No Hijab Day Rallies Held in Cities Worldwide in Support of Women Without the Freedom to Choose

On February 1st, New York City celebrated World Hijab Day. 

The Mayor’s Office sent out a message celebrating Muslim women in the city and beyond who choose to wear the hijab, honoring their right to express their identity without fear or discrimination. 

Yet for women in many communities, refusing to cover their hair carries consequences. In Iran and Afghanistan, women risk imprisonment, honor-based violence, and even death to assert autonomy over their own bodies. In fact, roughly 70 million women worldwide currently live under state-enforced compulsory veiling laws, excluding those who experience non-legal social pressure.

Yasmine Mohammed is no stranger to such oppression. Although she was born and raised in Canada, her family forced her to wear a hijab and marry a member of Al Qaeda. Despite the odds, she dared to escape that life by divorcing her husband and removing her hijab. She shares her story of trauma and survival in her bestselling memoir, Unveiled.

In 2018, Yasmine created No Hijab Day in response to World Hijab Day. The event challenges narratives that frame compulsory hijab as a symbol of empowerment. It also aims to raise awareness that, in many places around the world, women are not free to choose whether to wear the hijab.    

“Hijab is a tool of religious misogyny used to control women — and we are saying no,” Yasmine said.

This year’s No Hijab Day focused on the women of Iran and their fight for freedom and equality, with rallies held at noon on February 1 in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Vancouver, London, and Brussels, including outside the European Parliament.

Liz Fedak is the organizer of New York City’s No Hijab Day. Although trained as a mathematician and holding a doctorate in mathematics, she came to understand, through her involvement with the Women’s Liberation Front and other feminist groups, the many problems affecting women worldwide that mainstream feminism was failing to address. 

In particular, she believes modern Western feminism has failed to address Islamism as a means of women’s oppression effectively. 

“I stand with Yasmine Mohammed and say clearly that if hijab were a choice, that would be fine — I support women’s religious freedom,” Liz said. “But it’s not. Women have been killed all over the world for wearing their hijab incorrectly.”

Sia Mensah joins No Hijab Day from Brooklyn. Having grown up in an African-American Muslim community, she was taught to wear the hijab from a young age. It was only when she left for college that she gained the freedom to make her own choices, literally “ripping it off” her head the minute she stepped into her dorm room.  

For Sia, the hijab is imposed on women across different strata.  

“One layer is when you live in a society where you can face physical consequences from morality police, like in Iran,” she told More to Her Story. “That’s literally no choice.”

The other layer is subtler and more indirect, as families and societies place certain expectations on women. 

“When you grow up hearing that without the hijab you will go to hell, in my opinion, wearing the hijab is not a real choice,” she explained. “It’s a choice made under duress, even if you don’t realize you’re under duress.”

For women in Iran who have lived under compulsory veiling for the past 47 years, the duress is all too familiar. 

On International Women’s Day in 1979, just weeks after the Islamic Revolution, thousands of women marched in Tehran to protest the new decree mandating the hijab. Security forces violently suppressed the protests. Islamic law reshaped women’s rights, and women’s liberation movements were largely pushed underground. 

Gender segregation was enforced in the workplace, schools, and public events. Corporal punishment of unveiled women was codified into law. Gasht-e-Ershad, which translates as “guidance patrols” and is widely known as the “morality police,” was created to enforce hijab and social behavior and to detain women who refused to comply with Islamic dress codes. 

Although clothing guidelines in Iranian society have changed over the decades, and women in particular have become more liberal in their adherence to hijab rules, the laws remain unchanged. Women still face severe backlash for defying hijab laws.

In 2022, Mahsa Amini died in custody after being detained by the morality police for “not wearing her hijab properly.” Her death sparked nationwide protests. Thousands of women took to the streets, cutting their hair and burning their hijabs in acts of defiance. Security forces killed more than 500 women and detained over 20,000 protesters. 

Their rallying cry, “Woman Life Freedom,” transformed into a global movement against state restrictions on women’s rights. Far from symbolizing faith and modesty, the Islamic Republic’s version of the hijab has become a fabric prison for women.           

Behnam Javanfard, an Iranian-American from the Bronx, is old enough to remember life in Iran before the Islamic Revolution and fondly recalls the 1967 coronation of Empress Farah. 

“The Shah of Iran placed a crown on our women’s heads, not a chador,” he points out. “Our women are the pride of our land; they’ve won medals and garnered acclaim everywhere in the world.” 

He hopes that one day, women in his homeland will gain the equal rights they deserve and have long fought for. 

Yet the fight is far from over.

This year’s No Hijab Day coincided with the aftermath of yet another round of bloody protests in Iran. What began as a strike in late December against soaring prices and a collapsing currency escalated into a nationwide uprising calling for the overthrow of the regime. Protests peaked on January 8 and 9, during which at least 30,000 unarmed civilians were brutally murdered. 

Amid an imposed internet blackout, security forces also detained up to 50,000 protestors. Human rights reports confirm the use of sexual violence against detainees.  

Female protestors, including minors, were raped, sexually assaulted, and subject to coerced confessions while in custody. The severity of the trauma led some victims to attempt suicide.

In the weeks since the height of the protests, the bodies of some female protestors remain missing. Authorities have refused to provide any information or to grant families access.

Whether in life or in death, women in Iran fall victim to gendered state brutality.

A longtime supporter of the Woman Life Freedom movement, Liz Fedak has been following the Iranian uprising this year. She wishes there was more she could do to support the protesters in Iran, but today she has decided to stand in solidarity, banner in hand, hoping that they will soon be free from Islamist oppression. 

On February 14, over one million members of the Iranian diaspora participated in the Global Day of Action, rallying across Europe, Canada, Australia, and the United States in response to a call from exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi to demand an end to the Islamic Republic and freedom for their compatriots back home. At the same time, anti-regime chants rang out from rooftops, windows, and balconies within Iran, forming a unified demonstration of solidarity.  

No Hijab Day 2026 was likewise a global act of defiance honoring women in Iran and other places who have paid the ultimate price for their freedom and dignity.

“I think it’s great what the Iranians are doing,” Liz said. “They are engaged in a heroic struggle that will shape the fate of the world.”