Azadi Means Freedom – Maryam Shojae

As I started to explain, he cut me off. “No, thank you,” he said, firmly. I opened my mouth to ask why. What was it about supporting Iranian women in their fight for the right to watch men’s soccer in Iran that seemed unworthy to him? Was it the mere mention of Iran that made him turn away? Many people only knew frightening headlines about my country— was he one of them? Or did he assume I was asking for donations?

I would never know. But he wasn’t the only one who refused a bottle that day. Despite receiving plenty of support, those rejections lingered in my mind. I wanted to blame Westerners for their lack of interest in international human rights. Or maybe, on game day, people simply didn’t want to be reminded of social justice issues. When I returned to where my friends were holding the banner, I saw them talking to a small group—one man and two women.

They wore suits and had ID badges hanging around their necks. They looked like officials, and I immediately thought they were there to make us leave. As I got closer, I saw Mahsa smiling and pointing at me. “She’s here!” she said. One of the women turned to look at me, and I couldn’t believe my eyes —it was Moya Dodd, the woman I had met in Australia. She laughed as we hugged. “I knew it was you,” Moya said in her charming Australian accent. “Are you standing in front of every stadium in the world with your banner?”

she teased. “No, just my second time,” I said, grinning. “But I’ve been lucky enough to see you both times. What are you doing here?” “I’m here for work,” she replied. In Montreal with Moya Dodd, before a Women’s World Cup game, June 2015. moya dodd I felt a little embarrassed when the man beside her added, “She’s the deputy chair of FIFA’s organizing committee for this Women’s World Cup.”

Copyright © 2026 by Maryam Shojaei Jacket design by Angelo Maneage Author photo by H. Alizadeh All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Seven Stories Press 140 Watts Street New York, NY 10013 www.sevenstories.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file. isbn: 978-1-64421-489.3 (hardcover) isbn: 978-1-64421-517-3 (ebook) College professors and high school and middle school teachers may order free examination copies of Seven Stories Press titles. Visit https://www.sevenstories.com/pg/resources- academics or email [email protected]. Printed in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1kitap1.com/en Contents Preface Chapter One: More Than a Game Chapter Two: Same Game, Different World Chapter Three: A Backward Revolution Chapter Four: Battles After War Chapter Five: Losing Azadi Chapter Six: White Scarves and Bearded Girls Chapter Seven: My Declaration of Independence Chapter Eight: Banners Without Borders Chapter Nine: Not Playing by the Rules Chapter Ten: The Stage Is Set Chapter Eleven: Crossing the Red Line Chapter Twelve: Russian Heat Chapter Thirteen: The Rule Makers Chapter Fourteen: My Turn to Speak Chapter Fifteen: The Morality Police Chapter Sixteen: Iran is a Woman’s Name Afterword Acknowledgments 1kitap1.com/en Preface Growing up in Iran, I never went to a stadium to watch a game.

I wasn’t the only one: no Iranian woman or girl born or raised after the 1979 Islamic Revolution did either. We weren’t allowed. Azadi Stadium in Tehran is a massive sports complex, where 100,000 fans can watch the country’s most important games. But not women, including me, even when my brother was playing there.

In the language of Iran, known interchangeably as Persian or Farsi, “Azadi” means “freedom.” Azadi Stadium is where the national soccer team and major club soccer matches are played. It is the most popular sport in Iran. For decades, entering Azadi Stadium has become more and more dangerous for women and girls, many of whom have risked prison, and even their lives, by dressing as boys and men so that they can watch their favorite sports teams play.

The gender inequity that dominated our lives in Iran was clear to me from an early age. My brothers were permitted freedoms that I was forbidden—simple things like wearing whatever clothes we wanted or leaving the house without a hijab. I knew, as children often do, that something was very wrong—that our society was unequal and unfair. I am the eldest of my siblings, and when we were children I thought I was the smartest and most responsible. I could not stand the idea of my younger brother Mahmood having more freedom only because he was a boy.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: cad35aebb060a67c
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 7,079,798 bytes (6.752 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781644215173
• Pages: 154
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 232.83 minutes
• Total Words: 46,566
• Total Characters: 263,491
• Average Words per Page: 302.38
• Average Characters per Page: 1710.98

Most Frequent Words

women (204), stadium (188), iran (171), one (152), iranian (145), banner (129), fifa (127), like (126), masoud (126), game (110), world (108), time (107), even (106), team (102), said (101), soccer (91), police (90), people (84), girls (82), knew (82), ban (80), many (78), felt (70), back (69), didn’t (67), still (67), security (66), fans (65), cup (65), against (61), day (59), asked (59), two (58), rights (57), female (57), protest (56), years (55), way (55), made (54), mother (53), country (52), national (51), government (50), azadi (49), men (49), wanted (49), took (49), around (49), phone (49), islamic (48), tehran (48), always (47), face (47), get (46), take (46), went (45), wasn’t (45), public (45), first (45), international (44), right (44), young (42), iranians (42), see (42), let (42), thought (41), told (41), since (40), campaign (40), never (39), front (39), saw (39), authorities (39), outside (38), room (38), make (38), officials (38), away (37), know (37), place (37), going (37), also (37), players (37), became (36), sara (36), something (35), seemed (35), match (35), it’s (35), sister (35), now (34), without (34), iran’s (34), women’s (34), life (34), friends (34), new (33), chapter (33), revolution (33), sports (33).

PDF Download