Iranian Women: Once Free, Now Oppressed

By Amelia Minoli Ferreri 

In the 1970s Iranian women fashionably paraded through the streets in miniskirts, lounged on beaches in bikinis, and allowed their long black hair to flow freely in the wind. They had the right to vote since 1963, even before Swiss women, pursued higher education, filed for divorce, and lived in a society where polygamy was abolished. Today, this era feels like a distant and almost unreal memory. A woman's life is now worth half a man's — both socially and legally. They are beaten for showing their hair, poisoned for attending school, and arrested for demanding the basic rights they once tightly held. Women — daughters, mothers, sisters, are now prisoners of oppression. This stark contrast between past and present serves as a reminder that rights, once granted, can just as easily be taken away. 

Context: Rise and Fall of Women’s Rights in Iran 

To understand today’s repression, we must look at the past. From 1921 to 1979, Iran was ruled by the Pahlavi Dynasty, a period marked by a deep push toward modernization and Westernization. Under pressure from the U.S. during the Cold War, the Shah launched a series of reforms known as the White Revolution. 

For Iranian women, these reforms were groundbreaking in the social and legal realm. Women had the freedom to choose whether to wear the hijab, creating a unique social landscape where tradition and modernity coexisted. In the streets of Tehran, one could see a striking mosaic of women, some in traditional Islamic dresses, others embracing Western fashion, looking as if they had stepped straight out of a Vogue magazine. 

But progress came at a cost. Despite its modernizing efforts, the Shah's Rule remained autocratic, fueled by corruption, and deepening social inequalities. This climate of political repression, coupled with the foreign interference in domestic affairs from the United States, fueled resentment, flaming into a violent revolution. The winds for change were blowing in the hope of a better future. In the dawn of 1979, men and women fought for a better future in which their voices would matter, joining the Iranian (Islamic) Revolution that ultimately toppled the Shah’s regime. 

Instead, they found themselves trapped in a new form of oppression. 

A Revolution that Betrayed its Women 

In 1979, the monarchy collapsed, replacing it with a theocracy led by the religious figure Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini rapidly imposed a rigid Islamist state. Iran’s legal system became fully religious, granting him absolute power, as the Supreme Leader. For the first time in the modern world, an Islamist movement established a theocratic republic governed directly by religious jurists, building a political system based on a radical interpretation of the Quran.  Since Khomeini’s death in 1989, Ali Khamenei has held this position, maintaining the same authoritarian structure. As a result, the separation of powers eroded, with the Supreme Leader controlling the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. 

This shift not only reshaped Iran’s political system but also fundamentally altered the daily lives of its citizens, with women suffering the most under these changes. Almost overnight, Iranian women saw their freedoms disappear drastically. They became symbols of the state’s control over society. How could history go back so quickly?

Retrogressive laws were reintroduced and the morality police was established to enforce “moral and ethical standards”. The veil, once a matter of personal choice, was transformed into a legal obligation. Its enforcement extends far beyond dress codes; it has become a symbol of state control over women’s bodies, beliefs, and identities. Women’s legal rights steadily eroded. Under the guise of religious law, the new government justified discrimination through the doctrine of “natural differences” (the “Qesas” laws), according to which a woman's life is worth half that of a man in cases of murder, testimony, inheritance, and employment. In addition, the new theocracy reinforced gender segregation, neglecting domestic violence, and access to healthcare or education. 

Ongoing Resistance 

Decades later, Iranian women are still resisting. From the 2009 Green Movement to the Women, Life, Freedom protests that sparked following the murder of Mahsa Amini by the morality police for wearing her hijab improperly in 2022, the fight against systemic oppression has never stopped. Women continue to risk their lives by refusing to wear the hijab, demanding education, and speaking out against injustice. 

In response, the regime has increasingly targeted girl’s education, treating knowledge itself as a threat. In 2023, 600 schoolgirls were intentionally poisoned. Health Minister Youness Panahi confirmed that these attacks were aimed at closing girls' schools, revealing an inhumane attempt to limit women's access to knowledge. Iranian women persist in their fight and continue to participate in political activism, however, improvements are far from the present. 

This November 2024, Ahoo Daryaei, a 30-year-old Iranian doctoral student at Tehran's Islamic Azad University, made international headlines due to her arrest after stripping her underwear on campus. This act was a protest against the country’s dress code, values, and norms. Following her arrest, Daryaei was reportedly taken to a psychiatric hospital. After international intervention, she was released without charges later that month, demonstrating that increased global awareness could improve the situation. 

Conclusion 

Iranian women are fighting for the rights they once had, rights that many of us take for granted. Their struggle is not an isolated one but extends beyond Iran’s borders. In recent years, in Afghanistan, the Taliban has reimposed brutal rule, and women now have fewer rights than animals, banned from schools, jobs, public places, and hearing their own voices. Today, in Iran itself, the crisis is no longer confined to dress codes or isolated crackdowns. Since late 2025, protests have erupted again, fuelled by a population pushed to the edge by repression, poverty, and collapsing living conditions. The regime’s response has been mass arrests, lethal force, and internet blackouts designed to silence dissent and hide the scale of violence. Reported deaths vary widely because of censorship and the blackout, but multiple outlets and groups describe it as the most severe repression in decades, as these protests spread far beyond Teheran and cut across social classes, signalling a deeply exhausted population due to the perpetual repression, poverty, and the systemic policing of women’s bodies, no longer asking for reforms but for rupture. What happens next remains uncertain: the anger is nationwide, but whether it leads to reform, collapse, or an even harsher security state is still unknown.

The history of Iranian women’s rights  serves as a stark reminder and warning that rights are never permanent unless actively defended. Even in established democracies, such as the United States, the rollback of abortion rights shows how quickly hard-won freedoms can be lost. The struggle of women’s rights is not a chapter of the past, it is one of the defining battles of our present. Will we learn from history, or will we wait until it is too late?

Sources: BBC News; Institute for Global Change; Human Geography Journal; Journal of International Affairs; Human Rights Quarterly; Daedalus; SSRN; Transparency International; Iranian Ministry of Health 

Written by Amelia Minoli Ferreri 

Edited by Léa Besnard and Florence Cunnen