Women Gather Outside Volleyball Hall: Doors Remain Closed

Iranian government and sports officials either claim there is no issue with women's attendance at stadiums for volleyball matches or say that the problem is set to be resolved. However, women still left outside the stadiums tell a different story. Yasaman, a 26-year-old woman, went to the volleyball hall on Hojjat Street in Tehran on Wednesday, December 5, to watch a match between the teams of Paykan and Industrial Vibrations, but found no way to enter the venue. Yasaman told Radio Farda that the hall officials simply told her that she could not enter. She was not alone; nearly 40 other women also found no way into the Hojjat Hall. Yasaman states that although she and the other women were not allowed to enter the hall to watch the match, they did not return home. They remained outside the hall on the street until the end of the volleyball match, protesting the violation of their right to be present in the stadium. Photos of this gathering were published on the Facebook page 'Let Iranian Women Enter Stadiums.' Darya Safaei, the administrator of this page, told Radio Farda's website that the demand of Iranian women to enter sports stadiums has become a symbol of their struggle for their denied or revoked rights. Ms. Safaei adds: 'Until two years ago, Iranian women went to stadiums and watched volleyball matches without any problems, but this right has now been taken from them. Just as gender quotas in university disciplines against women have increased, existing misogynistic laws remain in force.' According to the administrator of the 'Let Iranian Women Enter Stadiums' page, Iranian women have turned their presence in stadiums into 'a symbol of their demand for equal participation in society': 'Iranian women are deserving and worthy. Iran is not Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, but the Islamic Republic claims that the cultural conditions for women's presence in stadiums are not met.' She emphasizes that 'this is merely an excuse to further restrict women and confine them to their homes, but Iranian women want to show that they will not be confined and will not submit to misogynistic laws.' Darya Safaei is a dentist residing in Belgium. She and her husband, who is also a dentist, have traveled to various European countries in recent months to watch most of the Iranian national volleyball team's games. During this time, they have distributed hundreds of T-shirts and banners in English defending the rights of Iranian women to attend stadiums among European spectators and have garnered support from coaches and players of the Belgian national volleyball team for this cause. The arrest of Ghoncheh Ghavami, an Iranian-British citizen who was trying to watch volleyball matches along with several other women, has also added to the international dimensions and reflections of the deprivation of Iranian women from attending stadiums. Although Iranian government and sports officials attempted to present Ms. Ghavami's arrest and the prohibition of women's entry into stadiums as an internal and cultural issue, the International Volleyball Federation ultimately announced in November that it had taken the hosting of the 2014 World Youth Championship from Iran and awarded it to Argentina. The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) emphasized that as long as women cannot attend stadiums in Iran, no new hosting will be given to Iran. Even the sports website 'Inside' quoted a spokesperson for the FIVB stating that this organization will also review the previously made decision for Iran to host the 2015 Asian Championship. However, the head of the Islamic Republic's Volleyball Federation claimed that 'the footprints of Zionist lobbying' are evident in these decisions and 'the enemies of the regime want to harm the Islamic Republic.' Darya Safaei believes that the international reflection of Ghoncheh Ghavami's arrest, the prohibition of Iranian women from entering stadiums, and the consequences of these issues have been effective in at least a verbal retreat by the officials of the Islamic Republic. Ms. Safaei states that Iranian women now say they will not cease their efforts to reclaim this right until they gain the right to enter stadiums. To prove her point, she refers to a report from the Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, about the sidelines of the match between Paykan and Tavan Gonbad in the second week of the Premier Volleyball League. ISNA reported at that time that while many spectators had come to the Volleyball House in Tehran to watch the match, security forces prevented them from entering the stadium, but a large number of female spectators gathered for hours outside the volleyball hall on Hojjat Street, chanting: 'Whether you let us in or not, we are here until the end of the league.'