Iranian Women Run; Freedom No Longer Stands Behind Walls of Coercion

This morning, Friday, September 18, the Tehran 10-kilometer race took place in Valiasr Park, and the presence of women without mandatory hijab once again exposed the gap between the Islamic Republic’s imposed laws and the reality of people’s lives. Four years after Zhina Amini’s death and at a time when the government continues to suppress opponents and critics, Iranian women demonstrate through their choice of clothing that social freedoms cannot be eliminated through law, threats, and legal proceedings.

The Tehran 10-kilometer race took place on Friday, September 18, 1405, in Valiasr Park. The official website of the event announced that the race was held in two categories for women and men, with hundreds of people registered to participate.

However, images and reports published on Tehran’s social media platforms place this event far beyond a mere sporting competition.

In recent years, the presence of women without mandatory hijab on streets, in cafes, universities, parks, and public events has become a broader phenomenon—one that the Islamic Republic government, despite threats, arrests, fines, business closures, and legal proceedings, has been unable to completely stop. The Associated Press, in a report coinciding with the fourth anniversary of Zhina Amini’s death, reported an increase in the presence of women without headscarves in Tehran and the government’s practical retreat from strict enforcement of hijab laws in certain situations.

Four years have passed since the death of Zhina (Masha) Amini in morality police custody—a 22-year-old girl whose death due to the hijab ignited widespread protests of “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

Those protests faced severe suppression; hundreds were killed and thousands arrested. Nevertheless, one of the most significant changes that occurred in Iranian society afterward was a shift in how women behave in relation to mandatory hijab. Many women are no longer willing to choose their clothing according to government orders.

This change is not only visible on Tehran’s streets. Women without headscarves can be seen in various Iranian cities, even as the government continues to consider hijab legally mandatory and conservative officials have repeatedly called for a return to stricter enforcement.

This change takes on greater significance when we recall the government’s behavior toward women’s sporting events in recent years.

In running competitions, restrictions related to gender segregation and hijab have repeatedly become controversial. The Iran Human Rights Center previously reported on Tehran’s first international marathon, noting that the routes for women and men were separated, a decision that faced protests from some female runners.

Women are no longer only protesting about their clothing; they are living in public spaces, exercising, running, working, and in many cases, are unwilling to seek permission from the government for their social presence.

Over the past four decades, the Islamic Republic has attempted to make hijab not merely a religious choice, but part of its desired social and political order. However, the experience of the past four years has shown that a deep gap has emerged between the government’s formal law and the behavior of a large segment of society.

On one hand, government officials continue to demand mandatory hijab, and conservative media portray going without a headscarf as a “security threat”; on the other hand, even in Tehran and in public spaces, more women appear without headscarves. The Associated Press has reported that some government officials, amid war, sanctions, and economic crisis, are concerned that stricter enforcement of hijab laws might provoke new protests.

This situation shows that the issue is no longer just about the hijab; the issue is about the right to choose and the right to live without the government’s forced interference in the most private aspects of people’s lives.

This is happening as Iranians grapple with heavier crises: economic pressure and declining purchasing power, the consequences of war, sanctions, political repression, and concern about the future.

In such circumstances, a running race might at first glance seem like a simple, everyday occurrence; but the presence of women in public spaces with their choice of clothing shows that people’s social life has not stopped.

The government can arrest a protester, summon an activist, prosecute a critic, and punish a woman for her clothing; but controlling the behavior of millions of people at every moment of their lives is not easy, even for a security-focused government.

The image of a woman putting on running shoes early in the morning and leaving her home to run might be completely ordinary in any other country, but in Iran, this same image can serve as a reminder of a larger social struggle—a struggle that entered a new phase after Zhina Amini.

Iranian women have paid a heavy price for their personal choices over the past four years: arrests, summons, deprivation of services, and legal pressures. Nevertheless, many continue to resist the government’s imposition of a lifestyle.

For a society caught in economic crisis, political repression, and security pressures, this insistence on ordinary life holds significant meaning. Women running in Tehran may be just a race, but when a woman can exercise in public without fear of imposed mandatory hijab, it presents a different image of a society that the government has not yet managed to fully control.

Four years after Zhina, Iranian women continue to run, and perhaps more importantly than reaching the finish line is that they remain unwilling to abandon their path of choice and freedom.