The third Anniversary of the great “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and the irreversible impact it had on the political, social and cultural climate of the society.
Statement of the Democratic Organization of Iranian Women:
On September 15, 2025, three years have passed since the great, nationwide movement, “Woman, Life, Freedom” shook the medieval foundations of the Islamic Republic’s rule in an unprecedented way. This great movement was born out of the massive protests at the state killing of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini, a young woman from Kurdistan, the land of heroes, for the “crime” of “improper hijab,” and after the attempts of the regime’s leaders to cover up this horrific crime; and it marked the beginning of an irreversible transformation in our country.
A nationwide uprising known as the Woman, Life, Freedom movement (also known as the Zhina movement), emerged under the leadership and banner of Iran’s women, girls, and courageous youth, and with popular solidarity. It rapidly swept through many large and small cities, covering more than 200 cities, in a short time and exerted a profound influence for change and the freedom-seeking struggles of our people. As a result of these struggles a major shift occurred, particularly in overcoming the fear of confronting oppression and challenging political Islam. This shift was, and remains, so profound that today a vast majority of Iranian society strongly rejects the reactionary laws and decaying representations of political Islam, such as the exclusion of women from public life, the compulsory veil, the interference of religion in the state, and laws that deem women second-class citizens.
The nationwide “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, rooted in earlier popular movements (2009, 2017, 2019) and continuing more than a century of women’s persistent struggle against humiliation, subordination, and the structural discrimination embedded in civil laws derived from Islamic jurisprudence—especially in its discourse—succeeded in bringing change. Among these changes was women’s rising and confronting the institutionalized gender apartheid of the theocratic system and its connection to the discrimination and oppression that target all areas of society—women and men alike—and violate human dignity. At the same time, by creating a powerful jolt to Iran’s patriarchal society, this movement has managed to transform the mindset of society, with a far-reaching cultural and intellectual shift, and to promote an egalitarian discourse and a struggle against all forms of dictatorship. This is because, with its misogynistic policies and gender apartheid, the theocratic regime not only intensified the repression of women and confined their roles to “motherhood” and “wifehood,” but also, through policing “women’s bodies”—the most visible manifestation being the imposition of “compulsory hijab” and its offshoots—expanded and entrenched control, violence, and despotism across society.
Three years after the historic turning point of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, its impact on Iran’s political, social, and cultural climate continues. After the bloody suppression of the Zhina uprising and its evolution into other forms of struggle, the persistent resistance of women and young girls to assert the right to choose their attire and even their lifestyle—including reclaiming public spaces¹—has, in addition to concrete achievements, elevated women’s rightful demands to a general public demand and has left lasting effects on the society’s development. In this way, a new chapter has been opened in the struggle of our people against despotism and against the decayed, superstitious practices that degrade women to second-class citizens and violate human dignity.
During the protests of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising and in the bloody crackdowns during and after it, the Islamic Republic killed dozens of our homeland’s brave sons and daughters, including children and teenagers, or sentenced them to death in its judiciary’s sham trials and hanged them.² The latest case is the execution of “Mehran Bahramian,” one of the protesters of the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, whose death sentence was carried out on September 6, 2025.
Yet despite all the regime’s efforts to brutally suppress this popular uprising, the general struggle of our people, especially women’s struggle against the ruling reaction, has not stopped. It has continued in other forms, which we now witness in the daily protest struggles of workers, teachers, nurses, and other working-class people, and the oppressed across society. The regime’s attempt to block this growing trend of struggle through passing death sentences—particularly for political and conscience prisoners and courageous women such as “Sharifeh Mohammadi,” “Pakhshan Azizi,” and “Varisheh Moradi,” accused under the medieval charge of “baghi” (armed rebellion)—betrays its fear of the struggles of women and other popular forces that are ongoing across our homeland. Women are key pillars of freedom- and justice-seeking struggles aimed at bringing fundamental change to the country.
In recent years, despite all pressure, restrictions, and repression—and despite arrests and lengthy sentences—women of our homeland have advanced major campaigns and have played a significant role in raising public and gender consciousness. Political prisoners in Iran—especially women political prisoners—have been and remain clear symbols of resistance and struggle. With campaigns such as “No to Execution,” they have today turned the prisons into a bastion against the despotic Islamic Republic.
On the eve of the third anniversary of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, while the specter of war still hovers over our homeland and the region, our people have clearly shown they do not want war. Social and economic indicators in people’s lives all point to a deep, widespread crisis—a crisis resulting from destructive political and economic policies deployed by the regime itself, which is incapable of resolving severe problems such as inflation, poverty, and corruption, or the water and power shortages that have disrupted people’s present and future lives.
The people’s dissatisfaction with the status quo—together with the threat of renewed war, ruinous sanctions, the spread of poverty and unemployment, structural corruption, the lack of future prospects for youth, brain drain, environmental destruction, and more—has led people to demand a transition away from the misogynistic, despotic regime that is the main culprit behind all these anti-people policies and the plundering of their natural and human resources. They seek a transition not by foreign powers—who, for their predatory interests, have always hindered society’s progress at critical historical junctures—nor by their agents, but by the inexhaustible power of the people of Iran.
On the third anniversary of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, while honoring the enduring memory of all the brave martyrs of this popular movement, the Democratic Organization of Iranian Women deeply believes that even brutal repression will not save the desperate, despotic theocratic regime from inevitable collapse. Patriarchy and the subjugation of women have always been inseparably linked to the interests of despotic power, exploitation and wealth accumulation. Liberation from this infernal cycle of discrimination and inequality imposed on women by tyrannical capitalist regimes requires fundamental change and sustained cultural work. The tremendous impact that the great Woman, Life, Freedom uprising has had on Iran’s political, social, and cultural atmosphere has undoubtedly smoothed the path for this arduous, rocky journey. Institution-building and broad efforts toward collective, organized action using diverse forms of struggle—alongside collective struggle and coordinated action by the powerful force of women and other progressive, popular forces—can create the conditions for a transition away from the ruling dictatorship.
Achieving equal rights, liberation from gender and class oppression, and solving problems such as poverty, unemployment, and environmental destruction can only be realized through fundamental changes.
Glory to the memory of the hundreds of brave martyrs of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising!
Democratic Organization of Iranian Women
Footnotes:
1) Through daily resistance to appear in urban spaces without compulsory hijab and by breaking old stereotypes—by dancing, singing, or even riding motorcycles—women have, to a large extent, reclaimed the right to be present in the city and in public spaces without government control.
2) According to human-rights sources, by the end of autumn 2022, more than 490 protesters—including 68 children—had been killed during these protests, and 18,262 people had been arrested.
September 12, 2025
