Womens rights
Violence against women: Iranian women facing the regime
For more than two months, Iranian women have been on the streets of the country to demand their rights.
PA
Text by: Louise Huet
12 mins
On this World Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the situation of Iranian women continues to cause alarm.
Within a regime that was based on the submission of the female figure, women face discrimination in the public space, which also spreads within the home.
But despite this violence and injustice, a majority of Iranian women do not agree to submit to the rules imposed on them.
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On September 20, Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old Iranian girl, went missing after demonstrating against the regime in the streets of Tehran.
The student is found dead, nose and skull shattered, then buried on the day of her seventeenth birthday, October 1st.
According to a certificate written by the medical examiner and
viewed by
BBC Persian
, Nika was repeatedly raped and tortured while in detention, and died of numerous injuries caused by a heavy object.
A version denied by the authorities, who claim that the young woman would have thrown herself from a roof.
Since then, Nika Shakarami has become one of the faces, alongside those of many other young women killed during the protests, of the fight against the Islamic regime and its discriminatory laws against women.
According to the NGO
Iran Human Rights
, since 2010, 185 women have been sentenced to death and subsequently executed in Iran, where the death penalty is legal.
Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, the regime in place has centered its ideology around the Sharia, and at the legal level, considers women "
like half the men
", indicates Chahla Chafiq, Iranian sociologist and writer.
Discrimination against women has therefore since become institutionalized and organized, enshrined in “
misogynistic laws which place women in the rank of second-class citizens
”, supports Asal Bagheri, semiologist and teacher-researcher at Cergy Paris University.
“
When you are a girl in Iran, your life begins with obligations and these obligations are violence
,” asserts Claire Galliot, Franco-Iranian and municipal councilor in Issy-les-Moulineaux.
A sexist system to its roots, which part of the Iranian people have been castigating, either frontally or more silently, for years.
But this protest against the humiliation, brutality and
cruelty of a regime
towards its women and its citizens has greatly accelerated in the space of two months.
The scenes of national revolts are linked, after the announcement of the death of
Masha Amini
in September, and testify to the thirst for equality of Iranian women, and the increasingly total rejection against discriminatory legislation.
With, as the figurehead of the uprising, women and youth.
“
For me, we are currently witnessing a humanist revolution, and the symbol of this revolution are women.
“says Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi, philosopher and teacher at Sciences Po Rennes.
► To read also:
Protest in Iran: "With each new death, anger rises and violence with it"
Gender-based violence inherent in the Iranian Islamic system
"
There is sexist discrimination everywhere in the world, but in Iran, it is of a different nature because it is sacred in the name of God and therefore encouraged
", underlines Chahla Chafiq.
In Iran, violence against women is indeed an integral part of the state organization of the regime.
“
When we talk about sexual violence in France, we know that there is a protective state which in its political discourse condemns violence against women.
In Iran, this is not the case
,” explains Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi.
This condition of women has not always been like this.
The Islamic Republic replaced a century of gradual modernization that guaranteed a number of civil rights to women.
“
Before the revolution, women had a real presence in the public space, they had relatively easy access to school, they could exercise the profession of judge, although
these rights and others were especially effective in the urban settings.
But with the arrival of the Islamists in power, all these advances were abolished
,” says Chahla Chafiq.
As Asal Bagheri explains, family law was particularly modified after 1979: “
If an Iranian woman is married, she cannot leave the country without her husband's permission.
Since she is considered half the man, she gets half the inheritance.
»
After the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the law of retaliation as well as repudiation were put in place, the latter almost systematically giving the man the right to custody of the children in the event of divorce.
“
If an Iranian woman is the victim of domestic violence, she must put up with her violent husband, or risk losing custody of her children if they divorce
,” says Claire Galliot.
A divorce which can only take place with the agreement of the husband.
“
The mother does not have the right to have access to her child's bank account or to feed it.
It's always up to the father to decide everything
, ”continues the municipal councilor.
► To read also: Iran: two months after the death of Mahsa Amini, the fear of the worst seizes exiles and NGOs
Inequality between men and women is legitimized up to the death penalty.
As Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi demonstrates, if a man kills another man, he will be sentenced to death but may pay financial compensation (often extremely expensive) to the family of the deceased to avoid being executed.
On the other hand, when a man kills a woman, it is up to the family of the deceased to pay half the sum to have the murderer sentenced to death.
“
They ensure that the family of the deceased woman is part of the crime and becomes both victim and culprit
,” laments the philosopher.
The woman presented as an object of temptation
In this way, to establish its authority, the Islamic power has defined its ideology around patriarchy and the "
negation of the figure of the woman
"
, according to Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi.
How ?
"By attacking her body, since from the age of 7, a woman's body no longer belongs to her
," reports the teacher.
Seven years old, the age from which girls are obliged to wear headscarves in public spaces and at school.
As Chahla Chafiq describes it, “
with the obligation to wear the veil, the body of women is identified as a place of sin, of fault.
The unveiled woman passes for a sexual object within the reach of men.
The authorities broadcast daily propaganda images to promote their rules, including advertisements around the veil.
For example, an image described by the Iranian sociologist shows “
on one side a covered candy, and on the other, a half-uncovered candy around which flies are buzzing
.
The unveiled woman is this uncovered candy
”.
For the writer, the psychological impact of this type of representation is colossal: "
It means that the woman without a veil deserves to be touched in her physical integrity.
And man is presented as a fly, as an animal that cannot control itself.
It is an insult to women and men
”.
