Hijab in Iran
Hijab, the traditional head covering worn by Muslim women for modesty for centuries, have been a subject of controversy in recent times in Iran. In the 1920s, a few women started to appear unveiled. Under Reza Shah, it was discouraged and then banned in 1936 for five years. Under Reza Shah's successor, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, hijab was considered "backward" and rarely worn by upper and middle-class people. Consequently, it became a symbol of opposition to the shah in 1970s, and was worn by women (educated, middle and upper class) who previously would have been unveiled. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution and overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty, veiling again was encouraged, and in 1981 the covering of hair and wearing of  loose-fitting clothing covering all but hands and face was made legally mandatory for women. Since the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, hijab has again become a political symbol, this time of opposition to the Islamic Republic, and defiance of the law by younger women has been observed "in towns and cities" and been called "too widespread to contain and too pervasive to reverse". As of April 2023, however, the Islamic Republic has vowed to enforce the  "divine decree" of the hijab. Through the order of minister of industry, mining and commerce Hijab was made tax exempt in 2023, and IRGC Basij began permanent exhibition called "Hijab city" in Tehran and Isfahan cities. In August 2023, Etemad reported veil Chador could have possibly become mandatory for women in the universities. The UN has called the Iranian government gender apartheid. In September 2023, the Iranian government opened a public mobile app website for Monitors (ordinary people and/or its informant agents) to report women that don't wear full hijab. For university students, talking with the opposite sex was criminalized, as was wearing perfume. Subway trains were sex segregated in September 2023. Waves of Iranian women removing their Hijab has been likened to the fall of the Berlin wall. Wearing clothes that don't cover the neck or thigh or showing one's ankles or forearm is considered illegal. Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance
In 2023, the Minister of Islamic Culture and Guidance announced they have a new The Bureau of Chastity Living, it is to parallel work to country's public culture council. Law enforcement command
Facial recognition cameras, a product of Bosch, were deployed for use. In the 2023 law business places that are reported to not force women hijab receive fine up to %10 percent annual gross profit. A uniform was issued for waitresses in entire city of Mashhad. The fines are withdrawn from the person's bank account by the government. In a move interpreted as a declaration of war against the people the government made it so doctors can't visit unveiled females. Municipality in Tehran city in August 2023 hired 400 hijab guards (hijabban) they report and then make arrest. In August 2023, law minor girls who don't wear hijab can't go to school, aren't allowed to be hired in the future, can't get a passport, can't have a mobile phone, can't have a bank account, or internet access. In August 2023, Iranian MPs have voted to review a controversial hijab law behind closed doors, potentially avoiding public debate. The proposed "Hijab and Chastity Bill" would impose stricter penalties on women not wearing headscarves, prompted by protests over the death of a woman in custody. The decision to use Article 85 of Iran's constitution allows for a three to five-year trial period, pending approval from the powerful Council of Guardians. Penalties

Types

"Hijab" can mean Islamic modest dress in general. It can also mean covering of the head. Common styles for women in Iran that follow the law covering the head, the hair, arms, legs and ankles and hide the body shapes are:
chador—this is a traditionally black covering, a long piece of black cloth covering their whole body from head to ankles  and "is generally used by the most religious women especially in rural areas or in the most devout cities";
Other hijab are:
shawl, 
foulard, 
pashmina,
 scarf, 
 covering body shape, 
manteau (a long coat),
cardigan,  
long shirt. History
Muslims conquered Iran in the time of Umar (637 CE) and Iranians were reportedly among the very earliest converts to Islam and adopted Muslim customs such as hijab. During the Middle Ages, Turkic nomadic tribes from Central Asia arrived, whose women did not wear headscarves. However, after the Safavid centralization in the 16th century, the headscarf became defined as the standard headdress for many religious women in urban areas all around the Iranian Empire. Exceptions to this were seen only in the villages and among nomadic tribes, such as Qashqai. Covering the whole face was rare among the Iranians and was mostly restricted to local Arabs and local Afghans. Later, during the economic crisis in the late 19th century under the Qajar dynasty, the poorest religious urban women could not afford headscarves. Pahlavi era

