Iranian businesses under pressure to enforce hijab rules

The photograph of a group of young workers posing as they bid farewell to a colleague at Iran’s biggest online retailer could have been taken at a company anywhere in the world.

But in the Islamic republic, the picture, which included women not covering their heads with the compulsory hijab, had dramatic consequences. Days after it found its way on to social media, the authorities dispatched state workers to Digikala’s headquarters in Tehran to seal the building and temporarily close the office.

The controversy that engulfed Digikala – which Iranians see as the country’s version of global retailer Amazon – last month was the most high-profile example of growing pressure on companies as Tehran struggles to stem the tide of Iranian women refusing to wear the hijab.

“When women can no longer be arrested in the streets over the hijab, the Islamic republic has chosen to crack down on businesses and send its message to society this way,” said a businessman whose shop faced closure over the same issue recently.

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For months after nationwide anti-regime protests last year, the authorities largely turned a blind eye to the growing number of women discarding head coverings in defiance of the strict Islamic dress codes. But in recent weeks the regime has stepped up attempts to contain the trend, with businesses finding themselves the targets.

Last weekend, the authorities shuttered the Tehran office of leading online insurance company Azki after a photograph of female employees without the hijab appeared on social media. Online bookstore Taaghche was also threatened with closure after a similar photograph of its staff became public.

Some analysts say the moves are symbolic – an apparent effort to appease conservatives that temporarily hinders a company’s operations. Digikala declined to comment but had said its online business was operating as usual.

Saeed Laylaz, an Iranian analyst, said the authorities seemed to believe such temporary muscle-flexing would help curb any new social unrest ahead of the first anniversary of the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, which triggered last year’s protests

Others view the moves as another indictment of the myriad struggles faced by businesses in Iran and the regime’s resistance to easing social restrictions.

Damaging blow

Siamak Ghassemi, a consultant, said the move against Digikala was another damaging blow to business. “Shall we extend the [hijab] issue to businesses, even if temporary?” he wrote on Instagram. “Can anyone be hopeful of the future when this happens?”

Saeed Laylaz, an Iranian analyst, said the authorities seemed to believe such temporary muscle-flexing would help curb any new social unrest ahead of the first anniversary of the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, which triggered last year’s protests.

“For the Islamic republic, the hijab is more a security issue than a cultural or ideological issue,” said Laylaz. “If the political establishment passes through the anniversary in September... with no major unrest, the regime will not face any big security challenge for months to come.”

Amini (22) died last September after being arrested by Iran’s morality police, who accused her of not dressing appropriately. In response, tens of thousands of women, including students and schoolgirls, took to the streets to demand greater social freedoms in one of the most widespread and sustained anti-regime protests in decades.

last month, the regime announced the morality police would resume their patrols to halt the anti-hijab trend as the number of women not covering their heads increased in the hot summer temperatures. Some women have gone further, baring legs and midriffs

The hijab became a central theme of the protests, with women taking off and burning veils in an expression of defiance.

The unrest dissipated at the beginning of the year, and in the following months the morality police were withdrawn in an apparent concession to ease social tension, with the authorities largely ignoring women not wearing the hijab in public spaces.

But last month, the regime announced the morality police would resume their patrols to halt the anti-hijab trend as the number of women not covering their heads increased in the hot summer temperatures. Some women have gone further, baring legs and midriffs.

Iran’s hardliners say the recent cultural shift has made life difficult for the religiously observant and that businesses are ignoring the needs of conservative people.

Fashionable items

The semi-official Fars news agency, which is close to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, said it was no longer easy to find women’s clothes that complied with the Islamic dress code because shops wanted to sell more fashionable items.

Davoud Moazami Goudarz, Tehran’s cyber police chief, said last month that 12 people had been arrested for selling “insulting and unconventional dresses” online, adding that officers had confiscated thousands of pieces of clothing from warehouses. He said four clothes manufacturers in Tehran’s traditional grand bazaar had been sealed off.

“The designs encouraged the use of drugs and alcohol or carried satanic images,” Goudarz said.

However, the crackdown appears haphazard as the regime seeks to balance its desire to enforce the law while not stoking tensions ahead of parliamentary elections next year.

Last week, a popular coffee shop in upscale northern Tehran was shut down, but nearby restaurants and cafés continued to serve women not wearing the hijab. Many women remain unhindered as they take to Tehran’s streets and shopping malls without head coverings.

But some analysts and pro-reform politicians believe the Islamic republic’s approach is inflicting long-term costs on society by fuelling disillusion.

Mohammad Khatami, Iran’s former reformist president, said on Sunday that the compulsory hijab had turned into a “crisis” for the establishment and warned that such “inefficient” and “destructive” policies would not work.

A businesswoman whose shop was recently temporarily closed hinted at the dilemma companies face. She said she could not stop female customers entering her premises without the hijab or convince authorities that temporary closures damaged the business environment.

“We really feel stuck,” she said. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023