Iran blocked more than volleyballs this summer. Its national volleyball team played the United States team. The talented Iranian men’s team won two games in Tehran, the capital. But the victories were tainted. The country also blocked Iranian women from entering Azadi Stadium to watch the event.
Iran has banned women from sporting events since the 1970s. People hoped a new president would change the no-girls-allowed mandate. Shahindokht Molaverdi, the country’s female vice president, announced that some women might be allowed to observe the volleyball matches. Many people in Iran were happy. They saw the action as a positive change for women.
Molaverdi and others believe women’s attendance at games might improve fan conduct. "Women's presence and getting families into stadiums will create a sense of formality that can definitely moderate the atmosphere of stadiums and give it a moral spirit," said Molaverdi.
But the ban remained. Iranian women were not allowed into the stadium.
Sports officials bowed to pressure from the hardline militant Islamic group Ansar-e Hezbollah. The group is known for strict separation of the sexes.
Ansar-e Hezbollah announced that the group would violently oppose women in the stadium. They threatened, “This Friday (the day of the match) there will be blood.”
Other Islamic religious leaders also reacted against women at sporting events. They believe male athletes’ clothing is too revealing for women to see.
Iran’s laws mostly favor men. A woman’s word is usually not believed over a man’s. Women may not inherit money or property.
Women in Iran face violence and mistreatment for even minor offenses. Voting for the “wrong” candidate, blogging against the government, allowing hair to show under the hijab, or collecting signatures for a campaign are all things women may be punished for.
Last year an Iranian-British woman tried to attend a men’s volleyball game. An Iranian court sentenced Ghonech Ghavami to a year in prison for promoting disobedience to the law. She was freed on bail and now awaits another trial.
The world protests the treatment of women in Iran. But the Islamic government continues to mistreat them. Volleyball victory or no—that’s Iran’s loss.