Reza Shah 
In the 1920s, a few individual Iranian women started to appear unveiled, despite the cultural pressure to veil. In 1924, the singer Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri broke gender segregation and seclusion by performing unveiled in the gender-mixed company at the Grand Hotel in Tehran, and the Royal Palace Theater. Reza Shah, a military officer who supported "Westernized women active outside the home" and opposed the influence of religious clerics, came to power in December 1925. Iranian women's rights activists supported the unveiling, and the feminist Sediqeh Dowlatabadi is believed to have been the first woman in Iran to have appeared in public without the veil in 1928. To appear without a veil or even favor it in public debate was very controversial, and women's rights activists who spoke in favor of unveiling sometimes had to be protected by the police. In 1926, the Shah specifically provided police protection for individual women who appeared unveiled but with a scarf or a hat to cover the hair. In 1928, the Queen of Afghanistan, Soraya Tarzi, appeared unveiled publicly with the Shah during her official visit to Iran. The clergy protested and asked the Shah to tell the foreign queen to cover up, but he refused. His refusal caused rumors that the Shah planned to abolish the veil in Iran. In 1928, Shah's wife, queen (Tadj ol-Molouk) attended the Fatima Masumeh Shrine during her pilgrimage in Qom wearing a veil that did not cover her completely, as well as showing her face, for which a cleric harshly criticized her. As a response, Reza Shah publicly beat the cleric who had criticised the queen the next day. As a method of the modernization of the country, and following the example of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Turkey, the shah encouraged  women's participation in society. The veiling of women which would have huge symbolic importance in towards this and women's emancipation in general, but the shah introduced the reform gradually so as not to cause unrest. Female teachers were encouraged to unveil in 1933, and schoolgirls and women students in 1935. The reform not only allowed female teachers and students not to veil, but allowed female students to study alongside men. All these reforms were opposed and criticized by the Shia clergy. In 1935, the women's committee Kanun-e Banuvan (Ladies Society) was formed  with the support of the government. The committee's women's rights activists campaigned for unveiling. Kashf-e hijab 

On 8 January 1936, Reza Shah issued a decree, Kashf-e hijab, banning all veils. The official declaration of unveiling were made on 8 January 1936, and the queen and her daughters were given an important role in this event. That day, Reza Shah attended the graduation ceremony of the Tehran Teacher's College with the queen and their two daughters unveiled and dressed in modern clothes. The queen handed out diplomas while the shah spoke about how in the past half of Iran's population had been disregarded, and told the women graduates that the future was now in their hands. This was the first time an Iranian queen had shown herself in public. Afterwards, the Shah published pictures of his unveiled wife and daughters, and the unveiling was enforced throughout Iran. To enforce this decree, the police were ordered to physically remove the veil from any women who wore it publicly. As a result, many pious traditionalist women chose not leave their houses to avoid confrontations, and a few conservative women even committed suicide to avoid removing their hijabs due to the decree. The ban was left in place for five years, until Reza Shah was deposed 1941. The Iranian women's movement had generally favored unveiling, and many of Iran's leading feminists and women's rights activists organized in the Kanun-e Banuvan to campaign in favor of the Kashf-e hijab, among them Hajar Tarbiat, Khadijeh Afzal Vaziri and Sediqeh Dowlatabadi, Farrokhroo Parsa and Parvin E'tesami. Religious conservatives reacted with outrage to the reform. According to Iran's current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the policy was aimed at "eradicating the tremendous power of faith" in Muslim societies that was enabled by what he termed the "decency of women", as hijab (in his view) protected Muslim women from  the "malicious abuse" suffered by women in the West, and the people from preoccupation with sexual desire. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Kashf-e hijab was relaxed in 1941 under Reza Shah's successor (and son), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi; the wearing of a headscarf or chador was no longer an offense and women were able to dress as they wished,  but hijab was still considered an indicator of backwardness or of membership of the lower class. Wearing of the chador became a significant hindrance to climbing the social ladder. Veiled women were assumed to be from conservative religious families with limited education, while unveiled women were assumed to be from the educated and professional upper or middle class. Professional middle-class women such as teachers and nurses appeared unveiled in their work place, but sometimes veiled when they returned home to their families. Discrimination against women wearing the headscarf or chador occurred, with some public institutions discouraging their use, and some eating establishments refusing to admit women who wore them. In the 1970s, the chador was usually a patterned or of a lighter color such as white or beige; black chadors were typically reserved for mourning and only became more acceptable everyday wear starting in the mid-1970s—however in the period before the Iranian Revolution the black chador's usage outside of the city of Qom was associated with allegiance with political Islam and was stigmatized by areas of Iranian society. During this era, traditionalists such as the Devotees of Islam (Fedāʾīān-e Eslām) demanded mandatory veiling and a ban on unveiled women, but their efforts failed. Islamic Republic era

