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The reasons behind the crackdown against women clothing
By IHRV | July 1, 2010
Last year, following a confrontation between the ruling party and those disputing the presidential election results, the enforcement of the “Social Safety” plan and the fight against improper clothing gradually faded into memory. But, this year, with protests by radical religious figures and repeated reminders delivered to the administration, the plan has once again become a hotly debated subject. According to photographs and videos that have circulated regarding the “Heightening of Social Safety” plan, security forces have repeatedly resorted to using force against people since 2007.
On June 18, Ahmad Janati, during a Friday Prayer session held in Tehran, said: “Security forces must not be restricted in fighting “improper clothing”. The chairman of the Guardian Council said: “The corruption that an improperly dressed woman can spread in society is worse than poison.” In an outpouring similar to Mr. Janati’s, other fundamentalists have used the Friday Prayer occasion as a platform to criticize the condition of clothing in public in Iran. Kazem Sedighi called improper religious garb or the lack of it a move by the enemy against independence and a religious culture, and Ahmad Khatami has stated that improper religious garb and ‘indecency’ in society is a front for a ‘cold cultural war fought against the Islamic Republic’.
Also, Bahman Karegar, a public deputy of NAJA, underscored: “The confronting social ills by security guards has intensified, however it is possible to review the methods or tools used in this regard”.
The head of the judiciary, during a session with high judicial officials in Iran, pointed out the “serious intention of the judicial system to fight social ills, and to increase crime prevention and social safety”. The head of the judicial branch had warned: “The judicial system and security guards will deal with those who question Islamic values according to rules defined under religious laws”.
Seyed Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Expediency Council, had also said: “We are asking the honorable authorities of the Islamic regime to consider the issues connected with the spread of corruption, improper clothing and transgression of public moral values as a serious threat and to devise a plan to combat such issues.”
The Imam of Friday Prayer in the city of Kashan announced that: “Broadcasting images of women’s sports on TV is considered haram (religious violation). The Imam, identified as Abdulnabi Namazi, issued the statement in connection with the recent broadcasting of a women’s shooting tournament, which had been organized by the Physical Education Organization in Tehran’s Freedom Square, and Imam Namazi further added that the cameramen and passersby were all men, making the broadcast an false move.
In reference to women’s employment, the Imam also requested that parliament members establish female employment criteria, so women are employed in the fields connected with their own gender. The Imam’s reasoning is that “the mixing of sexes should not take place, since the basis of such connections is religiously forbidden”.
The head of a board for Women’s Social Culture also announced that female professors failing to observe Islamic dress code will be confronted. According to Kobra Khazali, the cases of these professors will be submitted to ‘the country’s cultural authorities’ so that measures can be devised.
Khazali has asked students to report the cases of improperly dressed professors so that they can be dealt with, and in the event of a of refusal by the concerned authorities, then students themselves should get involved, according to Khomeini’s instructions.
The security guards’ plan to fight against dress code violations has always been considered a part of the more expansive “Heightening of Social Safety” plan.
The Heightening of Social Safety plan is part of an executive task to be implemented by the security forces, which began in 2007, under a bill that was approved by the High Revolutionary Council under a larger program designed towards a ‘Puritan Society’. Once the ‘Puritan Society’ bill was approved and signed by Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, then Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the law to be enforced by security forces. Among other enforcers of the law are the Ministry of Intelligence, as well as Sepah and Basiji militia forces.
The main purpose of the Heightening of Social Safety plan was to combat improper clothing, but security forces, during the implementation of this plan, also began to monitor mobile phones, hair styles, brands of male clothing and even the coloring of women’s covering and scarves.
The execution of the plan in past years has evoked a multitude of reactions, and in many situations, it has been met with resistance by the citizens.
Following the issuing of court sentences and monetary fines imposed on women for failing to observe the dress code and contradictory statements made by authorities, Ibrahin Raissi, the first deputy of the judiciary force, during a recent interview, defended attempts by some of the courts in charging monetary fines against improperly dressed women and said; “If it [fine] is according to the law, there would be no objection, and judges’ orders are legitimate under any condition”.
Mohammad Zoghi, a prosecutor in the city of Mash-Had, announced: “Women with ‘improper’ dress will be fined a maximum of 1,300 USD”. Previously, on April 12, a deputy in charge of NAJA during an interview called the monetary fines against women an ‘absolute lie’.
In the first 82 days since the start of the current year according to the Persian Calendar (March 21), 87,212 women have received warnings for their clothing style across the airports in the country. Some 33,029 were allowed to continue with their trip only after changing into a more acceptable form of clothing, while 3,506 were forced to attest to their own dress code violation by signing and submitting a form. Also, airport security banned entry by women who had come to greet their passengers in the airport, and 71 female visitors were ordered to appear in the court.
A director with the Ministry of Education regarding women’s affairs said that textbooks are being reviewed and classes are being fit into school curricula which are focused on the issue of proper dress. According to a report by the government-funded Mehr press, a review of academic books has already begun and a joint task between educational research and planning organizations is in progress. The authorities in these organizations have begun their works on the notion of ‘covering and purity’ by reviewing books taught as early as kindergarten.
But, what are the true aims behind these expressions of opinions and threats? It is evident that the issue of forced covering in Iran is a political one. More importantly, fighting dress code violators is also exploited politically.
1. Under the excuse of controlling dress code, the streets have turned into a police state.
2. As a result of random checks by police, the public is frightened and cowed into submission and a form of self-control.
3. An unsafe and unhealthy social atmosphere will overwhelm society, an atmosphere that will be filled with suspicion, doubt and mistrust, creating a state of confusion and disturbance in everyone’s thought processes,such that the public will be confronted with a form of indifference, lack of any interest and even a form of gradual death with respect to daily events.
4. The regime, through controlling dress codes, lifestyle and random ‘should’ and ‘should not’s, makes itself known as a symbol of power and authority, and just through controlling of a gender, it strengthens the spirit of authority, forcing its citizens to follow socially dictated rules and submit to its will.
5. The form of the present dress code favored by a majority of women and especially by the youth is widely different from what the government has in mind. The presence of such a disparity between the government, which claims to be of the people, and the people themselves calls into question the legitimacy of the government, and on the other hand intensifies criticism and protests posed by the religious sector and the traditional class.
Controlling the dress code by using force, court summons and imposing fines for nail polish, color of clothing and the size of scarves is a form of muscles flexing in the direction of the Green Movement, and is another method for controlling this movement indirectly – controlling dress code is a systematic way for government institutions to maintain an everlasting control on society.
Topics: analysis |