#MyStealthyFreedom

Overview

#MyStealthyFreedom is a social media campaign launched by Iranian women to protest against the enforcement of the hijab, a veil covering the head and chest worn by Muslim women, in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Background

On May 3rd, 2014, Iranian journalist and writer Masih Alinejad launched a Facebook page titled "Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women" urging other Iranian women on the site to share photographs of themselves without the headscarves to challenge the mandate. Over the course of two weeks, the Facebook page garnered more than 232,006 likes and hundreds of photographs submitted by the supporters.

Laws in Iran

The movement came amidst ongoing tensions between religious hardliners and reformists in the Islamic Republic of Iran, where women are required by the law to cover their heads and much of their body to obscure their figures. With the heat of the summer approaching, however, the hijab has become a contentious issue.

Notable Developments

Pro-Hijab Protest

On May 7th, more than 4,000 conservative Iranian men and women rallied in Tehran to demand a strict enforcement of the hijab, a policy that has been somewhat loosened since October 2013, when the newly-elected President Hassan Rohani asked the police to be more lenient on the issue.

#MyStealthyFreedom

As of May 16th, 2014, at least 200 Iranian Facebook users from all over the world have shared photographs of themselves without the mandated headscarves. Facebook is banned in Iran, but it is believed that as many as four million Iranians use the social networking site on a regular basis.

News Media Coverage

On May 9th, the Facebook campaign was first reported on by French newspaper Le Figaro in an article titled "Iranian women take off their veil on Facebook," and in the following days, the story subsequently spread across the French and French-Canadian news sites. On May 13th, several UK and U.S.-based news sites began covering the campaign, including BBC, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, TIME and Huffington Post.

External References