Clerics play a major role in decision-making and have argued that women must be shielded from the masculine atmosphere and sight of semi-clad men during sporting events.

Under such discriminatory policies, the Persian terms such as za'ifeh, meaning weak and incapable, has found its way into Persian dictionaries as synonyms for “woman” and “wife.”

Iran’s notorious extrajudicial morality police have terrorized women for decades.

Like the articles of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, principles of the morality police are founded on an interpretation of canonical Shiite texts and are implemented through modern tools of control and prosecution.

In international criminal law, specific unlawful acts that are committed within a system of oppression and domination are considered crimes against humanity.

As set out in the U.N.‘s Apartheid Convention, these crimes include denial of basic rights that prevent a racial group or groups from participating in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country.

Most known for the brutal regime in South Africa, apartheid comes from the Afrikaans word meaning “apartness.” It was the ideology that was introduced in South Africa in 1948 and supported by the National Party government.

The compulsory hijab is at the center of what I call Iran’s extreme gender apartheid, where a misplaced headscarf can result in up to 15 years in prison, lashing, fines and inhumane and unlawful arrest and death.

Several anti-compulsory hijab movements emerge every few years in Iran, such as in the case of Zhina Amini.

In the Kurdish language, her name originates from “jin,” the word for woman and shares a root with the word for life, “jiyan.”

Those Kurdish words are at the heart of the most used slogan by the Kurdish Female Fighters against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and by women across Iran today against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Add in “azadi” – the Kurdish word for freedom – and the slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” means “Women, Life, Freedom” and is resounding among protesters in streets throughout Iran and the world to dismantle the state’s gender apartheid.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Haidar Khezri, University of Central Florida. If you found it interesting, you could subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

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Haidar Khezri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.