On 7 November 2022, the ACRPS Iranian Studies Unit (ACRPS) hosted Professor Niki Akhavan, Chair of the Department of Media and Communication Studies at the Catholic University of America, for a public event on “The Politics of Sports in Iran.” The event was moderated by Mehran Kamrava, Director of the ISU and Professor of Government at Georgetown University Qatar.

Akhavan began by providing a broad overview of sports politics in the Islamic Republic, and the state’s attempt to control this field. She highlighted women’s continual aspirations for change and social and political rights, claiming that these movements have taken place in a variety of settings, including in sports. “The issue of women’s access to sports stadiums was at the forefront of calls to end anti-discriminatory laws against them.” Akhavan then discussed how women’s access to stadiums has become a major rallying cry in their efforts to secure greater social rights.

In the aftermath of the 1979 revolution, Iranian women were barred from stadiums in 1981, which coincided with other postrevolutionary restrictions imposed on women, especially in respect to their dress code and access to the public sphere. Sport consequently became a significant arena of a form of activism by women in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Akhavan also emphasized the technical and media innovations that occurred around this time, which put Iran in the limelight and provided activists with new spaces for activism, including the virtual sphere.

According to Akhavan, another significant development during this time was the fact that activists urged the intervention of international sports governing bodies to let women inside stadiums. This led to recent success during the summer of 2022, when women were allowed to attend a local league game at the Azadi stadium for the first time since the revolution. This was a result of women’s efforts to promote their demands through social media and outreach to the international community. “Sports became an important site to make other demands, symbolizing all the numerous ways that women are excluded in public life, as well as discriminatory legislation that continues to severely harm them.” However, the politicization of sports by the international community could also impact women’s participation, leading to further restrictions and harm. “More attention,” Akhavan added, “has to be devoted to the processes being utilized behind the scenes to encourage these institutions to act.”

Akhavan then discussed athlete activism, highlighting the countless instances in which Iranian athletes have participated in symbolic acts of solidarity. For example, after winning the beach soccer title, one of the Iranian players, Saeed Piramoon, gestured cutting his hair as an act of solidarity with the ongoing protests in Iran over the killing of Mahsa Amini by the “morality police.” Therefore, sports has emerged as an important arena in which state policies are challenged, resulting in widespread media coverage.

Akhavan also gave the example of Elnaz Rekabi, an Iranian climber who took part in an international competition without her hijab. This was considered an unprecedent moment and an act of solidarity despite the extreme pressure she later experienced. The fact that Rekabi’s courageous act was celebrated by the public shows that they do not buy into the state’s narrative. Iranian football players have also recently criticized the government and expressed support for the protesters on social media. While the government can use sports to highlight women’s freedom in the international arena in an effort to control the narrative, women themselves utilize it as a form of protest against unfair and discriminatory laws.

 Akhavan further examined the social and cultural norms, as well as traditionalist interpretations of jurisprudence, on which the state bases its narrative in order to limit women’s participation in the public sphere and especially in sports and public spaces. She noted that there is now a process of cultural change underway in which the state’s traditional values are being challenged. More crucially, a social consensus appears to be emerging over the social and cultural harm being caused by the state’s forced religiosity.

Lastly, Akhavan addressed efforts to boycott Iranian sports and to ban Iranian athletes from international sporting events, arguing that “this would deprive Iranian people of joy and the opportunity to utilize sports as a platform for advocacy, as well as to bring to light some of the injustices and challenges that people, particularly women, experience. Athletes do not represent the state, and international sporting arenas should be available for them to advocate for change.”