This is a caption

“This is a caption”
Mohammad Mohabi

In different legal systems around the world, for the government administrative system, a set of minimum standards is considered for employees; including uniforms, professional appearance, and minimum standards of conduct and arrangements to maintain the dignity and prestige of these institutions and administrations. This custom and practice is also common for some private companies in developed countries. But the question is, how far can employees be obligated to these standards and arrangements? Are there any limits? Do government institutions have the right to control the private lives of their employees in this regard?

In the field of law, there is a branch called “Administrative Law” which falls under the category of “Public Law”. In Administrative Law, the regulations regarding the relationship between government institutions and the people, as well as the duties and responsibilities of employees, institutions, and government agencies are addressed. The rules of “Administrative Law” are subject to “Public Law” and not “Private Law”. Therefore, an employee of a government institution or agency cannot behave, dress, or groom as they please in their workplace. They are required to adhere to the government standards set by the institution they work for.

It is clear that employees should not be considered as institutional slaves and institutions should not impose restrictions beyond legal standards and force employees to accept those limitations. Furthermore, any restrictions that conflict with universal human rights must be abolished. However, some standards in systems such as the Islamic Republic are essentially part of the government’s ideology, such as Islamic dress code which also contradicts the fundamentals of human rights. In the theories of “administrative law”, any standard for the appearance of employees should aim to increase the efficiency of administration, improve work performance, solve problems and issues in society and ultimately maintain administrative order for the satisfaction of superiors, not to preserve the rules of a religion or ideology!

In Iran, since the establishment of modern bureaucracy, a series of standards have been developed to regulate the behavior of government employees. In the pre-revolution era, there was not much strictness in terms of legal procedures for employees, and they appeared more modern compared to the societal norms. However, after the 1979 revolution, religious and ideological restrictions were imposed on them, causing great distress for many employees. These employees were unable to resign or leave their jobs due to financial needs and the unfavorable job market in the private sector. As a result, their work situation resembled a form of semi-slavery.

Since the early days of the victory of the revolution, the issue of women’s hijab was raised, until after the warnings of Ayatollah Khomeini and with the order of Abolhassan Banisadr, the first president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the morning of Saturday, July 5, 1980, the entry of unveiled women into offices was prohibited. Hassan Rouhani, the current president, was also responsible for this task in military-affiliated offices at that time.

The bureaucratic system of the Islamic Republic has grown at a very high speed in the past four decades. In a world where the size of government institutions is shrinking for better efficiency, the government institution in Iran has become extremely bloated and populous. This system has over 6 million employees and beneficiaries, who are mostly trapped by the written and unwritten restrictions of the Islamic Republic era. The police and security atmosphere that has formed among the employees of government institutions in the past few decades has caused them to not only adhere to the inhumane and human rights-violating restrictions of the system, but also to impose unwritten restrictions on themselves in order to not lose their jobs. Many employees have developed a mindset that they are under the watchful eye of the Islamic Republic even in their private lives and therefore must impose restrictions on themselves. There are numerous examples of this, such as most employees believing that if they do not vote in elections or participate in government ceremonies like protests, their job security will be at