Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, women in Iran have been forced to wear headscarfs when out in public – a rule which is strictly enforced by the morality police. For long, women have constantly been campaigning against the enforced hijab and the strict laws governing their behaviour.
Now men have joined the call to support their campaign for equality and have posted photos of themselves wearing the hijab on social media, in solidarity with women in the country, reported the Independent.
Several images of men wearing headscarves while their wife has her head uncovered, have garnered a lot of attraction online.
These images are a part of My Stealthy Freedom campaign which was started by Masih Alinejad, an Iranian activist currently living in New York and was initially meant to encourage Iranian women to post photos of themselves without hijabs. She is now urging men to share pictures using the hashtag #meninhijabs.
“Most of these men are living inside Iran and they have witnessed how their female relatives have been suffering at the hands of the morality police and humiliation of enforced hijab,” Alinejad told the Independent.
“In our society, a woman’s existence and identity is justified by a man’s integrity, and in many cases the teachings of a religious authority or government officials influence a man’s misguided sense of ownership over women. So I thought it would be fantastic to invite men to support women’s rights,” she further said.
More and more are joining the movement to challenge the compulsory Hijab for many women and questioning the regressive regime.