I don’t agree with some of the non-Iranian men commenting here. I’m an Iranian woman and my tears were rolling reading this article. The article gave credit to the wife of Rohani’s family group which was as a result of Sara’s loss.
The fact that one women inside the Government has risen to the ranks and was willing to be an advocate is overlooked. My heart breaks for Sara’s family. In many of these cases before, there was a man making the decisions inside.
And Iran was still a coward to allow women to watch a Cambodia game rather than a true football game. The entire stadium was empty.
To brave women of Iran - congratulations!
To Sara’s family - what a brave girl you had. I wish I could have met her. Be proud.
To the rest of the world - including all the men criticizing on this board - I dare you to fly to Iran and watch a game as a “man”.
1
Sorry, but I don't get the fundamentalist Islamic treatment of women. Pretty pathetic.
Glad to see the ladies having fun, even though they had the worst seats in the house.
2
Perhaps one day, an Islamic democracy will emerge. Today, sadly, modern Islam still serves as a vehicle for total suppression of women.
4
@Ernest Montague
See: Indonesia
Congratulations. Welcome to the 1800s.
Wait, they constructed a "women's cage"?
Congratulations. Welcome to the 1400s.
9
And people said Iranians are living in the dark ages...
Now that this "victory" has been won, maybe the Times can look into reporting on the more damning legal rights that the average Iranian woman has to bow to live under.
3
As an Iranian ex-pat, I’m glad for any advancement, no matter how incremental. These restrictions are also offensive to us guys because they operate under the assumption that men can’t control themselves the second they see an inch of a woman’s body.
11
Earlier today, when a FIFA official was speaking about this case, my immediate reaction was that Fifa should brand the Women world cup trophy in honor of Sahar Khodayari. It maybe the most transparent act the organization can undertake.
6
What does it say about the illegitimate, unelected religious-fanatic dictators who illegally rule Iran that women need to get permission to attend a soccar match?
That the Twelver dictators have to go, preferably by being overthrown from within.
17
That religious authorities banned viewing soccer shows that there was nothing religious at all going on. It was just one more step in breaking women to the “theocracy”. It backfired. There is nothing wrong with being born a woman and nothing that justifies such a nonsensical ban...what does justify it? The greedy controlling hand of the “revolutionary” (read more for them less for women and and everyone else) guard is becoming increasingly visible, even to the young people who see how it cuts off their own futures...
14
@SW ,
Ditto for every Muslim country in the Middle East. It makes no sense to place these kinds of restrictions on women. Laws should be written to punish bad conduct TOWARD women instead of punishing women for their gender.
7
It'll be interesting how this first game plays out--on one hand it is still a good step forward (despite the 'women's cages' and 1% women ticket allowance), but reactions from the 99% men crowd will most likely make or break the success of this in the future
9