The struggle for Iranian women to keep up with the constantly shifting dress codes of the Iranian government is pushing women to protest government control by taking off their headscarves in public. The Iranian government has been enforcing a strict dress code on its citizens since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, requiring women to wear a hijab, or a traditional head scarf. This has resulted in public spaces turning into a battleground between religion and civil liberties as women attempt to fight for their rights.

Recently, there has been a surge in protests as Iranian women are standing together to oppose the government and its regulations on their wardrobe. Thousands of women have taken off their hijabs in public, and the government is now sending security personnel to target those women and catch them “in the act.”

But now the Iranian government has come up with an even more advanced method of catching those women breaking the dress code—the use of an algorithm. The algorithm, developed by the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), can be used to identify people in public who are not wearing the required attire by analyzing footage recorded by surveillance cameras.

The Iranian government is hoping that this algorithm, which can pinpoint exactly who is not wearing a hijab, will lead to more women sticking to the regulations and fewer protests. However, the reality is that this facial recognition technology is only serving to escalate the tension between women and the government and is causing more women to join the protest movement.

It has become increasingly clear that the Iranian government’s strict dress code is not only being questioned by Iranian people, but being challenged as well. As more women take a stand and put their safety on the line in order to fight for their rights and freedoms, it has become evident that this movement is far from finished. The incredible courage and bravery of the Iranian women is inspiring and it will be interesting to see how the government responds to their continued protests.