Photograph: Maria Emelianova
To clear the record, I am Jewish and I have never supported the Iranian regime. Most of the world, including me, strongly denounce the extremists of all religions. However, we cannot simply punish individuals who are themselves victims of these extremists without carefully learning all the facts and hearing their sides.
What I am asking is for people to take their time and read the opposing views. We have now heard from some players who qualified for the upcoming Women’s World Championship. One demanded boycott while the other pleaded for the event to go on.
The Commission for Women’s Chess (WOM) has not taken any official position. We are actively talking to female players who qualified for the upcoming Women’s World Championship for their feedback.
WOM was NOT involved in the bidding process, nor were we involved in the process to award the bid. We had no vote. I personally found out about it after the fact. The delegates from 159 countries were in Baku at the General Assembly. They were told of this bid, and it was their place to voice their objections or concerns. None of the 159 delegates representing their countries, including the United States, objected.
Therefore, everyone who questions the decision to award the Women’s World Championship to the Iranian Chess Federation should direct their inquiries to these delegates, including the US which represents Nazi Paikidze who demanded for a boycott.
It is very unfortunate that countless people do not know the facts or details used various social media to attack, demean, insult, and threaten members of WOM when we have absolutely nothing to do with it. Our job is to find out the facts, listen to views and opinions of all parties, then try to come up with what is best for women’s chess worldwide. We simply cannot take a rushed judgement without looking at the whole picture, especially when this can potentially harm many female chess players.
Boycott of world chess championship ‘would hurt women in Iran’
Leading player urges contenders to look beyond hijab law, to the boost contest would give women’s sport in country
Saeed Kamali Dehghan Iran correspondent
Friday 30 September 2016 13.31 EDT
One of Iran’s most respected chess players has hit back at calls to boycott next year’s women’s world championship in Tehran over rules about the wearing of the hijab.
A number of chess players, including the US women’s champion, Nazí Paikidze, have called for a boycott of the February 2017 games over concerns that they will have to comply with the Islamic republic’s compulsory headscarf law.
But Mitra Hejazipour, a woman grandmaster (WGM) who won the 2015 Asian continental women’s championship, told the Guardian on Friday that a boycott would be wrong and could undermine hard-fought efforts to promote female sport in Iran.
“This is going to be the biggest sporting event women in Iran have ever seen; we haven’t been able to host any world championship in other sporting fields for women in the past,” Hejazipour, 23, said from Tehran. “It’s not right to call for a boycott. These games are important for women in Iran; it’s an opportunity for us to show our strength.”
Her comments were echoed by Ghoncheh Ghavami, a British-Iranian woman who spent five months in jail in Iran for campaigning to allow women to watch men’s volleyball games in stadiums.
Ghavami, whose time in jail drew international attention, said from Tehran: “The world must hear the pro-reform voices of people inside Iran and not ignore these pleas by isolating the country.”
Ghavami said millions of people in Iran believed in women’s right to choose whether or not to wear the hijab and had shown their opposition to the policy. She was referring to women risking arrest by defying the morality police and lobbying to obtain social rights such as being able to play more sports.
Calls to boycott the country would only serve to hurt women in Iran, she added. “I am firmly against the international community using the compulsory hijab as a means to put pressure and isolate Iran.
“Day by day, Iranian women are becoming more empowered and are pushing aside traditional, legal and political discrimination … Those who are worried for the situation of human rights in Iran, if they are really serious, have to acknowledge these efforts and see these capacities.”
Wearing the hijab has been an integral policy of the Islamic republic since the 1979 revolution. Foreign dignitaries have adhered to the rule while on Iranian territory.
Paikidze, a Georgian-American who holds the titles of international master and WGM, told the Telegraph on Thursday it was “absolutely unacceptable to host one of the most important women’s tournaments in a venue where, to this day, women are forced to cover up with a hijab”.
But Hejazipour, an MA student at Tehran University and one of Iran’s five WGMs, pleaded with her compatriots to come to her country despite the rule. “I understand that it may be difficult for them to wear the hijab, but I want to tell them that if they show understanding and patience, and if they come to Iran, there’s also a positive side to look at,” she said.
“Iran is a beautiful place and has an amazing culture. If Iran can host this event, it will be a big step for us; it will help our women chess players and it will boost women in other sporting fields. It will pave the way for them, too.”
Elham Yazdiha, a Turkey-based Iranian sports journalist, said she was confident Hejazipour’s view reflected the voice of sportswomen in Iran. “Calls for a boycott will only disappoint Iranian women and destroy their hopes,” she said.
It was a shame, Yazdiha added, that Iranian sportswomen who were already facing restrictions at home faced additional restrictions from abroad. Iranian female basketball players have been barred by international bodies from playing in world events because of wearing the hijab.
