Iranian Woman Paralyzed in Police Shooting Over Hijab Law

The Western narrative on Iran's dress code controversies exposes a familiar hypocrisy: it paints Iranian women as oppressed by hijab laws while failing to address its own restrictive policies. Western media often presents the hijab as the sole symbol of Iranian women's struggle, reducing their calls for autonomy to an “anti-Islam” stance. Yet, in France, Muslim women are banned from wearing hijabs, a stark parallel of the same control Western media condemns abroad. True solidarity would mean respecting women’s right to choose — whether veiled or unveiled — and acknowledging the complex socio-political roots beyond the hijab.