Tehran, Jan 10 (EFE).- The Iranian government is contemplating a legal change that could allow women to ride motorcycles for the first time in over four decades, an official said on Wednesday.
“We are following up on the issue of motorcycle licenses for women,” the country’s Vice President for Women Affairs, Ensieh Khazali, told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tehran.
Khazali, the only woman in the Iranian government, highlighted the need for a legal amendment to enable traffic authorities to issue motorcycle-driving licenses for women, state media reported.
“It is a legal matter and needs to be approved by the parliament. Therefore, we need to draft a bill, and we are looking into it,” she said.
Additionally, the government was also looking at allowing women to work as motorcycle couriers in the country, the official said.
Iranian women have been prohibited from riding motorcycles since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
“Women riding bicycles or motorcycles can spread corruption and, therefore, it is forbidden,” Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, said years ago.
Although Iranian law does not explicitly prohibit women from riding motorcycles, the issuance of such permits for women has been restricted, legal expert Naim-Reza Nezami told the reformist newspaper Shargh.
If permitted, the move would come as a surprise, as the conservative government and parliament traditionally resist such changes, especially those related to women’s rights, Nezami added.
Women in Iran have long advocated for legal reforms, seeking the right to obtain motorcycle-driving licenses.
In 2016, the Motorcycle Federation permitted female riders to use circuits for training, and since 2019, female athletes have participated in inter-women competitions.
“If a woman travels as a passenger with a man driving the motorcycle, it’s fine. But if she moves 25 centimeters forward (to the driver’s seat), then it’s something terrible,” Iranian motorcyclist Maryam Talai told EFE in 2022.
In recent years, calls for reforms and restoration of women’s rights have significantly increased in Iran, particularly after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, following her arrest for not wearing the veil properly.
Amini’s death triggered nationwide protests under the slogan “woman, life, freedom” that lasted for months until a government crackdown resulted in 500 deaths and the arrest of around 22,000 protesters.
Since then, many Iranian women have resisted the compulsory use of the veil as a form of civil disobedience against the government.
In recent months, the Iranian government has intensified measures enforcing the mandatory headscarf, employing street patrols and proposing a law that increases penalties for those not covering their hair with a veil. EFE
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