Iran's Women Bikers Take The Road Despite Legal, Social Obstacles

ETVBHARAT

Iranian bike instructor Maryam Ghelich has trained hundreds of women, helping them navigate the capital's gridlocked streets and overcome the barriers faced by women motorcyclists.

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00:00When she first started learning to ride a motorbike 15 years ago,

00:06Mariam Gelich would drive through Tehran's empty streets at night

00:10to avoid scrutiny over her clothing or lack of license.

00:13Now an instructor, Gelich has turned hundreds of women, helping them navigate not only the

00:18capital's gridlocked streets but the barriers facing female motorcyclists in the conservative

00:23Islamic Republic with a marked surge in demand for lessons in recent months.

00:28The 49-year-old woman expressed a passion for bike.

00:58It is a passion for the residents.

01:01Gelich explained how she adverse the change unfold in real time after spending more than a decade

01:07as one of only a handful of women writers.

01:10I came up with a lot of work.

01:13It makes a good decision.

01:15When we built the streets, I got a lot of pain.

01:19I got a lot of pain.

01:21I got a lot of pain from that year.

01:23But every day I got better.

01:25I got a lot of pain.

01:27I got a lot of pain.

01:29I got a lot of pain.

01:31I got a lot of pain.

01:43It's a lot more than me.

01:45I don't want to know the name of the police.

01:47I don't want to know the name of the police.

01:55Publicly, authorities have maintained that women can ride motorcycles

01:59and officials said that there is no legal prohibition.

02:13Women in Iran have more broadly pushed against social boundaries in recent years,

02:27increasingly defying the Islamic Republic's strict rules.

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