Kimia Alizadeh, the Iranian Olympic medallist fighting inequality
Najmeh Bozorgmehr /
Financial Times
Athletes like Alizadeh are emboldening Iranian girls and young women to push the boundaries of personal freedom. Iranian women have long been vulnerable to various forms of suppression and restriction — exerted by their own families as well as by wider society and the political and religious elites — that, in effect, reduce them to second-class citizens.