Images of bareheaded women sipping coffee in cafes in Tehran, in apparent defiance of the Islamic Republic’s strict dress rule, have stirred interest outside Iran —
But for Elnaz, 32, it is no breakthrough.”It is not at all a sign of any change in the government in my opinion. Because no achievement has been made regarding women’s rights,” said Elnaz, a painter in Tehran, who like other women in the capital and elsewhere contacted asked that her full name not be published.
“Under the surface, in reality, no real change has taken place in people’s freedom, especially when it comes to women’s basic rights,” she said.
Wearing the headscarf in public has been mandatory for women since shortly after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in what was long seen as an ideological pillar of the clerical leadership.
But enforcement of the rule appears to have slackened, at least in parts of Tehran and other cities.
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