As the plane banks for its final approach to Tehran’s Mehrabad
Airport, the women aboard
transform themselves. Every trace of
makeup has been carefully wiped away during visits to the toilet. Head scarves
are tightened along with seat belts. While they may have boarded as Asian
beauties, each and every one is a picture of Muslim modesty in the line for the
passport check to enter the Islamic Republic.
Of all the
changes that have swept Iran
during the more than three decades since the fall of the shah, those that have
affected women are the most visible symbols of the regime that came to power. The
transformation was both complete and abrupt, considering that the tradition of hejab – Islamic covering for women – had
all but died out in Iran,
at least for the urban majority, at the time of the revolution.
A glance
through almost any middle class family photo album reveals all the familiar
snaps. There are wedding days with brides in white, girls in bathing suits at
the beach and lovers holding hands. Women
appear in sun dresses, tennis shorts and the full range of female hair styles.
Leaf
further back in time and it is obvious that the ‘60s hit Iran with many of the same phenomena that Europe
and North America experienced. Adolescent boys
sported long hair and bell-bottoms. Girls wore mini-dresses. It is only when
one gets back to the faded, yellow photographs of grandparents and
great-grandparents that one begins to see head coverings on the women.
The effects
of rapid industrialization and urbanization on the country, together with a
1934 ban on the chador by Reza Shah, the last shah’s father, had removed the
custom from all but the most traditional sectors of society. Indeed, through
most of the ‘60s and ‘70s, particularly in the middle-class areas of Tehran, while women
covered to attend the mosque, it was the prostitutes who habitually wore the
chador, not for religious reasons, but to cover the skimpy costumes of their
trade.
During the
final days of the monarchy, however, wearing a head scarf became a symbol of
political protest. Because there was such widespread discontent and because
Ayatollah Khomeini, a religious man, was able to focus this discontent, women
took to wearing the scarf during the street demonstrations out of respect for
the perceived spiritual aspects of the uprising.
While a
sizable minority of women embraced this return to traditional values with
enthusiasm, many soon found themselves trapped unwillingly behind the veil. As
radical fundamentalists hijacked what had started as essentially a middle class revolution, patrols of Revolutionary
Guards appeared on the streets, meting out instant justice to those who failed
to comply with the new moral order.
Although
enforcement is extremely haphazard, the penalties for transgression are severe.
From time to time, newspapers publish a menu of torments – 70 lashes for
lipstick, 40 lashes for eye makeup or nail polish.
Those
caught in more serious violations of the moral code, prostitutes, for example, or even just unlucky lovers, are in deep trouble. They
are buried up to the neck in sand with their head covered. A hundred local
people, marshaled by the religious authorities, are then gathered in a circle around
them and throw stones of a prescribed weight.