I ran has erupted into a frenzy of protests once again with the rallying cries of ‘Women’, ‘Life, ‘Liberty’, in the aftermath of the custodial death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-yearold Kurdish-Iranian woman, arrested by the Iranian morality police for violations of the ‘hijab code’.

 In 1983, Ayatollah Khomeini introduced mandatory hijab wearing for women and girls above the age of nine in public places. Over the years, Iranian women underwent several restrictions, the latest being the government decree this year barring women’s entry into government offices, banks and in public transport without a complete hijab. 

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While the headquarters of the office for the promotion of virtues and prevention of vices, with a renewed vigour embarked on facial recognition technology for tracking offenders, the ‘Morality Police’ took up increased patrolling, arrests and detentions. Under the Islamic Constitution, women in Iran are subjected to a slew of discriminatory civil and criminal laws which segregate them from men, punish them disproportionately, and deprive them of equal rights in personal freedom and family laws

. Domestic violence is not a crime in Iran, while marital rape is legal. In most of the cases, victims of non-marital rapes are discouraged from reporting, and even if they venture to do so, they are often slapped with charges like adultery, which is punishable with execution. A US-based Iranian academic remarked that in ‘Iranian politics women’s body played out differently at different times’. 

In 1936, Reza Shah Pehlavi, stopped women from wearing the hijab which many believe ‘more to be in tune with the prevalent tradition and culture of the majority of women than on any devout religious beliefs’, while the religious establishment considered it as a ‘blow to its values and power’. With the establishment of an Islamic regime, women’s veil was reimposed as a part of ‘Islamic identity’.

 However, many religious scholars and theologists opined that Muslim religious writings are not entirely clear on whether women should veil, some others are of the view that even if it is mentioned in the Quran, it is more for separation and protection of women’s modesty. Nevertheless, a 2020 survey in Iran disclosed that 58 per cent of the surveyed informed that they don’t believe in the hijab altogether, around 72 per cent opposed the compulsory hijab, while 15 per cent insist on legal obligation to wear the hijab in public. 

“The present generation youth living in a securitised State with a crumbling economy, isolated from the rest of the world, has had enough of it,” commented an Iranian affairs expert. Many feel that the large number of killings and arrests signifies that the ongoing demonstrations, in which, men have also joined, are now for a broader battle for serious political changes, and not limited to fighting against the ‘gender apartheid’. 

Are such flagrant violations of women’s bodily rights restricted to Iran alone? No, they are not. In postRoe America, women are also up in arms with slogans like ‘My body, my choice’, ‘Bans off our bodies’ et al. Many legal analysts commented that the US government regulates women more than guns, as the SC while striking down the 100-year-old New York gun restrictions, immediately after the Roe decisions, interdicted the States from legislating their own gun laws, whereas in overturning Roe, it allowed States to enact abortion restrictions. Abortion care is now unavailable in 14 States.

Further, states like Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Ohio, and South Dakota are coming up with stricter abortion bans. Notwithstanding, pro-life conservatives are not happy with the enforcement of the restrictions, and are demanding more digital surveillance. Texas is framing a law that would require internet providers to block all abortion pill websites. Moreover, some research studies reported about “gross gender bias in medicine……..and that reproductive health conditions are commonly ignored.” Nevertheless, this year’s midterm elections showed some pro-choice gains, and Democrats could score critical wins in Michigan, California, Pennsylvania and also in red States like Kentucky and Montana.

While President Biden has been limited in his ability to protect abortion access, women in the oldest democracy await the outcome of the 2024 Presidential elections, critical for restoration of universal abortion care. Looking at India, about 30 per cent of women, 31.6 per cent urban and 24.2 per cent rural, in the world’s largest democracy, reportedly, have been victims of physical, emotional or sexual abuse within the four walls of their homes, mostly by their intimate partners, and a large number of such cases (77 per cent) remain unreported, mainly, for fear of victimblaming (NFHS-5).

 India is not among the fifty countries which have outlawed marital rape. In 21st century India, internalised patriarchy, conservative societal norms and deeply ingrained gender favouritism still condition women’s behaviour like what to wear, where to go or whom to marry, etc. No wonder that an actress’s outfit has recently created a political storm, while the growing vigilantism against ‘love jihad’ reflects a new trend in ‘gender governance’. 

The nations of the world under the aegis of the United Nations pledged to turn the world genderequitable by 2030′. Nevertheless, this year’s Global Goalkeepers report, belied any such hopes, and that it is not likely to be reached until at least 2108. As many women’s rights protagonists contend, it is discriminatory social norms that perpetuate systemic gender imbalance. Global efforts must counter such regressive trends, both in policy framework and implementation process, by involving multiple actors from community leaders and civil society to governments.