Under the Pahlavi dynasty, the introduction of women's rights had functioned as an attempt by the state to westernize and modernize the country (in a similar way to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Turkey), and not as a response to a call from a largely religious society. As the revolution moved towards declaring itself an Islamic theocracy – despite the massive participation of women – the religious men who led it began to promote a narrative that self-proclaimed them as the “true protectors of Iranian women”. This was a rhetoric similar to that declaimed decades ago by the second Pahlavi Shah, although in this case in order to be idealized in the opposite way.
If the government of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi south africa phone number list ruled that women (despite their lack of political freedom) could dress however they wanted, the ayatollahs circumscribed and idealized them as "guardians of the Revolution." When Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power, he passed a series of laws that changed the status of women. The age of marriage for girls was lowered from 18 to 9 (today it is 13), women lost the right to custody of their child, lost their right to sing in public, were prohibited from being judges, and were He denied all requests for divorce, except in cases where there was evidence of adultery or abuse.
These controversial measures functioned as a platform to legitimize the new religious republic, but also to highlight their opposition to it. Within the now pious official guidelines, it was sought that the primary function of women was to be "protectors" of Islam, the veil and segregation, With the arrival of the bloody and long eight-year war between Iran and Iraq, the situation contributed to cementing the image of women as the cornerstone of the family structure, when a large number of Iranian men had to move to the war front and they They took care of the household economy. This ended up solidifying the idea of women as one of the most notorious symbols of the Revolution and a new support of the Islamic theocracy.