Women can vote and drive in Iran but discriminatory laws persist. In court their testimony is worth only half that of a man and they also face inequality over inheritance rights. But they have a strong presence in civil society. Women in Iran have held senior government jobs; the country currently has a number of female vice-presidents and one female ambassador.
Despite the restrictions, many people in Iran are proud of representing their country. In 2013, Shirin Gerami became the first female triathlete to compete for Iran in the sport’s world championship. In August this year, Kimia Alizadeh made history in Rio as she became the first Iranian woman to win an Olympic medal.
“Women’s sport in Iran has expanded in recent years in various fields – you can realise that by seeing the growing number of medals sportswomen are bringing to Iran,” Hejazipour said.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
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Female chess players protest wearing hijab at Iran world championship
By Elizabeth Roberts, for CNN
Updated 7:35 AM ET, Fri September 30, 2016
(CNN) Some of the world’s top female chess players are upset that the next world championship will be held in Iran, where players are expected to wear head scarves.
Forcing women from other countries to wear the hijacked is, in itself, religous discrimination. I agree with Nazi Paikidze-Barnes, the US add well as other countries should not only boycott the event, but some country (why not the USA) step up and agree to host the event.
I thought hijab was a much fuller covering, typically leaving only a slit for the eyes. This is just a headscarf, and I don’t think Iran is the only place that requires it. My wife had to put on a headscarf when we visited the Vatican.
If Ms. Paikadze wants to give up her place on the US team, for this or any other reason, the team can select another player to replace her. It’s a matter of her personal choice, and I don’t think she has any obligation to represent USA despite her misgivings. But she should not be enabled to make this into a bigger cause.
I’m an American, and I’ll be disappointed when she doesn’t play, because she is one of our strongest female players. But it’s her choice.
Terminology (to David Quinn). The hijab covers approximately (depending on locale) the hair, and neck and/or upper chest. Styles vary as to how much hair is seen in front (and this is often a way that some women “protest”), and many styles cover the shoulders with the same garment. There is a variety of pictures from a ChessBase report on the Iranian Premier Women’s Chess League (http://en.chessbase.com/post/che-in-iran-premier-women-s-league), and you can note that the non-Iranian women are typically rather minimal in their coverings.
Comparatively, the niqab is full body with eyeslits. The burqa is without eyeslits (a mesh). Often times these latter two terms are confused, but usually the hijab is not confused with either of them.
Though it has not been mentioned much, covering the legs is also necessary in Iran (typically for men too, though in summer months in the boondocks, 3/4 length pants might do for them).
You can look at the “Hijab by country” Wikipedia page. Sudan is another country that requires it, but there aren’t that many beyond the “obvious” ones. Particular places (like religious shrines) in many countries will often require greater modesty of course.
The cultural concept of women being clothed except for their face (and possibly hands) is a phenomenon that can be found (admittedly sporadically) across the millennia, in a variety of places. Its enforcement is typically more by custom than by law, though one might point out contrarily that we live in a time where respect for customs is not exactly at its historical height. The underlying reasons for dressing standards are variable also, with often it being imposed by men, but sometimes women “get the ball rolling” by increasingly opting for more modesty (often in the face of male degeneracy) to the point that becomes “customary” and women who do not follow are considered reprobate (or worse terms).
Iran itself, in a fit of Westernism, banned the hijab in 1935, and required men to wear bowlers (“Western par excellence”). The next four decades saw waxing and waning over the issue, with the hijab being as much a class issue (worn by lower classes, while the upper class largely thought it was beneath their station) as anything else. The 1979 Revolution upset the apple cart of course, but as Susan’s article partially indicates, Iranians would prefer to have their *own* culture debate and decide this issue, rather than outsiders simply impose their views.
None of this answers why FIDE would consider Iran to be acceptable, of course, but as Elli Paehtz put it on Sutovsky’s Facebook, given a choice of no event versus Iran, the great majority will likely choose Iran (she readily admits that women are just as selfish as anyone else on such decisions).
Don’t host in countries that have laws requiring restrictive clothing worn by particular genders. It is a form of psychological warfare on the opponent and not being inclusive of other outside cultures, when they’re the ones “welcoming” them in. Either welcome them “as-is”, or host elsewhere.
Iran didn’t always require hijabs on their women.
I worked 14 years in the oil industry in Saudi Arabia and I love chess. I think all Nazi needs to do is wear a business suit and cover part of her hair (neither men nor women should show their legs). Since she is a foreigner, the local culture won’t demand anything more and accept her partial covering as a sign of respect. I think it will benefit all Iranian women, not just chess players, that the tournament is played there. It will be all the better if great female players like Nazi show up.