Media On Women's Rights

This research paper’s focus is on the current events happening in Iran with women’s rights as well as a look into the history of similar situations that have occurred in Iran concerning women’s rights and how these situations are dealt with by the media and the general public.

The first thing that needs to be discussed is the most recent event which led to ongoing protests in Iran that unified many people. The case of Mahsa Amini’s death after being taken into police custody by the morality police. She was taken into custody for not having her hijab on properly and some witnesses say that she was beaten, later being pronounced dead in the hospital after spending a few days in a coma. However, police deny this allegation, and the general public was quick to jump to one side or another on the debate, which led to protests within the country.

According to Brenned Jensen’s article “What is Fueling Iran’s Ongoing Protests?”: On Sept. 16, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman from northwestern Iran named Mahsa Amini (or, Jina Amini, to use her Kurdish name) was visiting Tehran when she was arrested by the so-called morality police. Her alleged crime: improperly wearing her hijab, the mandated head-covering for women. Amini died in police custody at a detention center three days later—her family, citing eyewitnesses accounts, says officers beat her after her arrest, leading to her death. Police reject the allegations, saying Amini died of a heart attack after being taken to a hospital.

The event has roiled the nation, sparking some of the most widespread and violent protests since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Women and girls have often been in the forefront of demonstrations, burning their hijabs amid calls for freedom. Humanitarian organizations estimate the unrest has resulted in the deaths of 200 people, including perhaps as many as two-dozen children. The government, meanwhile, says 20 members of its security forces have been killed.” (WHAT'S FUELING IRAN'S ONGOING PROTESTS? By Brennen Jensen). Through this article the audience gets some insight on what event caused the protest to become prominent and for people all over the country to unite for a purpose.

People in Iran as well as all over the world joined together to show their feelings about the events that occurred in Iran. According to Alena Kuzub’s article “Protests in Iran Will Continue as Long as Demands of People Remain Unsatisfied, Northeastern Experts Say” where the author talked about people’s reactions and reasons for starting the protests they talk about the uproar after the event that occurred as well as why they believe the protest became so known universally. “Today’s protests are actually the cumulative effect of years, if not decades of grievances of various structures of Iranian society against the regime,” Moghadam said.

Since Sept. 17 when the protests started, they have spread across the country, social classes, religious groups and genders, despite the violent crackdown of the government. “The very fact that there has been so much solidarity with this one young woman, a Sunni, really tells you a lot about the political maturity of Iranian society. But it also shows the depth and the extent of the grievances towards the Islamic regime,” Moghadam said. (“Protests in Iran Will Continue as Long as Demands of People Remain Unsatisfied, Northeastern Experts Say” By Alena Kuzub). Similar protests have been going on for years with women protesting the clothing they are forced to wear as well as the hijabs. Women have been protesting the regulations placed on them and have been taken into police custody each time, leading to protests to spark whenever the events occur.

Through social media, the issues gain a bigger platform as the news is able to be spread worldwide. Through media and especially social media in the present day, people all over the world are able to see the events occurring in different countries and share their opinions about such events. Years and years of unrest within a collection of people will reach its boiling point after events like what happened to Amini occur, causing people to become more involved in the fight for what they think is right. Sometimes leading to changes being made as more and more people become aware of the unrest occurring in the different countries that are not their own.

In the article “Soapboxes and Stealth on Revolution Street: Revisiting the Question of 'Freedom' in Iran's Hijab Protests” by Marie B. Ranjbar: “On December 26, 2017, 31-year old Vida Movahedi climbed atop a utility box located on Enghelab (Revolution) Street, one of Tehran’s busiest streets. She wore jeans and a sweater instead of the requisite outer garment (e.g. manteau) that women in Iran must wear in public space. She also removed the white scarf from her head, a criminal offense since 1983 under Iran’s Islamic Penal code. Tying her scarf to a stick, she silently waved it like a flag from her elevated platform for almost an hour, while passersby took pictures and posted her image on social media. Following the protest, Movahedi was detained for nearly a month, prompting a national social media campaign to pressure Iranian authorities to release her.

As Movahedi’s identity had not been released to the public, she was instead referred to as the ‘girl from Revolution Street,’ with concerned Iranians tweeting # رتخد نابایخ بالقنا تساجک (“Where is the Girl from Revolution Street?”) and the English-language hashtag #WhereIs_She. Movahedi was released on bail in late January 2018, only to be arrested several months later following a second demonstration. On October 23, 2018, Movahedi again waved her veil from a stick with an armful of balloons, while standing on top of a dome in Enghelab (Revolution) Square, one of Tehran’s largest roundabouts. Movahedi was subsequently sentenced to one year in prison on charges of “encouraging corruption and prostitution to the public” for unveiling in public space” (Soapboxes and Stealth on Revolution Street: Revisiting the Question of 'Freedom' in Iran's Hijab Protests by Marie A. Ranjbar).

The rise of social media in the past few years has given an outlet for people to share their stories and get others involved in a fast and easy way. It is a way to bring things like injustice and wrongdoings of others to attention, but it can also cause biases towards one side or the other. In the case of the most recent incident in Iran, it had caused an uproar with people worldwide, reaching a greater audience and getting many people talking about the situation and finding ways to help and spread the word further. Videos were being posted online of celebrities talking about what happened and spreading information to their fans to bring attention to the situation. In the case of what happened to Vida Movahedi, as well as what happened to Mahsa Amini, people had begun to spread hashtags across media platforms, making it their responsibility to spread the word and help the women who had been wronged. When the incidents first occurred, information was being spread like wildfire to inform as many people as possible to bring the situations to light.