Op-ed: With the women of Iran, with the women of the world

The women of Iran are demanding what should be self-evident.

That they should decide for themselves whether or not to wear a head scarf.

That they should wear it because they feel the need to, for religious or cultural reasons, and not because it is imposed by an authoritarian “morality police”.

And not to wear it, if they do not wish to do so.

I don’t have a problem with the head scarf, as long as it is a free choice.

I am disturbed, however, by every regime or power that wants to impose something through violence.

I am equally disturbed by a state or government that forces women not to wear a head scarf.

I believe that the stance of all those in Europe who want to ban the head scarf is dead wrong.

No. Freedom means to be able to wear something, but also not to have to wear it.

I feel that I stand equally beside a woman who wants to remove the head scarf, because it oppresses her, and a woman who wants to wear it, because she views it as part of her identity.

The world is diverse and heterogeneous.

It has many civilisations and cultures, a plethora of traditions, and different religions.

I don’t want uniformity.

I don’t want people everywhere to dress as they do in the West.

What I want is not to have police thugs running around beating women because they are not “properly attired”, or who chase and prosecute them because they did or did not wear something.

I don’t want there to be women anywhere in the world that do not have the same rights as men – both legally and even more so in practice.
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I don’t want women anywhere to be obliged to subjugate themselves to husbands and fathers, under any pretext or with any justification.

I don’t want women anywhere to be treated as objects to be exploited,

I don’t want women anywhere not to have the right to make decisions regarding their own bodies.

I can think of only one path for all that to happen.

Unlimited support and solidarity.

For the Iranian woman who does not want to wear the head scarf.

For the Muslim woman in Europe who wants to wear the head scarf.

For the American woman who does not want abortion to be a crime,

For the migrant woman who does not want to be treated as part of a “hybrid attack”.

For the working class woman anywhere in the world who wants equal pay for equal work.

For all women who are struggling.

Everywhere in the world,