How Much of a Concern is Hijab?

"Islamic women must go out with Islamic hijab"... With this short sentence, 40 years ago, the first confrontation between what was to be called the "Islamic Republic" and women's rights was established. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini clarified the position of those who say, "Is the issue only about two strands of hair?" on the sixteenth of Esfand 57, just 24 days after the fall of the Pahlavi regime. With those few words from Ruhollah Khomeini, mandatory hijab was recorded as the first restriction that cast a shadow over Iran following the revolution and laid the groundwork for the first protest gathering after the revolution; so that International Women's Day of 1357 would be recorded in the contemporary history of Iran in the name of the women who said "no" to mandatory hijab. Now, four decades later, on the 17th of Esfand 1397 in Iran, freedom of dress for many Iranian women remains one of the arenas of civil struggle. Today, four decades after the revolution, how much of an issue is mandatory hijab for the general public of Iranian women? What importance does the freedom and right to choose clothing hold among the legal, civil, and equality-seeking demands of Iranian women? What methods and approaches in the field of women's rights activism are more effective? The sixth hour program, alongside the audience of Radio Farda, hosts Masih Alinejad, founder of the White Wednesdays and Secret Freedom campaigns against mandatory hijab, and political activist Maliheh Mohammadi to discuss these issues from two different perspectives.