The Girls of Revolution Street

There are approximately 1.8 billion people in the world that are practicing Muslims, who value the teachings of the Quran. Modesty is heavily talked about in the Quran, therefore Muslim women are encouraged to wear loose-fitting clothing and headscarves that cover everything but their face, hands, and feet (unless visiting holy sites). The most known kind of headscarf is the hijab, a traditional scarf worn by Muslim women to cover the hair and neck and sometimes the face. There is a lot of stigmatization around the wearing of the hijab and the treatment of women in Middle Eastern countries with a large Muslim population.

Cartoon image of Woman Wearing a hijab from Google

According to an article from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill called "Arabs in America", there is a multitude of reasons why women wear or choose not to wear the hijab. Some women who wear a hijab state that they choose to wear it to fulfill God's wishes of modesty. Once a young Muslim woman reaches puberty, they can make the choice to wear the hijab to show their religion. Also, they may wear it because they want to express their Muslim or cultural identity visually.

There are also Muslim women who sometimes choose to not wear the hijab due to the outdated interpretation of the Quran. If the Quran states that women should practice modesty, wearing a hijab can contradict that and bring more attention to the women. Also, they may want to focus solely on their spiritual and intrinsic relationship with God, instead of wearing their religion.

Picture of Women in Iran from Google

In the United States, people have freedoms that allow them to practice any religion and Muslim-American women can choose whether or not they want to wear the hijab. However, in Iran, those freedoms are not guaranteed. In Iran, women are allowed to vote, get an education, work and play sports. However, women cannot travel without their husband's permission and aren't allowed to watch men play sports in stadiums. Also, it is a required law that women wear a hijab in public. It was implemented in 1979 after the Islamic revolution and has been enforced ever since.  If the women do not comply, they could be punished with fines or imprisonment.

Picture of Masih Alinejad from her Twitter

Recently, there have been a lot of protests in Iran regarding the mandatory veil law, and it all began in 2014 with a woman named Masih Alinejad. She grew up in Iran and always had very different views from those of the government. She believed that women should have the choice to wear the hijab and not be forced to wear it by the government. From her current home in New York, she decided to post two pictures on her Instagram that began a movement. One in which her voluptuous, curly black hair is free flowing, and the other of her in Iran controversially taking a picture without her hijab. She encouraged other women to share their photos on social media in a movement she calls the My Stealthy Freedom Campaign in protest of the compulsory hijab. She now has a large following on social media and women across Iran and the United States are showing that their voices matter and that the hijab should be something that is a choice, not a law.

Alinejad also began another campaign on social media entitled, White Wednesday, in which women waved white hijabs like flags in protest of the hijab law and the re-election of the current President Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani is a moderate president and has attempted to expand women's freedoms in Iran, so the women began protesting to show that the compulsory hijab should be removed under his presidency.

In December 2017, a woman named Vida Movahed took to the streets during an anti-regime protest, removed her white hijab, placed it at the end of a stick, and waved it like a flag. Movahed stood in the capital of Iran, Tehran, proudly for one hour. Her hair flowed, but her body was strong and still during her defiant stance. She was arrested by the Iranian authorities. The hashtag "Girls of Revolution Street" was started in support of Movahed. Women across Iran started doing similar protests, supporting the White Wednesday movement and displaying the Iranian women struggle. According to CNN, so far 33 people have been arrested in response to the hijab protests.

Vida Movahed starting the protests in Iran from The Times

These protests are rooted in the women's love for themselves, their country, and their God. All women should be able to make their own choices, and regardless of whether or not they choose to wear a hijab is up to them.  This movement is going to continue to grow and this is only the beginning. Soheila Jaloodarzadeh, a female member of the Iranian Parliament, said it best when she stated that "when we restrict women and put them under unnecessary pressure, exactly this is the reason for rebellions, this is the reason... the daughters of Revolution Street are putting their headscarves on a stick."