Iran Regime’s Benefits of Enforcing Hijab Law

Baosheng Guo

In September 2023, Iran’s parliament passed a new “hijab and chastity” bill that lays out punishment for women who violate the country’s mandatory dress code rules. This bill has led to violent enforcement and has acted as a form of gender apartheid, and human rights organizations and Western society have strongly condemned it. Despite a severe economic crisis, Iran’s government has invested millions of dollars to implement and enforce these laws. What reasons did Iran enforce the hijab law regardless of the financial costs and denouncement by international society? Indeed, there are multiple profound religious, historical, and political reasons.

First, from the conservative Iran authoritarian perspective, female liberation is a significant symbol of Westernization and secularization, so it’s necessary to implement gender taboos and oppression of females.

Before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Emperor Pahlavi promoted modernization and westernization policy in Iran. One policy was to liberate females including establishing an association for “liberating women from the hijab” in 1935 and issuing a decree known as Kashf-e hijab, banning all veils including the chador in 1936. He also declared the date of the decree to be the Women’s Liberation Day. Therefore, the hijab and all policies for liberating women act as the symbol of Westernization in Iran’s history and political culture.

Since Khomeini took office, to eliminate and deter Westernization and secularization, the Islamic Republic has implemented a lot of policies restricting female rights and strictly enforced dress codes. Khomeini regime even declared the hijab mandatory for all women from the age of 12. The penalty for not wearing the hijab was up to a year in prison. Now， Iran's morality police prowl the streets in vans to detain those with "inappropriate" clothing. Government, schools, companies, and all organizations have the responsibility to supervise females' dress, which causes massive and constant suppression of females. However, the Islamic Republic thinks that a little bit of progress in female rights and a little bit of increase in female power and social status means the beginning of Westernization and secularization. So, continued pressure on females and allocating power, rights, or economic access along gender lines are a significant guarantee to prevent Westernization. As a result, all females become the scapegoat for the anti-West by the Islamic Republic.

For instance, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Western adversaries of being behind a movement among Iranian women, "Recently, on the pretext of hijab, they have raised the case of women again...Suddenly, the propaganda machine and the...media of the United States and Britain and some other places, and their mercenaries and followers, go on the attack." From Khamenei’s perspective, Iran’s females and hijab issues are a key part of the Western conspiracy. So, Iran must firmly hold its position and fight back to the West.

In addition, enforcing head-covering laws can strengthen the authority of the Iran regime at home and abroad. Iran is a theocracy state, and it needs to maintain the sacredness of the government, which is its primary legitimacy. So, Iran's regime was self-claimed as the defender of Islam and devoured to defend the sacredness and purity of the fundamental doctrine of Islam. All fundamentalist cites the Qur'an to justify head-covering laws. Qur'an 33:59 tells Muhammad to ask his family members and other Muslim women to wear outer garments when they go out so that they are not harassed. Therefore, wearing the hijab became the sacred mission of the Iran regime to defend the authority of both Islam and the government. As Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, an Iranian former lawmaker now based in the U.S. as executive director of the Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy, said to Wall Street January, “The regime thinks if it loses the hijab, it loses its identity,” “They have tied it to their very existence, and then of course, if they relax it, they are going to collapse.”

According to the Selectorate Theory, the authoritarian leader only needs to secure the support of Winning Coalitions to remain in power instead of securing the support of all people. In Iran, The winning coalition included the leaders of religion and the government, and they all are fundamentalists. So, defending the fundamental Islam doctrine is critical to overcoming the trust and support for Winning Coalitions. Any authoritarian leader will spend a massive budget to protect the stability and legitimacy of the regime. Even though Iran's economy was declining, after careful calculation of costs and benefits, Iran's authoritarian regime thought it was reasonable to spend more money on head-covering laws and secure the support of Winning Coalitions.

Furthermore, Iran always thinks of itself as the leader of the Islamic world, and some Iranian politicians want to reestablish a unified Islamic empire. Iran supports almost all Islamic terroristic organizations, such as Hamass, Houthis, and Hezbollah. Iran’s ambition is at the whole MENA, and its followers are all fundamentalists in MENA. To gain an international impact in MENA, Iran must forced to implement head-covering laws to enhance its fundamentalism's image. In this way, Iran can receive an international reputation and authority. So, Iran spent enormous resources on hijab regardless of costs.

The hijab, a little costume in the West, ultimately became an incredible symbol of religion and politics in Iran. The hijab law also became a horrible symbol of gender apartheid and authoritative suppression. To comprehensively control the females, who are half the population of Iranea, strengthen the dictatorship’s authority at home, and enhance the regime’s international influence, Iran has brutally enforced head-covering laws that outweigh the economic cost. Iran’s atrocities must be strongly condemned by international society and deserve historical justice judgment.