Women’s Rights Protests in Iran: Has the School Discussed Them?

Large-scale women’s rights protests have been taking place in Iran since September 2022, with thousands of people taking to the streets to protest the hijab laws in the country. Most of these protests have turned into riots, with police violently dispersing protesters using tear gas, batons and gunfire. According to the New York Times, over 250 protest-related deaths have been reported, including 32 children and teenagers. 

The oppressive hijab laws in question were put in place after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. They make the hijab mandatory for any woman in public, regardless of ethnicity or religion. A woman wearing clothing that is tight or that does not cover the hair and body could be punished with fines and imprisonment. According to the U.S. Department of State, the enforcers of these laws are the Morality Police, a branch of Iran’s law enforcement that focuses solely on arresting women for wearing improper clothing.

 Citizens began expressing outrage against the Morality Police in early September after the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who was arrested for improper head covering. She was detained in Tehran for failing to follow the strict dress code and died in the custody of the Morality Police several days later. The official statement from Iran’s police said that she died in a coma due to unknown heart complications, although her family has stated she was in perfect health. A photo circulating on social media shows Mahsa Amini obviously beaten and bruised in a hospital bed just before her death, suggesting that she was subjected to brutality while in custody. This unnecessary violence caused widespread outrage, and sparked the protests now sweeping through Iran. Displays of rebellion include marches, women cutting their hair in public spaces, and the burning of hijabs. 

Although protests have recently grown in size, Iranian women have been fighting against these laws for years with little recognition or change. Despite the significance of this event in Iran, the School has not discussed it much. Women’s Affinity Group member Emmy Mitchell, class of ‘23, said “It’s interesting… We talk a lot about other protests with…different social issues a lot but I haven’t had a single teacher talk about [the Iraninan protests] so far.” A reason for this may be that news coverage of the event is minimal, due to the social media ban and heavy internet restrictions that Iran implemented in early September. As a result, little news has come out of the country recently and many Americans have limited knowledge of the protests’ scale. “There’s a small group of people at Head-Royce that… really knows what’s happening [in Iran] and that should change,” said Mitchell. 

The responsibility of covering current events like this one often falls on humanities teachers at the School: history teachers in particular discuss current events when they relate to a class unit. Curriculum changes around current events are usually facilitated by the history department, but there are times when a large issue that does not align with class materials is added in by the department. According to History Department Chair Kyong Pak, “As a [history] department…when we feel like something has come up that deeply impacts our students, our community, our nation…that is a time when we depart from what we’re studying and take the time to do it.” 

For an issue like the Iran protests that does not see a lot of media time and is often unknown by students or even faculty, it falls on individual history teachers to discuss it in their own classes. Often, teachers themselves have difficulty unpacking important events with students depending on their comfort level with new topics.  “Sometimes it’s hard for me to process something and discuss it when I myself am just…reeling,” Pak said. History teachers are not always prepared or knowledgeable enough to talk about current events, so the responsibility of discussing current events should also fall on the community. It is important for students to be educated on all major events that happen in the world, even if they do not seem to impact the School directly.