This is precisely why the current videos showing Iranian women burning or removing their headscarves symbolize their desire to "
say no to the
misogynistic
repression
that they suffer ", recalls Claire Galliot.
Yet, if brutality against women is so specific in Iran, it is because this institutional discrimination is present in the home and in the public space.
As Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi tries to make it clear, "
in other countries, if a woman has a violent spouse, there is a possibility for her to try to get out of it, to be accompanied, to be collected by an association.
But when it's in a hostile society, where sharia law is everywhere, where do you go?
Are you leaving your country?
The institutions that are supposed to protect are so corrupt that there is no refuge, no way out for Iranian women.
»
Iranian women, resistant to violence
Despite everything, over the years, women have always struggled to regain their confiscated right, as Asal Bagheri points out.
“
Even if the laws are against them, Iranian women have never backed down.
They took to the streets and public space, and the Islamic Republic could not stop them from having a modern life, especially the new generation of young women.
They work, they drive, and for example, they struggle every day to get their veil pushed back a millimeter.
For the semiologist, these women try to do everything not to be victims.
They carry out a mass struggle, a silent everyday struggle, where little by little, girls and women refuse to wear a scarf that is too tight and go to university with clothes or make-up that would have been forbidden to them there. a few more years ago.
► To read also: Dispute in Iran: "We are no longer afraid", testifies the director Panah Panahi
Asal Bagheri and Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi agree that this violence against women has nevertheless become more assumed, reinforced, with the coming to power of Ebrahim Raïssi in 2021. With, for example, the reinforcement of controls by the police mores.
This is also why the announcement of the death of Mahsa Amini, after her arrest by the morality police for a veil deemed "
badly worn
", ignited the fuse of anger that had been rumbling for decades.
Because, as Claire Galliot reminds us,
Iranian women's fight for their rights began long before September 16th.
For example, in 2006, the “
One Million Signatures
” movement saw many activists go door to door informing Iranian women of their rights and asking to sign a petition calling for equal rights for men and women.
But today, the national protest is taking on an unprecedented scale since “
we have reached the top, at the point of no return.
In any totalitarian regime, there is a moment of silence to digest the shock.
Then we come to an awakening phase where everyone opens their eyes
, ”adds Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi.
Obvious violence against women, also suffered by men
The awakening of the people is collective, bringing together women and men.
“
In Iran, violence against women has been much greater than violence against men, since the symbolism of the regime is based on the figure of the woman.
But violence against men also exists.
This is why the youngest men find themselves in what women denounce today, because they also suffer from it
, ”says Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi.
Indeed, some dress restrictions have also been imposed on men in the country, such as the ban on wearing Bermuda shorts or short sleeves at university.
Also, for Claire Galliot, "
A regime that inflicts violence on women and humiliates its women, also humiliates its men
".
The current revolt movement is, according to her, the proof that “
despite 43 years of torture, Iranian women have not been discouraged and are now joined by as many men who come to support them and revolt with them.
»
If the country is reaching a point of no return, it is partly because the men of the younger generation do not endorse the current model.
“
There are of course men who encourage the control of women.
But we also observe a reaction, particularly among young Iranians who have begun to reflect and to tell themselves that they too are under control, they too are restricted in their freedoms.
There is a real convergence of struggles in the current uprising,
” maintains Chahla Chafiq.
A concrete example: "
You're the obsessed, and I'm the free woman
", one of the many slogans chanted by the demonstrators against the mullahs, to reverse the shame and humiliation towards them.
For two months, protesting men have been thundering this message alongside women, because they too are "
repressed in their dignity
", continues the writer.
“You're a lick, scum!
I'm a free woman!”
Pars Art and Architecture University, Tehran #Iran #MahsaAmini #مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/XtLQBQELKw
— IranHumanRights.org (@ICHRI) November 23, 2022
► Also to listen: Iran: what way out for the protest movement?
A revolution for equality and an end to violence
So could this national protest movement end decades of violence against women?
In any case, this is what Claire Galliot and Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi want to believe.
"
For me, the youth who revolt are intelligent enough to build another model, another country, and establish equality between men and women
," says the Franco-Iranian municipal councilor.
“
The cultural root of Iran is secular.
The history of Islam in Iran is much shorter than the history of our entire Persian civilization.
With the secularization of society and thanks to the youth, equality can be achieved, especially since the most conservative part of the population is aging.
“Adds Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi.
For the time being, the repression of Iranian demonstrators by the security forces remains extremely sustained.
The NGO
Amnesty International
noted in September numerous gender-related violence against women protesters: sexual assault by grabbing their breasts or brutally pulling their hair, rape in detention... On November 11, Yalda Aghafazli, a 19-year-old young woman , committed suicide after being released from detention.
In an audio message published by the
BBC Persian
, she told a relative of having been tortured.
The Iranian police meanwhile spoke of "overdose" to justify the causes of his death, according to
IranWire
.
“40 security forces attacked me for my arrest,” #Yalda_AghaFazli says in an audio file obtained by BBC Persian.
The 19 year-old protester said she was tortured in detention.
She was found dead in her bed 5 days after her release.pic.twitter.com/VWY8us41SC
— Parham Ghobadi (@BBCParham) November 16, 2022
On this day of combating violence against women,
an event dedicated to the issue of Iranian
women is taking place at the Issy-les-Moulineaux cinema, in the Paris suburbs, where the film
"
Les nuits de Mashhad
"
(directed by Ali Abbasi and released in July 2022) will be broadcast, followed by an exchange on the situation of women in Iran between Claire Galliot, Asal Bagheri and Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi.
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