The image of a woman without a headscarf holding the Islamic Republic’s flag at a pro-government rally, or chanting slogans in support of the regime’s policies, has become increasingly familiar across informal and even some official media outlets.
The trend first emerged on March 29, when the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) aired a video clip featuring an interview with an unveiled woman who supported the regime. After that, images of women without headscarves became increasingly common across state-backed media networks.
Tabnak published a video report featuring a woman without a headscarf who said she “has been taking to the streets for 40 nights.”
Similarly, the Fars News Agency released a video of an unveiled woman at a pro-regime rally. In the video, the woman says that “unveiling must not become normalized,” while also criticizing the Gasht-e Ershad (Morality Patrol) for arresting women. She says her presence at these rallies allows her to be on the street without a hijab and promises to wear it in the future. She also describes supporters of freedom of choice in clothing as “dictators” who only chant slogans about democracy.
Images of unveiled women were also published during the “Jan-Fada” (Life-Sacrificing Women) rallies, organized to mark “Girls’ Day,” where pro-regime women took to the streets carrying pink weapons. The trend went so far that, at one pro-regime gathering, a state-backed eulogist (Maddah) referred to the “low-hijab” women taking part in the rally as “the nation’s daughters and the light of our eyes.” In another notable moment, footage from a concert by Lebanese singer Julia Boutros was broadcast during one of the regime’s nightly rallies, marking the first such broadcast after a 47-year ban on female singing in Iran.
