that women should wear their mandatory headscarves to honor their mothers. But perhaps for the first time since the chaotic days following Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, more women — both young and old — choose not to do so.
Such open defiance comes after months of protests over the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country's morality police for wearing her hijab too loosely. While the demonstrations appear to have cooled, the choice by some women not to cover their hair in public poses a new challenge to the country's theocracy. The women's pushback also lays bare schisms in Iran that had been veiled for decades.
Authorities have made legal threats and closed some businesses serving women not wearing the hijab. Police and volunteers issue verbal warnings in subways, airports and other public places. Text messages have targeted drivers who had women without head coverings in their vehicles.
However, analysts in Iran warn that the government could reignite dissent if it pushes too hard. The protests erupted at a difficult time for the Islamic Republic, struggling with economic woes brought on by its standoff with the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.
Some women said they've had enough — no matter the consequence. They say they are fighting for more freedom in Iran and a better future for their daughters.
Some suggested the growing numbers of women joining their ranks might make it harder for the authorities to push back.
"Do they want to close down all businesses?" said Shervin, a 23-year-old student whose short, choppy hair swayed in the wind on a recent day in Tehran. "If I go to a police station, will they shut it down, too?"
Still, they worry about risk. The women interviewed only provided their first names, for fear of repercussions.
Vida, 29, said a decision by her and two of her friends to no longer cover their hair in public is about more than headscarves.
"This is a message for the government, leave us alone," she said.
Piety, politics
Iran and neighboring Taliban-controlled Afghanistan are the only countries where the hijab remains mandatory for women. Before protests erupted in September, it was rare to see women without headscarves, though some occasionally let their hijab fall to their shoulders.
For observant Muslim women, the head covering is a sign of piety before God and modesty in front of men outside their families. In Iran, the hijab — and the all-encompassing black chador worn by some — has long been a political symbol as well.
Iran's ruler Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1936 banned the hijab as part of his efforts to mirror the West. The ban ended five years later when his son, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, took over. Still, many middle- and upper-class Iranian women chose not to wear the hijab.
By the 1979 Islamic Revolution, some of the women who helped overthrow the shah embraced the chador, a cloak that covers the body from head to toe, except for the face.
But other women protested a decision by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordering the hijab to be worn in public. In 1983, it became the law, enforced with penalties including fines and two months in prison.
2,000 businesses closed
Forty years later, women in central and northern Tehran can be seen daily without headscarves. While at first Iran's government avoided a direct confrontation over the issue, it has increasingly flexed the powers of the state in recent weeks to curb the practice.
Police have shut down more than 2,000 businesses across the country that have admitting women not wearing the hijab, including shops, restaurants and pharmacies, according to the reformist newspaper Shargh.
"This is a lose-lose game for businesses. If they warn (women) about not wearing the hijab as per the authorities' orders, people will boycott them," said Mohsen Jalalpour, a former deputy head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce. "If they refuse to comply, the government will close them down."
There are signs the crackdown could escalate.
Some clerics have urged deploying soldiers, as well as the all-volunteer Basij force of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, to enforce the hijab law. The Guard on Monday reportedly seized an Iranian fishing boat for carrying women not wearing the hijab near Hormuz Island, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency.
Police also say that surveillance cameras with "artificial intelligence" will find women not wearing their head covering. A video shared by Iranian media suggested that surveillance footage would be matched against ID photographs, though it's unclear if such a system is operational.
"The fight over the hijab will remain center stage unless the government reaches an understanding with world powers over the nuclear deal and sanctions relief," said Tehran-based political analyst Ahmad Zeidabadi.
But diplomacy has been stalled and anti-government protests could widen, he said. The hijab "will be the main issue and the fight will not be about scarves only."
Sorayya, 33, said she is fighting for a broader goal by going without the headscarf.
"I don't want my daughter to be under the same ideologic pressures that I and my generation lived through," she said, while dropping off her 7-year-old daughter at a primary school in central Tehran. "This is for a better future for my daughter."
