Women as Subject of Defiance and Everyday Politics of Hijab as Dress Code in Modern Iran

Abstract

In this article I delve into the cultural meanings of the hijab in urban Iranian society by examining the ways in which Iranian Muslim women use it. I discuss the hijab as symbol of social conflict rather than repression. Based on eighteen months of fieldwork in Teheran, including participant observation and in-depth interviews, I examine the Iranian women’s subjective choices and narratives regarding the hijab. My data show that the hijab has become controversial as the government uses it as a tool to control and restrict the Muslim younger generations. The political significance of social identity is manifest in an oppressive dress code and state mandated use of the hijab intended to mask Iranian women in their social surroundings. My research has two goals: (1) to examine the subjective act of wearing certain kinds of hijabas symbolic performances and (2) to grasp the political meaning of the ‘green hijab’ as a symbol of resistance during the Green Movement in 2009. I argue that the issues surrounding the hijab in Iranian society are no longer exclusively concerned with gender oppression, but reflect a more complex cultural and political edifice in modern Iran. By analyzing women’s narratives, I suggest that the Islamic government uses women’s hijab to control the individual, while at the same time, Iranian women use the hijab as a political metaphor of resistance against the ruling government.