Framing Contestation in Iran’s Hijab Policy: From the Coloniality of Power to the Third Model of Muslim Woman

Saghaye-Biria, Hakimeh

Framing Contestation in Iran’s Hijab Policy: From the Coloniality of Power to the Third Model of Muslim Woman

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria

University of Tehran, Faculty of Islamic Knowledge and Thought

Abstract

This article, using a policy framing analysis, examines the issue of hijab in Iran as a case of frame contestation, in which competing meanings of womanhood, freedom, agency, and dignity are constructed and negotiated. The theoretical foundation is based on the concept of coloniality of power, revealing how Reza Shah’s forced unveiling policy established a colonial frame of the “modern woman,” where visibility became a marker of femininity and a symbol of civilizational progress. In its contemporary form, global cultural and media powers have continued to deploy this colonial frame to redefine Iranian womanhood. Drawing on recent findings in psychology and gender studies, the paper introduces de-objectification as a counter-frame to this visibility-based logic. From this perspective, objectification is not merely an individual or moral issue but a structural social process reproduced through cultural, economic, and media institutions. Its psychological and social harms – ranging from anxiety and depression to violence and family disintegration – underscore the need for systemic transformation toward a cultural order grounded in dignity, agency, and moral integrity. Finally, inspired by Ayatollah Khamenei’s notion of the “Third Model of Muslim Woman,” the paper conceptualizes de-objectification as a policy framework for reconstructing womanhood in terms of dignity and agency. It concludes that the resolution of Iran’s hijab controversy requires a structural shift from the colonial frame of freedom as visibility toward a national and moral policy of de-objectification, enabling social convergence and civilizational renewal.

Keywords

Hijab

frame contestation

coloniality of power

sexual objectification

de-objectification

Third Model of Muslim Woman

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