#MenInHijab: Iranian men don headscarf to challenge strict veil law

Updated

Iranian men are sharing photos of themselves wearing the hijab on social media to show solidarity with a campaign protesting the country's compulsory veil law.

Key points: Iranian women required to cover their hair in public

Journalist Masih Alinejad challenging law with My Stealthy Freedom campaign

Shared posts say campaign encourages men to "see how it feels"

After the revolution in 1979, the Iranian Government passed a law requiring all women to cover their hair in public.

The law is enforced by the country's Gashte Ershad or "morality police" and punishments can include lashes and imprisonment.

But in recent years, Iranian women have begun using social media to protest the law and call for greater freedom.

In 2014, Iranian political journalist Masih Alinejad created a Facebook page asking women to share photos of themselves standing in public places with their hair completely exposed.

In an interview with Radio National last year, Ms Alinejad said the My Stealthy Freedom page was one of the only avenues through which women could speak out.

"In Iran there are millions of women who are forced to wear hijab, but the only way they can say no to compulsory hijab is through social media," she said.

"So that's why they send their pictures and their notes and express themselves, and show to the rest of the world that this is another face of Iran which you never see."

But in recent weeks, the campaign has changed tack, with men now posting photos of themselves wearing the hijab to show solidarity with the cause.

Campaign calls for understanding

"I am wearing hijab only for a few moments to understand how my wife feels about having to wear it on a daily basis," one post reads.

"We are a father and a son. My heart aches for the injustice that my spouse, my mother, and my sisters have been suffering from," another says.

Ms Alinejad, who is now based in New York, told the ABC that women wanted men to understand how it felt to wear the headscarf.

"All our lives we've been forced to live like this. For so many men, I think it looks natural because they've gotten used to seeing us in compulsory hijab. But for us, for women, it is an insult when you force us to be something else," she said.

One of the hundreds of photos posted on My Stealthy Freedom calls for men to "see how it really feels".

"If certain men want to force women to wear the veil, or if they want to make decisions on behalf of women in our society, why don't they try the veil on themselves" another says.

"If these men were in our shoes, I don't think any of them would be smiling under the shackles of obligation."

There is no punishment for a man wearing the hijab but it is seen as "unmanly", Ms Alinejad said.

"[Being 'unmanly'] is regarded as offensive. And what the #meninhijab are doing are challenging the traditions and the oppressive laws by openly mocking them," she said.

'We are not against hijab'

Ms Alinejad, who said she had been described by the Iranian Government as a "prostitute" for speaking out about the country's veil law, said she was not against the hijab.

"We are not against hijab, we are not against Islam. But in the Islamic Republic of Iran, this is Islamic law, which is against women," she said.

"We want to protest against the discriminatory law, we want to support all women whether they want to wear hijab or they don't.

"We are fighting against compulsion in the 21st Century."

She said it was an issue that affected women from around the world.

"Some people say this is an internal matter, why are you asking other people to interfere in internal matter? This is wrong," she said.

"This is the Government of Iran forcing anyone from around the world to obey this discriminatory law.

"When the Government enforces all women around the world [to wear the hijab], all women should talk about."

In other Islamic countries, such as Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan, wearing the hijab is not compulsory.

Topics: islam, community-and-society, religion-and-beliefs, women-religious, women, social-media, internet-culture, information-and-communication, iran-islamic-republic-of

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