Opposition to the Shah and Westernization

Leading up to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the wearing of hijab by educated middle-class women began to become a political symbol—an indication of opposition to the Pahlavi modernization policy and thus of Pahlavi  rule. Many middle-class working women starting to use it as such. Not only simple hijab but the traditional Shi'i chador became  popular among the middle class opposition, as a symbol of revolutionary advocacy for the poor, as protest  of the treatment of women as sex objects, to show solidarity with the conservative women who always wore them, and as a nationalist rejection of foreign influence. Hijab was considered by conservative traditionalists as a sign of virtue, and thus unveiled women as the opposite. Rather than a sign of backwardness, unveiled women came to be seen  as a symbol of Western cultural colonialism;  Westoxication" (Gharbzadegi) or infatuation with western culture, education, art, consumer products etc., "a super-consumer" of products of Imperialism, a propagator of "corrupt Western culture", undermining the traditionalist conception of "morals of society", and as overly dressed up "bourgeois dolls", who had lost their honor. Feminist hijab advocates pointed out that traditionally women not only wore hijab but did not mix with men, but in the anti-shah demonstrations thousands of veiled women participated in religious processions alongside men, which showed hijab  empowered women protecting women from sexual harassment (because conservative men regarded them as more respectable) and enabling access to public spheres. Islamic Republic

After the Islamic Revolution and founding of the Islamic Republic, the Kashf-e hijab was reversed. Instead of prohibiting veils, the law now required them, 
a process that worked in stages. In spring of 1979 (shortly after the overthrow), leader of the revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini announced that women should observe Islamic dress code. He was supported in his by the conservative/traditionalists fraction of the revolutionaries who were hostile to unveiled women, as expressed in two slogans used during this time: "Wear a veil, or we will punch your head" and "Death to the unveiled". Non-conservative/traditionalist women, who had worn the veil as a symbol of opposition during the revolution, had not expected veiling to become mandatory. Almost immediately after, starting from 8 March 1979 (International Women's Day), thousands of liberal and leftist women began protesting against mandatory Hijab. The protests lasted six days, until 14 March. The protests resulted in the (temporary) retraction of mandatory veiling, and government assurances that Khomeini's statement was only a recommendation. Khomeini, denied that any non-hijab wearing women were part of the revolution, telling Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci in February 1979: 

