Chess Players Forced to Compete in Hijabs At World Championship in Iran

Again, Iran was the only country to offer hosting it. It was Iran or not have the event. Are you saying they should have canceled it?

 

participants knew ahead of attire restriction ,which means they voluntarily 've accepted it , the "forced" word used in the title is misleading

 

If that is the case then the women should should just wear the hijab or not play.

 

To sum up:

1. FIDE had only one option for a host for their championship, and it was Iran.
2. Organizers, weighing the clothing requirements and the association with Iran with the alternative of not having the event, chose to do the event with Iran.
3. Individual invitees made their own choices whether or not to participate given the organizers' choice to do business with Iran.
4. If enough invitees choose to not participate, the championship will be weakened and maybe canceled altogether.

Okay, everything sounds fine.

 

That is why fide is a joke, cannot even find a hosting nation for one of its top events.

 

Except the part of oppression of women in Iran. That one is not fine.

 

It's Nazi Paikidze, she seems really level headed.

 

Women aren't completely oppressed in Iran. It's probably closer to the US in the 60's with how women are viewed in the workforce and government. Their role in the workforce has grown rapidly over the past 20 years. Iran has actually done pretty well with education for women since the revolution. I'm sure you've been around Iranian women before...they aren't exactly meek. For what it's worth the headscarf predates Islam and has more cultural ties than simply being Islamic.

https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2015/02/womenreport-womens-education/

It's not great, but things are changing quickly.

 

https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/10/28/womens-rights-iran

Women’s rights are severely restricted in Iran, to the point where women are even forbidden from watching men’s sports in stadiums. That ban includes Iran’s national obsession – volleyball.

Human Rights Watch is launching a new campaign, #Watch4Women, to support Iranian women fighting this ugly discrimination. What we’re asking is simple: that the International Volleyball Federation, known as the FIVB, uphold its own rules and agree not to allow Iran to host future tournaments – unless it allows Iranian women to attend.

The ban on women in sports stadiums is emblematic of the repression of women across the country. Women confront serious discrimination on issues such as marriage, divorce, and child custody. Women have been sent to jail for publicly speaking out in favor of equal rights for women. Because the government wants Iran’s population to grow, it’s even moving to ban voluntary medical procedures women can undergo to avoid becoming pregnant. And that’s just the beginning.



It’s not just women who are repressed in Iran. Anyone who openly criticizes the government risks being thrown in jail. The government also discriminates against ethnic communities like the Kurds and Balochs, as well as people belonging to the Baha’i faith.

How else are women’s rights restricted in Iran?

Iran holds regular elections, and its president, Hassan Rouhani, says he wants reforms, as do many Iranians. But much of the country’s power lies with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. Khamenei’s office oversees Iran’s military, judicial courts, and the media. A conservative newspaper that has often supported the Ayatollah described the notion of "gender equality" as "unacceptable to the Islamic Republic."

You see this played out across women’s lives. Women in Iran are forced to wear the hijab, the headscarf worn by some Muslim women, in public. This even applies to young schoolgirls, who are required to wear the head covering to attend elementary school.

Moreover, married women can’t even leave the country without their husband’s permission. In fact, in September the captain of Iran’s female football (soccer) team, Niloufar Ardalan, couldn’t play in an international tournament in Malaysia because her husband forbade her from traveling.




EXPAND
Women attend Friday prayers in Tehran February 4, 2011

© 2011 Reuters
Iran does allow women to play sports, like football and volleyball. But none of these women are allowed to do something as simple as watch men play volleyball, even if their brothers, sons, or husbands are playing. In fact, Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, a dual Iranian-British national, was arrested when she tried to attend a volleyball game in Tehran. Police are often posted around stadiums, in part to keep women out.

Convincing Iran to allow women to watch sports would be an important initial step toward ensuring that women – and others – enjoy the freedom they’re entitled to.

Iran isn’t the only country that discriminates against women when it comes to sports. Saudi Arabia doesn’t even let girls in state-funded schools take gym class, and the country stops Saudi women from watching men play football in stadiums. For those pushing for change in the Middle East region, there is much work to be done to improve the lives of women.

What other human rights abuses happen in Iran?




EXPAND
Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American correspondent for the Washington Post, smiles as he attends a presidential campaign of President Hassan Rouhani on April 11, 2013 in Tehran, Iran.

© 2013 Associated Press
Across the board, Iran’s human rights situation is dire. It’s hard to say what tops the list of abuses, but there are severe restrictions on free speech in Iran. Iran is one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists, bloggers and social media activists, says Reporters Without Borders. It’s the kind of place where even a Facebook post could land someone in jail. Iran has unfairly imprisoned the Washington Post correspondent, Jason Rezaian, who is still behind bars. In Iran, people go to jail for “insulting” the supreme leader, president, or other government officials – something that should never be a crime.

In May, 2014, police arrested four young men and three women who created a video of themselves dancing together to Pharrell Williams’ hit song, “Happy,” which went viral on YouTube. The charges against them included engaging in “illicit relations.”

How does the Iran nuclear deal play into human rights?

You may have heard in the news that over the summer, Iran signed a nuclear deal with other world powers. This means that Iran has agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for other countries lifting sanctions, which limit Iran’s trade and hurt its economy.

Now that the nuclear deal is done, Human Rights Watch believes the rest of the world should pressure Iran to reform and treat all of its citizens with dignity.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...efuses-to-attend-world-championships-in-iran/

Apparently one US women's chess player is refusing to attend.

 

As a sidenote, who names their daughter "Nazi"?

 

Do the French realize that they're being just as ass backwards as the places that require that kind of wardrobe for women?

 

here we go ...

"
On 27 January, 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, the man who called the United States "the Great Satan" - sent a secret message to Washington.

From his home in exile outside Paris, the defiant leader of the Iranian revolution effectively offered the Carter administration a deal: Iranian military leaders listen to you, he said, but the Iranian people follow my orders.

If President Jimmy Carter could use his influence on the military to clear the way for his takeover, Khomeini suggested, he would calm the nation. Stability could be restored, America's interests and citizens in Iran would be protected......."


UK gave Khomeini the BBC when it was the lone voice of media to direct his speech ..." Worse for the Shah, the Western media, especially the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), immediately put Khomeini into the spotlight.[17][131] Khomeini rapidly became a household name in the west, portraying himself as an "Eastern mystic" who did not seek power, but instead sought to "free" his people from "oppression". The normally critical western media rapidly became a docile tool in Khomeini's hands.[17][102]..."

France had experience already of using religion blanket to create a leader and took over from there , and somehow from there it ended as an Iranian's fault

 

They are not.

 

Got to give credit to Iran for hosting the event. The positive I can take from this is it bring more awareness to the issue. Too bad FIDE has not yet taken a stand for women rights, but I can understand they not wanting to piss off a government that has agreed to host them. Hopefully enough members reject the idea and they have to cancel it. That in itself is sending a statement.

 

Why? They are trying to use the event to force their ridiculous standards on women who aren't even followers of their cult.

 

They aren't agreeing to host this event just so that they can force their standard. Why would they need to do something like that? They likely didn't even thought about it that way, given that it's their standard way. The credit is that they are hosting the event. And I see opportunity for more awareness and that's to me is good.

 

I think we have a few Hilter fans on the board now.

 

Iran's treatment of women is obviously backwards. I would imagine having a bunch of super smart women playing chess would be a good thing to change attitudes towards women in a country like Iran.

You can look at it too ways - "I am forced to wear this and I oppose oppression of women therefore I boycott this event" or "I hope my presence will help change cultural attitudes towards women"

Both are valid, both will likely make only a very very small if any difference.