Someone doesn’t like the length of your skirt, the color of your hair, your gait, your voice, or something else. You could safely give a damn about that. After all, the main thing is to be in harmony with yourself. But, unfortunately, there are still countries and regimes on our partially civilized planet where women are deprived of their lives or, in the best case scenario, are put behind bars for a long time because of their appearance. Although sometimes it doesn’t even matter what you look like — you can be affected just for being a woman!
The other day, Connie Britton called for 16 Days of Activism (#16DaysofActivism) against gender violence in honour of Human Rights Day. “During wars, climate disasters, and pandemics, women are on the front lines. They often carry the biggest burdens, have the fewest rights, but still contribute to change,” Connie wrote on Instagram.
According to the latest UN study, one in three women in the world suffers from gender-based violence. The situation has remained actually unchanged over the past 10 years, only worsening in times of war, pandemics, and natural disasters. In 2021, five women or girls were killed by their own family members every hour. I highly doubt that by the end of 2022 we will have seen a radical improvement in the bleak picture.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has once again called on governments around the world to increase funding for women’s rights organizations and movements. Now the goal is set at plus 50% of the current level in 2026.
I am well aware that poverty is one of the catalysts for the plight of women in the world. So from 2013 to 2020, I donated EUR 385,000 and £100,000 to the Global Gift Foundation, which supports children, women and poor families.
In my humble opinion, poverty is not the only or main reason for the abuse of women. The conceited stupidity of oppressors, retardness, and prejudice are the three pillars upon which the modern system of female disempowerment rests. And it is against them that we need to struggle in the first place.
African women are at greatest risk of being killed by their own housemates. But the highest number of non-family sex homicides was reported in Asia. It really looks like the despots crossed the line with their ostentatious chastity bordering on marasmus.
Since September, the biggest battle for women’s rights has been taking place in Iran, which is shaken by mass protests against savagery and medievalism. The final straw in the outburst of popular rage was the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained and severely beaten by the local vice police the day before for what they considered the improper wearing of a hijab.
In general, the very existence in the 21st century of such an institution as the vice police, which monitors the way a woman is dressed, could be considered unspeakable idiocy, if not so tragic consequences of its turbulent activity. Iranian women have been fighting for their freedom for a long time, but for them it is now that the story of more than 40 years of humiliation has a chance to finally end.
Just think what it has come to! Young Iranian girls say they don’t want anything special, but just a normal life. Like going to the university in modern clothes, not in an antediluvian robe. Laughing and rejoicing. Meeting up with friends. Instead, they are in constant fear that some retarded member of the vice squad won’t like the way they look!
Let me remind you that after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in the country, Ayatollah Khomeini’s first decree in 1979 was directed specifically against women’s rights. And it was this year that 100,000 women took to the streets for the first time, protesting against the compulsory wearing of the hijab. Then and later in the 1980s they found themselves alone in their demands. But today the situation has changed dramatically. Incredible numbers of protesters all over multi-ethnic Iran, regardless of gender or background, take to the streets with the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom!”
Iranian women and girls are now defiantly cutting their hair and burning their hijabs in the streets. In solidarity with them, women all over the world do the same. Even those who wear the hijab voluntarily. After all, back in 2020, a poll in Iran found that only 15% of the country’s residents supported the mandatory hijab. That is, even religious women were against being forced.
The main driving force behind the protests are young people aged 15–22, who were born during the rule of Ayatollah Khamenei. The new generation of Iranians genuinely does not understand why they have to live in the Dark Ages, because, thanks to social networks, they see the modern world in all its diversity. Young people in Iran are well aware that they can be imprisoned, maimed, or even killed for disobeying the authorities, but they still fearlessly stand up for their rights. And I sincerely admire their fortitude!
After three months of protests and violent repression by Iranian authorities, the UN Economic and Social Council suddenly voted to remove the country from the Commission on the Status of Women until 2026. I am in no way being ironic. All know the sluggishness of bureaucratic mechanisms. Thanks for just responding. Another question is how can all of us help the heroic women and girls of Iran right now?
I urge you to sign the @vitalvoices “Women, Life, Freedom” petition, which has been supported by celebrities such as Malala Yousufzai and Oprah Winfrey. Also, support the initiative to amplify the voice of Iranian women through social media. There are no problems with Internet access in the West, but there are in Iran. Let’s make sure the messages of Iranian activists are spread around the world as much as possible. Finally, we need to put pressure on our governments. Your national foreign ministries should not give a moment’s peace to official Iran on any available site or platform.
Manaz Shirali, a lecturer at the French Science Po University, accurately points out that repression in Iran initially touched women, which means that liberation of the country must also start with women. I endorse each and every word she says.
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