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Clad in black head scarves and white uniforms, the Iranian Women’s Soccer team stood in silence on an Australian soccer field earlier this month as the country’s national anthem played without their voices.

Their refusal to sing along was met with harsh criticism back home, where state media labeled them “wartime traitors” and called for “severe” punishment. On Tuesday, the Australian government as the remainder returned home.

Their quiet protest marks the latest example of Iranian women—at great personal risk—publicly pushing back against decades of oppression.��

Marie Ranjbar

“Iranian women have always been at the forefront of social justice movements and have articulated very clear visions of what they want and need from a future Iranian government,” said Marie Ranjbar, an assistant professor of women and gender studies who studies social justice movements in Iran. “It’s important that we center their voices, especially in this moment.”

In honor of Women’s History Month, �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder Today caught up with Ranjbar, whose father is from Iran, to discuss the history of the women’s resistance movement in Iran, and the ongoing war.��

First, how are you and your loved ones doing?

The hardest part is that we can’t reach our families. We had an internet blackout during the 12-day war last June, and another in January during government protests in which upwards of 36,000 Iranians were killed. I was finally able to get a proof-of-life text message from my uncle on Friday. The last communication I received from a good friend in Tehran was Tuesday, where she reported the constant sound of bombings.��

How was life different for women after the Islamic Republic took hold in 1979?

There is no comparison between women’s rights pre- and post-revolution, particularly in the area of family law. For instance, child marriage is allowed as early as age 13, the right to divorce is limited, and women have been sidelined in terms of their ability to serve in certain government capacities. I say that while recognizing the incredible gains that Iranian women have made under the Islamic Republic and their efforts to get the state to respond to their demands.

Soccer has long been a focal point of women’s resistance. Why?

Following the 1979 revolution, girls and women were banned from soccer stadiums,��although to attend soccer matches. In 2019, Sahar Khodayari attempted to watch a soccer match disguised as a man. Facing a prison sentence, she died by suicide through self-immolation outside the courthouse — a heart wrenching moment��that highlighted the state’s discriminatory policies restricting girls’ and women’s access to public spaces.��

The Hijab, or headscarf, has been central to many protests. Why?

Across pre- and post-revolutionary Iran, women’s bodies have been positioned as visible symbols of what the government wants to project about its society. For instance, in 1936, when Reza Shah sought to position Iran as a modern nation, he issued the Unveiling Act. It banned all Islamic veils in public and, in some cases, women were forced to unveil at bayonet-point. The 1983 Veiling Act mandated compulsory veiling. In both cases, women have been deprived of choice and bodily autonomy.

What is the Women, Life, Freedom movement?

Women, Life, Freedom was sparked in September 2022 by the state sanctioned killing of a young woman, Jina Mahsa Amini, who was detained by morality police for allegedly wearing her Hijab too loosely. For Iranian girls and women, the idea that a woman could be detained, beaten and die on the basis of what she was wearing was so horrific — it was really a flash point. Some women burned their headscarves publicly, and women and men protested in cities throughout Iran and around the world. It was the first time in modern Iranian history that mass anti-government protests centered first and foremost on women's rights. It was a cultural reckoning. In many places throughout Iran, some women no longer wear hijab.

How is the war impacting people on the ground?��

U.S. media has focused primarily on the geopolitical analysis, but what's lost in those narratives are Iranian civilians. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place, dealing with incredible violence from this regime, and U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in very populous civilian areas. There are 16 million people in and around Tehran who are impacted by strikes on oil refineries, with smoke enveloping the area and Iranians warned not to step outside. Yes, we saw senior leaders of the regime assassinated, but����

What is happening to the protesters there?

Human rights activists such as 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi remain imprisoned, alongside tens of thousands of Iranians who were arbitrarily detained during the January 2026 crackdown. Within prisons, authorities may escalate mistreatment or carry out executions without due process. Simultaneously, the U.S. and Israel are striking detention centers, with limited information about whether political prisoners are safe or have been injured or killed.��In effect, human rights activists are being targeted in the name of protecting human rights.

Could this military action advance the cause of women and girls in Iran?

I am very skeptical. Look at the case of Afghanistan, where I worked between 2005 and 2010: We went to war because of 911, but it was also framed through this idea of securing human rights for Afghan women. Twenty years and $2 trillion later, we handed the country back to the Taliban, and this iteration of the Taliban is arguably much worse than the one of the late 90s.

If war is not the answer, what is?

That’s a really complicated question. But I think the focus should continue to be on what the majority of Iranians are expressing that they need and want from a new government— a future Iran that is free, democratic and respects bodily autonomy and human rights.

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