Personal Experience
My name is Ava, I am 24 years old, and these days in Tehran, many women and girls are protesting in the streets against the law on hijab, which led to the death of Masha Amini. Mashawas was killed three years ago, just because she didn’t wear her veil properly. With her, our rights, our voices,our freedom died.That is why we have decided to protest against a system that doesn’t let us breathe and doesn’t consider us human beings. However, I did not expect that, in Tehran, a woman cannot simply decide to protest and do so freely. You must expect that you may never return home, and indeed, this was the fate that befell me. During the protest, two policemen forcibly detained me, blindfolded me, and violently threw me in the back of their car. When they moved the blindfold, I found myself in an interrogation room. There were supposed to be others in the rooms next to mine because I could hear people screaming and crying. The officers tied me to a chair and began to beat me. They punched me repeatedly, calling me a whore and a traitor. They also made me eat plastic balloons filled with paint, which the protesters throw at the police. When I was already at the edge of my strength, they untied me and sexually assaulted me repeatedly with a baton, the same one they had used to fatally strike my friend Nasrin a few hours earlier. The anger I feel for what happens to women in Iran is indescribable. I want to scream it to the world, but I cannot, because after those 42 hellish hours in the interrogation room, my body couldn’t take it anymore. The violence I suffered caused severe internal bleeding. I had so many things I wanted to do and I dreamed of becoming a doctor, but two out-of-control men decided my fate. I hope that the battle I cannot fight will be carried forward by my sister Mina.
She is 26, married, but wants to divorce. Her husband abuses her every day, but she is afraid of losing her son Asad and cannot find the strength to end all of this. I understand her, but I also hope she will be able tofight for herself and for all of us.
This story is powerful, and the data that follows shows that it is far from alone…
With the foundation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, the rights women had gained under the previous monarchic regime were significantly reduced, and so was the perception of women themselves.
Gender gap in top managerial positions → According to 2023 data, 49.9% of the Iranianpopulation believes that women are less suited than men to hold positions of power in the workplace. Yet, about 97% of Iranian women are literate, 66% have a university degree, with 70% in STEM fields. Similarly, 55.3% of the Iranian population believes that men are better suited to hold political positions than women. In fact, only 5.6% of women in Iran have a voice in politics. Moreover, the 2023 Global Gender Gap Report showed that Iran ranks 143rd out of 146 countries analyzed, with only 21.9% of women holding positions of power, and women earn only 17.1% of the salary of a man doing the same job.
Legal discrimination regarding violence against women
Iran is among the countries with the highest rate of sexual violence against intimate partners: 31% of women aged 15 to 49 experience such abuse in their lifetime. Rape is punishable only if the woman can prove it by overcoming numerous legal technicalities that favor the abuser. Furthermore, rape is not evenconsidered sexual violence if committed by the husband against the wife.
Legal discrimination regarding divorce
Divorce is possible, but a woman can only request it if she can prove the husband’s misconduct to the judge. Moreover, few women actually request divorce, as it results in losing custody of their children.
Legal discrimination in freedom of movement
The lives of Iranian women are also regulated by how they dress. The law on family protection through the promotion of chastity culture and the Hijab, which came into effect on December 13 2024, has harshened economic and legal penalties for all girls over 12 years old who abstain from wearing the hijab or do not wear it correctly. It also introduces the death penalty for more severe cases, which would be considered the crime of “corruption on earth.” This law not only violates the human rights of women in Iran but also creates societal tensions, as anyone can report violations. For these reasons, UN experts continue to fight for the repeal of this law.