Twitter Hails Iranian Female Journalist For Covering Men’s Soccer

Parisa Pourtaherian climbed atop the roof of a building near the stadium to get the perfect shots of the match.

Parisa Pourtaherian is being hailed by netizens for her covering a men’s football match despite a ban on female journalists doing so. 

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

In Iran, women are banned from entering any stadium where a sport is being played by men. But an Iranian woman photojournalist has defied the sexist ban without breaking it, when she managed to cover a men’s football match by standing on the rooftop of a building, reports The Indian Express.

During a football match in a top league tournament, Parisa Pourtaherian climbed on top of the roof of a building near the Vatani Stadium in Qaemshahr to get the perfect shots for the photo agency she works for.

Pourtaherian was hailed on social media for as photos of her with a giant camera lens went viral on social media.

How To Defy A Sexist Ban

Pourtaherian is an alumnus of the University of Tehran and has been affiliated as a photographer with FCKIA Academy and IR Iran Volleyball Federation, according to The Indian Express. Due to the distance of the building from the stadium, she only covered the first-half of the match. People on social media have praised her and offered support for her resilience and courage.

‘Is Iran Going to Close Rooftops to Women Now?’

‘When Your Rights Are Denied, the Only Solution Is to Go Big!’

In Iran, sports like football and volleyball are popular in the country and women have been known to impersonate men to enter stadiums. Earlier in May, photos of five Iranian women dressed as men were captured in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium went viral on social media.

During the FIFA World Cup 2018, female fans of the sport were allowed to enter the ‘Azadi’ stadium for the first time where they watched the the telecast of Iran vs Spain game on a big screen. However, these women never got to witness the players playing in the stadium live.

(With inputs from The Indian Express.)