May 26, 2018
A group of Iranian women recently donned wigs and paste-on beards so they could watch their soccer team, Persepolis, play rivals Sepidrud in Azadi stadium in Tehran.
The women took selfies showing them in the stands looking very un-ladylike. The images have been widely shared on social media.
There was no word on whether the police would go after them for this major violation of gender policy, which forbids women from attending male sports events to protect them from the crudities shouted by many male fans.
But on May 22, President Rohani again publicly called for stadiums to be opened to female spectators. “There should be no difference between men and women in Islam,” Rohani said in a surprisingly strong statement. He said women should not be punished because men are vulgar at sports events. “Should our women pay for that?” he asked. “The true Islam does not prevent women from social engagement. Islam has not said women must stay at home. It says women can participate in all social affairs with hejab.”
Women have been punished for attending games in the past. In 2014, British-Iranian activist Ghoncheh Ghavami was detained after attempting to watch a men’s volleyball match in Iran. And a few weeks ago in March, 35 women were detained for trying to attend a soccer game.
In February, women were allowed to watch a basketball game in Tehran—but they had to sit in an area separated from men.
For one of the women pictured at the soccer match, it was the third time she had pulled off the trick. In an interview she gave to the daily Iran, she explained that each time she had sneaked in she had used a different disguise and make-up.
“I Google for different make-up [tutorials] and learn new ways and apply them to go to the stadium,” she said.
She told the newspaper she had been stopped by security guards only once. She encouraged other women to get in touch and offered to train them in disguise techniques.
The photos from the game were initially shared on the women’s personal social media accounts. Most of the responses they received were encouraging, the BBC reported.
“Good for you. That takes such bravery,” read one comment.
But not everyone was happy. “Why won’t you go and watch a women’s match? Why would you have to go to a men’s stadium?” asked another.
Another of the women present was asked by the sports newspaper Khabar Varzeshi how she had avoided the security guards.
She said: “We went through the first and second gates in a group, and no-one figured it out. But once we sat in the stands, everyone realized. They came over and took selfies with us, praising us for going. Another interesting thing is all of those who knew we were women did not shout anything rude throughout the match.”
She added a few men had accompanied the group to make sure they were okay.
When asked if it had been worth the risk, she replied: “Of course, why not?
“Our goal is to keep going until they allow all women to go. We are doing this to say to the authorities that, if they don’t let us in, we will keep going nonetheless—with or without beards.”
Protests against the stadium ban have increased since September when Syrian women were allowed to attend a World Cup qualifying match in Tehran while Iran women were locked out.