Iran And Saudi Arabia’s Gender Reform Rivalry

As traditional political and religious tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia intensify, it seems a new rivalry has emerged as both states race to ease respective government restrictions of women’s rights. Saudi Arabia has long been considered more repressive towards women than Iran; however, policy reform in recent years, including women gaining the right to vote, run for office, and most recently drive, suggest a gradual shift away from its previous focus on gender division. The last few months have seen Saudi Arabia and Iran take stances on similar aspects of women’s rights and involvement in society. In late September, Saudi Arabia lifted the ban on women attending events at sports stadiums, while Iranian women are still banned from most men’s sports matches. Last week, Tehran police announced that ‘morality police’ that monitor Iran’s capital will cease automatically detaining women who are not wearing the correct hijab-head covering. In turn, female participants in an international chess tournament held in Saudi Arabia were allowed to compete without wearing abayas, the full-length garment women are usually permitted to wear in public.

Some women’s rights activists in both Saudi Arabia and Iran have claimed the two states’ recent policy shifts are connected, and hope to see further progress as the governments continue to compete. Mariam Memarsadeghi, cofounder of the website Tavaana, which emphasizes civic education in Iran, claims that when reforms take place for women in Saudi Arabia, she is “thrilled that the Iranian regime’s false moral superiority is punctured, that the Iranian regime’s laws and actions against women’s rights are made to look backward even by a country long seen as the region’s most backward.”. Suad Abu-Dayyeh, a consultant for global women’s advocacy group Equality Now, is more hesitant to link together the two countries’ gender reform, though she believes that Saudi Arabia’s recent progress “will have perhaps an indirect effect on Iran to advance women’s rights, because they don’t want to be seen as an oppressive government to women’s rights, especially in front of the international community.”

Any advancements in women’s rights and freedoms should be celebrated and encouraged, particularly for a country such as Saudi Arabia that is deemed one of the world’s most oppressive states for women. It is however crucial to consider why these countries have chosen to take such strides, and indeed whether policy changes alone will result in meaningful change within society. As suggested above, Iran and Saudi Arabia could be merely motivated by a desire to appear more progressive and moderate, not only to each other but the international community at large. Furthermore, the presence of many officials still outwardly opposed to such policy reforms in security forces and the governments of both states suggests that the reforms may not be effectively enforced.

Iran and Saudi Arabia’s have a long-standing discordant relationship, exacerbated primarily by the differing views on their interpretation of Islam, and geo-political tensions as they both strive for regional influence. Although Iranian women have generally been allowed more freedom, the ascent of Crown Prince Mohammed in Saudi Arabia has resulted in a more open interpretation of religion and an overall Westernising of the state, which has had positive effects for women.

Both states have succumbed to pressures from many sources to take steps towards the progression of women’s rights. Urging from the international community and from citizens within Iran and Saudi Arabia has created a climate in which women’s policy reforms have been developed; however, the two countries’ rivalry has perhaps advanced reforms at a faster rate than would have otherwise occurred.

Ruby Leonard

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