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May 02.2018 – The Washington Post – By Jacob Bogage \u2013<\/p>\nMay 02.2018 – The Washington Post – By Jacob Bogage \u2013<\/p>\n
Shortly after the 1979 revolution, Iran\u2019s Islamic\u00a0government banned women from a range of sporting events, most notably men\u2019s soccer and volleyball matches.\u00a0Those national teams draw massive domestic followings, and soccer club teams pack stadiums with crowds that rival the size of European counterparts.<\/p>\n
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And ever since the ban, some women have disguised themselves as men to sneak into sporting events. The half dozen that made it into Tehran\u2019s\u00a0Azadi Stadium last week wearing fake beards and mustaches to see popular club Persepolis are being hailed as national heroes on social media. And they have again highlighted the conflict between the country\u2019s mostly secular populace, some 80 million people, and the deeply religious government.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will not find another country on the planet where the attitudes of the ruling class are so different than those of the regular people,\u201d said\u00a0Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.\u00a0His father played for the Iranian national soccer team before the revolution.<\/p>\n
The stadium ban has its foundation in the Semitic tradition of female chastity and piety. Women in Iran\u00a0<\/strong>are required to wear head coverings in public. They are allowed to watch other women play soccer, but not men.<\/p>\n Women and young girls are encouraged to play sports, Vatanka said, as long as they adhere to the government\u2019s conservative laws on dress.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, the ban is enforced inconsistently. At some matches, women caught in disguise are turned away at stadium entrances. At others, they are arrested. At a World Cup qualifying match in Tehran against Syria in 2017,\u00a0Syrian women were allowed to watch the game, but Iranian women, including some parliament members, were not<\/a>.<\/p>\n One female parliamentarian threatened to call the country\u2019s minister of sport before the national legislature for questioning.<\/p>\n In March, 35 women were detained trying to enter a match between\u00a0Esteqlal and Persepolis with FIFA President\u00a0Gianni Infantino in attendance,\u00a0according to the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s Iran,\u201d said Patrick Clawson, research director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, \u201cwhich not only encourages women to vote and drive, but encourages them to join military units. But they can\u2019t attend soccer games.\u201d<\/p>\n Some politicians, including former president\u00a0Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have said women attending games does not violate Islamic law. He rescinded the rule in 2006.<\/p>\n