Iranian women celebrate long-awaited moment
· Citizen
Though the ANC has issued condolences on the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, many Iranian women celebrated the death of a man who institutionalised their oppression.
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Khamenei’s death, reportedly in a targeted US-Israeli airstrike, evoked polarised reactions.
The ANC sent condolences to the nation. Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula commented on the historical ties between the ANC and Iran, dating back to the apartheid era.
Yet, for many Iranian women, the death symbolised victory and temporary relief amid decades of systemic oppression.
In Iran, women’s bodies are legally controlled. Compulsory hijab laws criminalise not covering their heads or bodies in public.
Recent legislation imposes fines, long jail terms, employment restrictions, and other punishments for defiance.
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Laws limit women’s participation in the workforce, and husbands are permitted to block women’s employment if it is deemed “harmful to family dignity”.
Iranian women are not allowed to be judges or the supreme leader, and just 14 of 290 seats in parliament are held by women.
Sexual and gender-based violence is institutionalised. The legal system does not recognise marital rape.
Rape laws narrowly define sexual assault, and victims must produce male witnesses or a confession from the perpetrator to prove their case.
Failure to do so can result in prosecution for zina (sexual intercourse outside marriage), which is punishable by flogging, stoning, or death.
Child marriage further entrenches the oppression. The legal minimum age for marriage is 13 for girls and 15 for boys. However, girls as young as nine can marry if there is parental and court approval.
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These laws, condemned by Amnesty International and the United Nations as draconian, have caused immeasurable suffering and made Iranian women and children symbols of systemic injustice.
Despite decades of state repression, Iranian women have consistently fought back.
In 2022, Mahsa Amini, 22, died in a Tehran hospital after the morality police arrested her for allegedly not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards.
Eyewitnesses, including women detained with Amini, reported she was severely beaten and died as a result of police brutality. This was denied by the Iranian authorities.
Her death ignited the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising. Prior to this movement, the women of Iran repeatedly defied dress codes, shared videos of their defiance, and led demonstrations while facing the threat of arrest, violence, and death.
Khamenei’s death alone did not end their struggle or undo a system built and maintained over decades, but they still celebrated. The significance of this should be understood within the broader history of resistance against the regime.
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The ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa have addressed the ongoing war in Iran through a geopolitical lens, emphasising negotiation and diplomacy.
Their statements rarely acknowledge the brutality faced by the people of Iran, whose rights are systematically violated.
The rights to bodily autonomy, freedom of speech, and equality before the law were denied to a majority of South Africans during apartheid, but were later enshrined in the constitution.
The cautious, geopolitical framing is striking, especially given SA’s position as an international defender of human rights.
The history between Iran and the ANC during apartheid is important. However, historical alliances should not override principled engagement when fundamental freedoms are being violated today.
The rights being fought for in Iran mirror those that SA’s liberation movements fought for. The ANC’s stance should prioritise human rights over geopolitical convenience.
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The recent airstrikes and foreign military involvement of the US and Israel have elicited mixed responses.
Some Iranian women view the intervention as a potential shift, while others caution against reliance on external actors due to the history of Western intervention in the region.
Both positions deserve consideration. It is important to recognise that many who critique foreign involvement are speaking from positions of relative privilege, removed from the daily realities of systemic oppression, gender-based violence, and legal control in Iran.
But Iranian women’s celebration should not be invalidated. Their experiences must be understood without reducing their struggle to geopolitical narratives.
Whether change comes from within Iran, through international pressure, or a combination of both, what matters is that their autonomy, dignity, and equality are effectively advanced in law and practice.
This month, as we mark International Women’s Day, let us pay tribute to the courage, resilience, and determination of Iranian women and also acknowledge the women involved in broader struggles for justice.
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