TEHRAN: Saba was just 25 when she left her design job in New York to work on a project renovating an art gallery back in her hometown Tehran.
Within months, she won three more contracts to do up galleries and the lobby of an apartment complex.
鈥淚 had dreamt of building my own company, but I hadn鈥檛 expected it to happen any time soon. If I had stayed in New York, I wouldn鈥檛 have had this chance,鈥� said Saba, now 27.
She says the position of women in Iran has changed a lot over the past decade.
鈥淧eople now trust women in management positions. Still it鈥檚 hard, especially on a construction site. But it鈥檚 hard anywhere. It鈥檚 hard in New York,鈥� she told AFP.
As the Islamic republic marks its 40th birthday, few issues are more politically sensitive or full of contradictions than the status of women.
After the revolution, Islamic laws gave women a lower legal status than men, requiring them, for example, in many cases to gain permission from their father or husband to leave the country.
They are considered to have half the value of men in various legal aspects such as inheritance and testimony in court.

Education for women
But the Islamic republic also encouraged education for women, who now outnumber men at universities 鈥� a development that has transformed expectations and overturned centuries-old traditions.
鈥淕oing to university was a path forward for girls like us who did not want to end up like our mothers in a traditional society,鈥� said Mina, a 25-year-old linguistics student in Tehran.
Mina didn鈥檛 tell her father she was studying for the university entrance exam.
鈥淗e couldn鈥檛 believe it when I was accepted, that I would go to some other city to live. He actually stopped talking to me for some time,鈥� she said.
鈥淲hatever you do, your gender is the deciding factor,鈥� said 26-year-old archaeology student Sara.
鈥淚t makes you believe that you have to have kids, you have to be modest. You can barely believe that you can be independent, be seen as an individual with a character,鈥� she added.
She said discrimination was rife in her field.
鈥淢ale archaeologists prefer not to work with women even if they鈥檙e competent. They say it鈥檚 just trouble. The women must keep their hijab at all times... they won鈥檛 be taken seriously by laborers,鈥� she said.
鈥淚f a woman is successful in a line of work like this, she鈥檚 fought very hard. And not all women are capable of fighting so much.鈥�

Protection?
Iran鈥檚 rulers claim that Islamic gender laws 鈥� particularly 鈥渉ijab鈥� rules that require women to wear a headscarf and modest clothing 鈥� are designed to protect women.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted in 2018 that the #MeToo movement was evidence of how Western society had failed women.
鈥淭he Western model for women is symbolic of consumerism, cosmetics, showing off for men as a tool of male sexual arousal,鈥� he wrote.
Nonetheless, clothing norms in Iran have gradually but significantly changed in recent years.
It is now unremarkable, especially in wealthier areas, to see women in tight jeans with loose, colorful headscarves.
The morality police that patrolled the streets, adjusting headscarves or bursting into cafes to make sure any couples were related, are now rarely seen.

... or oppression?
The authorities still draw the line at actively protesting the compulsory hijab: several women were arrested last year for doing so, and a prominent rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, jailed after taking on their cases.
But many also recall how much they have clawed back since the early days of the revolution.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nothing like it was. You couldn鈥檛 even get a lift with a male friend,鈥� said a female journalist in Tehran.
鈥淲e were terrified of being stopped, because they were out there, checking cars. Or going for lunch with a (male) friend 鈥� it would never happen! Now no one even thinks twice about these things.鈥�
Many were still dismayed that 鈥渕oderate鈥� President Hassan Rouhani, who ran on promises to improve citizens鈥� rights, again failed to appoint a female minister after his 2017 re-election.
鈥淭here is a glass ceiling and it will continue,鈥� said Fereshteh Sadeghi, a political journalist in Tehran.
鈥淲hen Rouhani reached power it seems he didn鈥檛 want to fall out with the ayatollahs, and backed down.
鈥淟ittle by little, women are getting their rights but for now there is no women鈥檚 movement.鈥