Three years ago today, Mahsa Amini died in the custody of Tehran’s morality police. The young woman had been arrested for improperly wearing her Islamic headscarf. Her death was the spark that ignited the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, which – despite severe repression by the regime – has marked an irreversible turning point in Iran’s contemporary history. Women, now at the center of the struggle, in a departure from past movements, have reclaimed their visibility and social presence, transforming their bodies – long controlled by patriarchal laws and traditions – into symbols of resistance and a reconquest of freedom.

With enormous sacrifice in terms of liberty and human lives (520 killed and 20,000 arrested in a few months), the movement succeeded in establishing the de facto ability to choose whether to wear the hijab in public spaces. It effectively challenged many existing social dichotomies, reducing the divides between the urban center and the periphery, between veiled and unveiled women, and entrenched gender inequalities. It engendered a pluralism that united different segments of........

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