Girls on the Tatami: How Karate Is Shifting Social Boundaries in Iran

Girls on the tatami

When the referee blew the whistle in a Tehran gym, two five-year-old girls stepped onto the tatami for a closely watched three-minute karate match — a small but striking sign of changing attitudes toward women's martial arts in the Islamic Republic.

The children wore crisp white karategi, coloured belts and protective headgear as they circled each other with focused, deliberate techniques. Every kick and block was executed with precision and control, and at the final bell the match ended with the two opponents shaking hands and embracing to warm applause from an all-female crowd.

Rare access, growing visibility

The bout was one event in an annual regional tournament in Tehran that brought together some 230 competitors of all ages. AFP was granted rare permission to film and photograph the women's and girls' competition — a sign of greater, if cautious, official openness to media coverage of female sports.

“This sport is anything but violent,” said Samaneh Parsa, a 44-year-old mother who has practised karate for five years alongside her daughter Helma and son Ilya. “It promotes discipline.”

Parsa told AFP that karate had positively influenced children’s behaviour, helped them release emotions and brought serenity during stressful times — benefits she said explain why more women and girls are turning to the sport despite its earlier stigma.

From prohibition to competition

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, all martial arts were briefly banned for women. They were later permitted again but subject to stricter dress-code rules. In recent years, however, women have increasingly taken up karate and other sports, reflecting a quietly changing society in which a younger urban generation is testing traditional gender roles.

Afshin Torkpour, head of Kyokushin-Ryu karate in Iran, has noted that women are now participating in disciplines once considered “violent” and often demonstrate equal or greater motivation. He estimates around 150,000 people practise karate in Iran across genders, and believes the true number could be much higher — possibly up to two million.

Achievement and resilience

The sport has also delivered competitive results: Iran’s junior women’s under-21 team won 11 medals, including six golds, at the Asian Championships. Last week, Atousa Golshadnezhad added a gold medal at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Saudi Arabia. Two Iranian karatekas took part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, though they did not medal.

For individuals such as Azam Ahmadi, who began karate at 12, the lessons go beyond sport. “If you fall, you have to get back up, keep going, and never give up,” she says. Mina Mahadi, vice-head of the women's Kyokushin-Ryu section in Iran, adds that karate helps girls gain confidence so they are less likely to acquiesce in situations that make them uncomfortable.

The rise of women’s participation in karate occurs against a broader backdrop of social protest and debate over women's rights in Iran, particularly since the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini following her arrest by morality police. For many, martial arts offer both personal empowerment and a visible — if measured — shift in public life.