February 18, 2022
The Tehran police have moved into high gear to stop women from operating motorcycles and to “deal seriously” with those who flaunt the rules.
Tehran Police Chief Brigadier General Hossain Rahimi announced the plan February 13, saying that as of February 19 about 100 checkpoints would be set up across the city to check motorcyclists to make sure they have a license.
The plan is clearly a pretext to crack down on women who have increasingly been using motorbikes although that is frowned upon by hardliners who have barred them from obtaining motorcycle licenses.
Hardliners have repeatedly expressed opposition to women riding bicycles, let alone motorcycles.
In 2017, a female-only motorcycle track opened outside the capital and women were allowed to ride on its closed grounds because riding bikes is opposed as it is seen as sexually provocative, so doing so out of the sight of men is permissible.
