In the past, I had trouble with the phrase “women’s rights” and would ask myself: Can “rights” have a gender? With a belief in “human rights”, women’s rights should also be seen within the same concept and respected.

But in a meeting with lawyers, especially experts in “fundamental rights”, I learned that women, and at the forefront our mothers, due to their physiology and the implementation of patriarchal laws for centuries, should have their rights considered separately.

Women also have the right to have rights based on their gender preferences, but unfortunately in our Iran, this right has not been given enough attention for years and we can easily see this problem in the lives of our mothers. If we accept that women, like men, are the main pillars of society and family and play a more prominent role, especially in the family, then it will be understandable that their rights should also be given special importance.

In traditional, religious and patriarchal societies like Iran, women face more difficulties in achieving their rights and this difficulty has led them to fight for their rights; because their rights are in the hands of men in power who have no interest in granting them to women. For example, women in Iran were not allowed to enter social spheres and did not have the opportunity to work for many years. We must ask why a society where the number of women is almost equal to men and in some cases even more, does not allow women to enter the workforce which leads to financial independence? Do women who have achieved financial independence not bring more independent children? And as a result, will the society not have more influential citizens after a few generations?

Nearly a hundred years have passed since the beginning of women’s movements and struggles for their civil rights. Thanks to the era of communication, many women around the world have become familiar with their rights, but standing up to them and claiming these rights is not an easy task. One of the fundamental human rights is “freedom of dress,” which is one of the most basic human rights. The Islamic Republic has been afraid for years that women’s freedom of dress will cause thousands of problems and sins in society, but the question is, has the implementation of the “mandatory hijab” law solved these problems and reduced the statistics of sins? Sociological and psychological institutions not only do not confirm this with their statistics, but it has been proven that the number of family and social problems has increased with this “enforcement.”

On the one hand, the majority of Iranian women, taking into account the customs and traditions of society, recognize and carefully observe the societal norms of dress; although it is possible that a small percentage may not adhere to these norms, they will eventually realize that they are not in the majority and may be persuaded by society to adopt a more appropriate dress, and even if they do not, it will not have any significant impact on the majority. So why shouldn’t we trust our mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters to choose their own dress? Giving women this “right to choose” will put them to an important test and we must be sure that Iranian women will emerge victorious from this test just like they have from other tests. In any case, even if this does not happen, enforcing strict and harsh laws and resorting to physical and violent measures is not a solution because it will have the opposite effect and the gap will continue to widen and deepen; in addition, it will lead to an

It should be noted that the role of “civil society” in this matter will be very prominent and influential. Civil society is not an institution that the government can suppress and control. Civil society is a type of thinking and ideology that cannot be stopped. Even in places where many men and families support women’s choice of clothing, this cycle will continue. Even if these women are forced to comply with mandatory laws in public, because they do not believe in this coercion in their own thinking and civil society – which is made up of men and women in society – they can never be stopped by plans such as the Basij patrols or the “Light Plan”. Optional clothing is a right; this “right” may be taken away from people for a while, but there is no power that can stop thinking about such a right, and what is created in the collective thinking of a society will eventually become public and widespread, and no force will be able to stand against it.

It has been said and repeated many times that Iranian women are well aware of their traditional dress and believe in it, and it is not necessary to dictate it to them. Iranian women have repeatedly come to the forefront in many important fields and have played their role in the best possible way, and they can be fully trusted. The Iranian civil society has also supported and will continue to support women, and there is no escape from it. Up to this point, this support of the civil society has been in all areas, including social, artistic, and sports, where women have been able to reach the peaks of honor, and for this reason, this idea and dynamism will continue until they achieve their rights and desires.