New Gasht

 The Gashte Ershad

In 2005, a special police force called the Gashte Ershad, or Guidance Patrol, was created solely for the purpose of enforcing the dress code on women when it was realized that more people were stepping away from traditional rights and towards individual rights as mentioned before. For years these men have stood in shopping malls, on the streets and at train stations. When seeing a women deemed as, 'inappropriately dressed', these officers would put the women on a bus or shuttle and send them to the station where a husband, brother, or father would have to retrieve them. This force has been rid of by Mr. Rouhani, the governor, who says, "Cultured people do not need guidance." There are others though, like old commanders of the Gashte Ershad who claim that, "Uncultured people DO need guidance," and are trying to put the force together again. Hijab arguments have been going on since 1981, as explained in an interview with Jamileh Nedai, an Iranian writer, producer, and director who was there during the first protest. Hijabs have caused many problems in the past, and still continue to.
But, the question still remains, for how long?

And what will change in the future for women's rights in the Middle East?
What first began as little, has greatly escalated in the fact that more and more is being done to enforce this dress code towards women. At first, before this protest, women were not only being called out for their clothing, but posters were placed everywhere with different pictures and messages all with the same meaning, that females must cover up, and that it is the way of the cultured women. An example of this is one of Iran's national delicacy, a pistachio nut, saying 'that everything good is wrapped in a shell' which is gesturing towards women and their hijabs.