How it started:
Healthy societies recognize the need to not only maintain but expand opportunities for women in their communities. Women who have access to social mobility, economic gains, and reproductive freedoms, contribute to those around them, and this in turn helps their family units, workplaces, and their communities in a holistic sense. Societies that strip women of their rights normally do this in a slow and methodical way, we look at countries like Afghanistan or Iran and sometimes think, this is always how it must have been but that’s simply not accurate. Like a sniper hiding amongst rubble in a warzone, entities or groups who see women and their growth as a threat, chip away at their freedoms in a targeted fashion. At first these tactics can seem like they are not effective or isolated incidents but overtime and with enough impact, women even in western societies can begin to experience a loss of rights or freedoms that their grandmothers never encountered.
Iranian women experienced many freedoms or gains towards expanding rights prior to the 1979 revolution. They had a women’s advisory/cabinet position within the last Shah of Iran’s government, they had women’s rights groups, many were entering positions of power, and were allowed in all areas of most workplaces. Women could be judges, doctors, scientists, and so much more. After the revolution, regressive policies started to emerge that slowly stripped women of their power and restricted social movement within society. It began with mandatory hijab laws being introduced in 1979 instructing women to cover their hair with veils and to cover their bodies with cloaks or coverings. In 1980 hijab laws like this were officially passed laying the groundwork to further expand these types of draconian and regressive directives.
Other types of directives like what a woman could do for work started to be introduced as well, for example, women were no longer allowed to be judges. Those who had previously been judges were forced to become clerks in courts they formally used to preside over or to simply leave. Social movement also became restricted or segregated. Women and men were no longer allowed to mix or sit together in many places. Transit for example was an area that required women to sit separately from men, women now often found themselves sitting at the back of busses while men sat separate at the front, separate subway cars were designated for women, at parties, women were forced to be in separate rooms from their male counter parts, and in many school settings as well. Women found themselves in many ways to now be second class citizens and gender apartheid became a very real experience for the women of Iran.
Other laws also began to affect the women of Iran, divorce and child custody cases now put women at a disadvantage. Many women lost custody of their children during divorce proceedings, even in cases where the husbands or fathers were found to be abusive. Civil and marital laws like this were put into place to keep women at a disadvantage. These kinds of laws put pressure not only on women but at their communities as well. Restrictive or regressive policies have had direct socioeconomic impacts on Iran, and this can be looked at by the state of their failing economy. Women are the backbone of society and when they are held back, so are all of those around them. The direct impacts of this can also be looked at when the US pulled out of Afghanistan after having been involved in the country for about 20 years, Afghani women were no longer allowed to take part in their workplaces or attend school. Their economy collapsed completely once these policies were reintroduced.
Where it’s going:
Women’s rights and freedoms cannot be looked at in an isolated way. What happens around the globe sets precedence for what could happen to all of us. Looking at the slow and steady loss of reproductive rights for women in America could be looked at as an example of this. The overturning of Roe vs. Wade and the pushing back of women’s reproductive freedoms to individual states to determine opened women to a loss of rights that have not been experience for over 50 years. Many Southern states in the US have introduced abortion bans or restrictions that American women or their grandmothers had not experienced. Some states also introduced state laws that criminalized anything seen as even remotely aiding women in obtaining an abortion, for example giving a ride to someone who was seeking an abortion also became illegal.
Some southern states in the US are also now looking at making things like IVF illegal like Alabama, which would also restrict women in that state from expanding or starting families. Other states are also looking at full on abortion bans that would include getting an abortion even when looking at cases of incest or rape. American women in these states have also had a hard time proving the need for abortions in some cases where the mother’s life was at risk, causing some women to have to take a legal route into trying to obtain one. Some women have suffered medical setbacks or crises while waiting to prove medical necessity when trying to obtain an abortion.
Like the women in Iran, American women could start seeing a gradual loss of civil and human rights that could begin isolating them in many ways. The right to reproductive freedoms and the loss of them have direct socioeconomic impacts. A woman who can afford childcare for example would have direct economic impacts to her and her family if she is not able to enter the workforce. This in turn will have impacts on the American economy as well. These kinds of issues also effect women and their families in a social sense as well restricting the ability for them to partake in things that could benefit their families like housing for example. The familiarity of the loss of freedom women in this region of the world are now experiencing never just stops at one or several regressive policies. Laws or policies that restrict open the door to other types of regressive policies to be introduced. Snipers for example are not the only tool or resource used during a war, other types of weapons or warfare are usually introduced to meet targets. That is why what happens to women in one society is so critical to protecting the rights of women in other societies. No man or woman lives on an island, we are connected in many ways.
What comes next:
What comes next is up to us, we can stop and be proactive in regressive laws spilling over into other areas across the globe. We can start with protecting our civil rights, voting is vital to protecting women’s rights. As we all know, elections have consequences, and being active in performing what seems like a simple act is a huge action in preserving rights. Educating ourselves is supremely important, getting access to educational programming safeguards against falling prey to being isolated and can also lead to opportunities to improving not only our only lives but also the lives of those around us. Activism is also an important way to preserve women’s rights and the rights of marginalized communities as well. Participating in activism can look like a lot of different things, it can be protesting, joining civil rights groups, running for office, and by joining boards or volunteer groups. We can all do our part in trying to preserve and expand women’s rights. It’s up to all of us to keep our freedoms alive, for ourselves, but also for those who come up behind us. We must hold the door open for the women who will follow in our footsteps.
