To understand the force of the reaction, it is necessary to revisit the place of the hijab — and women’s dress — in the Islamic Republic’s legal and ideological framework. Since the early 1980s, shortly after the 1979 revolution, a strict dress code for women has been mandated by law: women are required in public to cover their hair and to wear modest, loose-fitting clothing. regime’s cultural and moral order — a means of asserting identity, social norms, and state authority. Public morality, in that sense, is policed not merely through legislation but through enforcement — including arrests, fines, and other sanctions for violations.
But the last few years have seen growing social resistance — often subtle but increasingly visible — to the enforcement of dress codes. The 2022 protests, triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini after her arrest for alleged hijab violation, marked a turning point.Although the protests were violently crushed, they left a mark on Iranian society. More women began to appear in public without hijab; enforcement in many urban areas loosened; and the strict blanket enforcement was increasingly questioned.