As the consolidation of power by Khomeini and his core supporters continued, left and liberal organizations, parties, figures, were suppressed and eliminated, and mandatory veiling for all women returned. This began with the 'Islamification of offices' in July 1980, when unveiled women were refused entry to government offices and public buildings, and banned from appearing unveiled at their work places under the risk of being fired. On the streets, unveiled women were attacked by revolutionaries. In July 1981 an edict of mandatory veiling in public was introduced (including for non-Muslims and non-citizens),  women and girls over 9 must cover their hair, and  hide the shape of their bodies under long, loose robes; this was followed in 1983 by an Islamic Punishment Law, introducing a punishment of 74 lashes on women who failed to cover their hair in public. Since 1995, unveiled women can also be imprisoned for up to 60 days. Under Book 5, article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code, women in Iran who do not wear a hijab may be imprisoned from 10 days to two months, and/or required to pay fines from 50,000 up to 500,000 rials adjusted for inflation. The law was enforced by members of the Morality Police who  patrolled the streets—first  the Islamic Revolution Committees, later by Guidance Patrols. More than one source has emphasized the importance to the Islamic Republic of  enforcing hijab in Iran, calling it "tantamount" to the Islamic Republic's "raison d'etat", a core pillar of Iranian state ideology, Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, after all, the role of women in society constitutes "a core pillar" of "state ideology". "a symbol" of the "success" of the Islamic Republic. However, how diligently the law is enforced has varied over the years, "depending on which political faction" holds power. Protest, White Wednesday 
In May 2017, My Stealthy Freedom, an Iranian online movement advocating for women's freedom of choice, created the White Wednesday movement, a campaign that invites men and women to wear white veils, scarves, or bracelets to show their opposition to the mandatory forced veiling code. The campaign resulted in Iranian women posting pictures and videos of themselves wearing pieces of white clothing to social media. Masih Alinejad, the Iranian-born journalist and activist based in the UK and the US, who started the protest in 2017, described it in Facebook, "This campaign is addressed to women who willingly wear the veil, but who remain opposed to the idea of imposing it on others. Many veiled women in Iran also find the compulsory imposition of the veil to be an insult. By taking videos of themselves wearing white, these women can also show their disagreement with compulsion." Protest, Vida Movahed 

On 27 December 2017, a White Wednesday protester, 31-year-old Vida Movahed, also known as "The Girl of Enghelab Street" was arrested. A video of her silently waving her white hijab  headscarf on a stick while unveiled for one hour on Enqelab Street in  Tehran went viral on social media. On social media,  footage of her protest was shared along with the hashtag "#Where_Is_She?" On 28 January 2018, human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh announced Movahed had been released, In the following weeks, multiple people re-enacted Movahed's public display of removing their hijabs and waving them in the air. On 1 February 2018, the Iranian police released a statement saying that they had arrested 29 people, mostly women, for removing their headscarves. One woman, Shima Babaei, was arrested after removing her headdress in front of a court. On 23 February 2018, Iranian Police released an official statement saying that any women found protesting Iran's compulsory veiling code would be charged with "inciting corruption and prostitution," which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. considerably harsher than regular  sentences of two months imprisonment or up to 74 lashes;  or a fine of five hundred to fifty thousand rials for being without hijab. Following the announcement, multiple women reported being  physically abused by police following their arrests, some sentenced to multiple years in prison. In one video, an unveiled woman is tackled by a man in police uniform while standing atop a tall box, waving her white scarf at passers by. On 8 March 2018, another video went viral, this one of three hijab-less Iranian women singing a feminist fight song in honor of International Women's Day and feminist issues in Tehran's subway . That same day, in response to the peaceful hijab protests, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, posted a series of tweets , defending the Islamic state's dress code, praising Islam for keeping women "modest" and in their "defined roles" such as educators and mothers, and chastising Western immodesty. "The features of today's Iranian woman include modesty, chastity, eminence, protecting herself from abuse by men." Protest, Mahsa Amini 
In 2021 a hard-line "Principalist",  Ebrahim Raisi, was elected President of Iran, and enforcement of hijab regulations intensified. September 2022, when new and more intense protests followed the  killing of Mahsa Amini 22, while  in the custody of the morality police after being arrested for "improper hijab". As of April 2023 protests have fizzled out thanks to a violent crackdown, mass arrests and several executions, but obedience to mandatory hijab by younger women has also dropped markedly, despite harsh penalties. In the capital city of Tehran, it can still be observed in the Bazaar (home of tradition), but not "in places popular with younger women"—parks, cafes, restaurants and malls. Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times quotes a 23 year old a graduate student in Sanandaj, in western Iran,  “I have not worn a scarf for months ... Whether the government likes to admit it or not, the era of the forced hijab is over.”  

However, as of 1 April 2023, there has been "unyielding rhetoric" from the Iranian Interior Ministry and head of the judiciary, promising  "no retreat or tolerance" on enforcement of mandatory hijab. and two weeks prior Iranian authorities  proposed new measures to enforce  hijab, replacing Guidance Patrols with surveillance cameras. These

References

fa:حجاب در ایران

Hijab
Sexism in Iran
Women's rights in Iran
Clothing controversies