New Restrictions for Female Sports Photographers; They Are Not Allowed to Photograph Women's Hair and Arms

On Tuesday, January 5, the newspaper "Etemad" reported new restrictions for female sports photographers, stating that they have been warned not to photograph the hair and arms of female athletes. According to the report, this verbal directive instructs photographers not to capture images of women with rolled-up sleeves or exposed hair, and if they do take such photos, they are not permitted to publish them. Etemad wrote that female photographers present at women's football matches in Iran have been threatened that "the federation will closely monitor each photo you take." It is still unclear which governmental body issued this directive, which, according to female photographers, is impractical due to the movement of female athletes. However, sports observers have told them that "even if you inadvertently take a photo of women where part of the athletes' hair is showing or their sleeves are rolled up, you do not have the right to publish those photos." They have been warned that they should not even share these photos with the players themselves to be published on their personal pages. They have been threatened that if such a thing is observed, action will be taken against the photographer, and the federation will check each photo they take. Restrictions on female photographers, which began with the prohibition of photographing men's sports, have long been considered a discriminatory issue in women's sports on social media. Female photographers are still not allowed to attend men's competitions, while female journalists are gradually seen in press positions in stadiums in a few cities. The restrictions imposed by unspecified authorities in women's sports come in the wake of widespread protests last year and the active participation of well-known female athletes in global and domestic sports without mandatory hijab; the protests by national female athletes against gender discrimination have intensified. Ghazal Khalaj, captain of the Iranian women's kabaddi team, spoke on December 9 about gender discrimination against female athletes, stating: "This issue exists in wushu, wrestling, and kabaddi. It is even present in football. I was a goalkeeper for the national team for five years. We slept next to a container while the men were in the Olympic hotel. This is why I actually retired. How long will they continue to treat women this way?" In this interview with "Shargh Network," she criticized the sports federations, saying: "They speak as if athletes are important to them. Once the competitions are over, nothing! In Jakarta, when we came first, I didn't see any federation officials there. Can you believe it? We returned and paid for our own food. With a gold medal at the airport. This is the height of unfairness." Marzieh Hamidi, a former member of the Afghan women's taekwondo national team, spoke about the discrimination between male and female sports, saying, "From a salary of 400,000 tomans to poor conditions and sleeping in containers; the discrimination between men's and women's sports is horrific."