Of the many paradoxes presented by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the most confounding remains its stubborn preoccupation with regulating women. The 1979 revolution that brought fundamentalist clerics to power in an ancient, diverse, and cosmopolitan nation also stripped women there of the right to hold a job without the permission of her husband, or wear what she chooses in public.
The friction from that grinding repression ignited a conflagration in the last months of 2022 that threatened to destroy the regime. Being spontaneous, the rebellion gathered behind the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” and was billed as leaderless. In truth, it was led by thousands.
“Oppression is the norm in a society as long as it lacks a role-model who breaks the taboo,” says photojournalist Forough Alaei. “This project is the story of Iranian role models.”
Over the course of two years, Alaei traveled her native country documenting the women who, like the late Mahsa Amini facing arrest by “morality police,” simply refused. Her subjects are the generation who came of age online, seeing on their phones how people lived elsewhere, with no hope of joining them. Many have found an outlet in sports—for decades a testing ground for gender equality in the Islamic Republic, where women were not even allowed in the same stadium as men.
Read More: The Women of Iran Are TIME's 2022 Heroes of the Year
On July 5, Iran elected a new President. Masoud Pezeshkian is a relative moderate, hailing from a “reformist” movement that a generation or so ago still embodied hope. Today, he will at most serve as a buffer between the hardline establishment and a society where individuals now embody what hope remains. That’s the real subject of Alaei’s strikingly vivid images, at once heroic and delicate.
“When I started photography, I remembered that many, including family and friends, warned me that there is no future for a ‘woman in photography,’” she says. But she persevered, at one point sneaking into a soccer game disguised as a man, and ended up winning a 2019 World Press Photo award for her effort.
Today, while everyone talks about the bravery of the Gen Z women who led the protests, “there is rarely curiosity about how they became so brave,” Alaei says. “In this project, I tried to show the female role-models on whose shoulders Gen Z stands, these brave women who broke the taboos in many fields. I thought it was an overlooked story in the ever-evolving society of Iran.”
— Karl Vick, Editor-At-Large
Kiana Yarahmadi and Niloofar Farahmand, 33, car mechanics
Kiana and Niloofar have been friends for over 10 years. They are among the first female professional car mechanics in Iran. “We never thought there was room for female car mechanics in Iran. Whenever we went to auto mechanic institutions, they said they didn’t have any programs for women,” Niloofar says.
So the pair chose to begin teaching themselves in 2019, documenting their process on Instagram, where they racked up thousands of followers and posts that went viral. “Although I wasn’t allowed to do many things, I finally did them and proved myself to the critics,” Niloofar says. “I always find a way to do what I love to—with all of its burdens.”
Elnaz Rekabi, 34, professional climber
Elnaz participated at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Championships in Moscow, and was awarded the bronze medal in the women’s combined event. She had previously won a silver and two bronze medals at the IFSC Climbing Asian Championships.
But Elnaz gained international attention in 2022 for competing without a headscarf at the IFSC Asia Championships in Seoul. Most Iranians saw it as a nod of support to the anti-government protests sweeping the country. When Elnaz returned to Tehran, this time without a medal, hundreds of people—including unveiled women—greeted her. They cheered “Elnaz the Champion.”
Azam Sanaei, 34, ice hockey player
Azam is the captain and assistant coach of Iran’s women’s ice hockey team. The White Lioness, which despite launching in 2020, managed to stake second place in the 2023 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s Asia and Oceania Championship—and won first in 2024.
Azam was 14 when she started playing hockey, and 34 when she lifted the IIFH Asia and Oceania Cup over her head. Her advice to young women who want to follow in her footsteps: “The reality is not what people and the world expect from us. The reality is what we have in mind and heart,” she says. “If there is will and passion, there is a power to evolve and develop.”
Parva Karkhane, 36, painter
Parva has been painting professionally for 15 years, focusing on women and self-portraits. Coming from Kermanshah, a Kurdish region of northwestern Iran, her career choice is a contrast to the norms of her conservative family, where women are expected to marry and rear children.
“My work has eastern and Iranian roots,” she says. “I haven’t tried to show violence or protests in my paintings. However, the isolated and delicate women who are nude in some situations draw a lot of attention.”
In galleries, she is often forced to cover her work with paper or fabric. “There are always some walls that restrict us,” Parva says. “I sometimes cover my work even at home to hide them from my neighbors’ views, as if we used to live in that way and cover many things unconsciously.”
Zahra Yazdani Cherati, 25, wrestler
Zahra is an accomplished Iranian athlete who competes in Alysh, a traditional form of Belt Wrestling. It’s one of the oldest recorded sports in the world, where competitors hold each others’ belt with the aim of throwing their opponent onto the mat.
Women athletes like Zahra are closely scrutinized in Iran, with punishments doled out to those who do not follow strict Islamic rules during competitions.
Zahra won bronze medals in 2019 at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and the Belt Wrestling World Championships, as well as a gold medal in the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
Behin Bolouri, 28, and Samin Bolouri, 21, musicians
Behin and Samin started working as musicians and singers eight years ago. Women are generally forbidden from singing in public in Iran, but the sisters broadcast their tunes to thousands of followers on social media. The defiance comes with risk.
Once the Mahsa Amini protests began across the country, they released a Persian version of the Italian anti-fascist folk song “Bella ciao.” They say their version carries freedom-seeking thoughts and a ray of hope. “We never stop dreaming,” Behin says, “and these are the dreams that come to our songs.”
Nasrin Teymouri, 31, stuntwoman
Nasrin is the supervisor of the first female stunt team in Iran, named Kheybar. Their stunts range from falling down the stairs to simulating car crashes—and sometimes involve fire.
“I suggest to those girls who follow their desires that nothing is impossible ... I believed in myself and I did it,” she says. “I’ve been trying to help other women of our country to follow their wishes and that’s the strongest reason I became a mentor for stuntwomen.”
Nasrin is also a member of Iran Cinema House, where she mentors both men and women.
Sogol Kheirandish, 30, dancer
“Flow Arts” are both a sport and leisure activity that includes dance, juggling, fire-spinning, and other movement-based disciplines. In recent years, it has attracted young people in big cities like Tehran who dress in Western clothing, rock fashionable hairstyles, and wear tattoos.
But dancing in public spaces is banned for women in Iran. “The strongest obstacle for a girl in a closed society is shallow-minded people,” Sogol says. “That makes most of us depressed, unless you return to what your heart tells you.”
Hasti Rezaei, 17, motocross rider
Hasti is the youngest female motocross rider in Iran. She began riding at the age of nine, was the female motocross champion of Iran in 2021-2022, and has been a national and regional motocross champion several times.
Hasti goes to the track every weekend. “Some believe that it is a masculine sport and it is dangerous for women," she says. "They ask me, ‘Aren't you afraid? What if you got injured?’”
Injury is only part of the risk. Though women can drive cars in Iran, it is illegal to have a motorcycle license in cities.
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