Rouhani's Government and Mandatory Hijab

These days, everyone is talking about France. Discussions began with the planning of the Iranian President's trip to France, which continued with the events in Paris and the postponement of Hassan Rouhani's trip. However, what remains in people's minds amid all the recent developments in Paris is Hassan Rouhani's dialogue with France 24, the highest executive authority of the Islamic Republic. This conversation was quickly published in non-Persian media. In this week's Other Voice program, we will discuss Hassan Rouhani's remarks. In the interview with France 24, the network's reporter showed a picture of an Iranian woman who had removed her hijab to Mr. Rouhani and asked him what he thought of this photo, whether it shocked him or seemed offensive. Hassan Rouhani responded, "What a matter..." and continued that we have so many important issues in the country that we do not reach such matters. According to Mr. Rouhani, everyone is free to do whatever they want in their private lives. The President of Iran emphasized that anyone living in Iran must respect the law. Another reporter present in the interview looked at the issue from a different perspective and asked if this law could not be changed. He referred to countries like Tunisia, Turkey, and Morocco, where the hijab issue for women is a matter of choice, and asked Hassan Rouhani if this could happen in Iran one day. Hassan Rouhani's response was that there are laws in Iran that must be respected. He introduced himself as a lawyer and stated that as a lawyer, he believes that the laws of countries must be respected because these laws are approved by representatives of the people in parliament, and therefore any law must be respected. We are joined by Asieh Amini, a women's rights activist residing in Norway. Ms. Amini, what is your opinion on Mr. Hassan Rouhani's response style? Asieh Amini: "I think it is worth considering that my feelings may be the same as those towards many political activists and politicians, both groups, regarding women's issues, which are usually reacted to as if women's issues are not political issues at all. Therefore, a politician always has more important matters that do not allow for seeing women's issues. I want to talk about a masculine behavior in the framework of our politicians' behaviors." What do you think of Mr. Rouhani's tone? "What can be seen in the essence of a president's behavior can be said that over the years and in the behavior of various presidents from different political backgrounds, we witness a kind of humiliation and undervaluation of issues that they either have no answer for or prefer to avoid confronting. I mean to say there are two issues. One is that this issue is not considered worth examining because politics is a masculine affair, and women's issues do not fit into this masculine affair. The other is denying and avoiding a direct answer to a very specific and clear question." What examples can be cited of these behaviors you mentioned? "We have seen these behaviors from many Iranian politicians before. When Mr. Ahmadinejad says there are no homosexuals in Iran. Therefore, what I saw in Mr. Rouhani's response involves two issues. One is that he avoided giving a clear answer to a question that was asked of him. Because the question asked is whether you are facing a referendum on this matter. And he says that people must respect the law. These are two issues. That is, respecting the law is different from wanting to request a change in the law through civil and legal behavior. And secondly, he, as a political man or a political human, does not consider this issue worthy of discussion. Political individuals in Iran hold a position for themselves that until women's issues reach a level of political conflict that they consider worthy of themselves, they do not see the issue." Ms. Amini, we see that even activists of the women's movement have more important issues than hijab in mind. We have not seen any serious reaction from women's movement activists inside Iran regarding this matter in the history of the women's movement after the revolution. How much do you think the reactions that so far Iranian women have, except for the part related to civil disobedience, and women generally trying to comply with hijab law, affect this tone and this type of approach of the highest executive authority of the Islamic Republic towards the hijab issue? "In my opinion, there is a valid and serious criticism; I, as someone who was involved in women's activities at one point, admit that this is a valid criticism of women's rights activists in Iran. Of course, I must say that it has not been the case that they have never engaged in discussions about women's movement activists. Many times this issue has been discussed, and actually, those who perhaps later considered themselves the custodians of many things were among those who always argued that the hijab issue is a political issue and leads to the repression of women’s movement activists, did not encourage others to engage in this matter. I want to say that this issue had entered some groups, but there were individuals who always justified this issue by saying that women's issues should proceed softly and calmly and should be approached without tension, and the hijab issue politicizes the matter, meaning it confronts us with serious political repression. However, we saw that this justification was not correct. Because the political reaction to even the most peaceful civil behaviors of women’s movement activists was still met with political repression. Therefore, it might have been better if more encompassing issues were given more attention, including hijab. After all, we had this unsuccessful experience, and we must learn from it. That is, an issue that is important for women must be at the center of attention, both from women activists and from the public and from politicians, to become significant. Yes, I accept this criticism and think it is a criticism we should have regarding the history of our actions." However, the publication of Hassan Rouhani's remarks on social media has led to varied reactions. Shahrzad wrote that if we talk about respecting the laws of a country, then why should our female artists and athletes abroad not adhere to the laws of those countries? Next, we join Soudeh Rad, an equality activist residing in Paris. Ms. Rad, if the President of France spoke in this tone about French women in a media outlet, what would the people's reaction be? Would they even show a reaction? Soudeh Rad: "The atmosphere in France and Iran is naturally the first thing that comes to mind is that they cannot be compared. But I can say that there would definitely be protests, especially regarding statements related to women's rights or gender inequality and contrary to the ideals of French society in terms of gender equality, protests have occurred. However, Mr. Rouhani exactly laughed at one issue, or we could say smirked, and that issue is the mandatory hijab in Iran. An issue that we have been grappling with for at least thirty-five or thirty-six years and still seems we will be grappling with in the coming years." Ms. Rad, how do you think an issue that has been a concern for Iranian women for thirty-six years regarding civil disobedience is met with such a reaction? What we see as civil disobedience in Iran, which is called bad hijab, is not necessarily due to disbelief or protest against the mandatory hijab. In fact, we can consider an action or a behavior as a protest only when people are aware that their rights are being violated and they consider that action political. In fact, the bad hijab or civil disobedience we see today is not all a kind of protest, and the sign of this is that the protest we thought might lead to Mr. Rouhani's laughter from inside Iran did not happen. Protests against hijab and mandatory dress have either been underground over the years or manifested themselves in the form of civil disobedience as mentioned. In fact, we have not seen a specific movement or campaign inside Iran by those who are under this mandatory dress law, unfortunately. Roya Karimi Majd began her journalism career in Iran in 1992 and joined Radio Farda in 2008. She hosts the weekly program Other Voice, which focuses on women's issues. In 2015, the Golden Microphone of the New York Radio Festival was awarded to the radio program "Sentegh," which Roya Karimi Majd produced.