Tahirih moved with her husband as a young bride to Iraq where their three children were born.
A young mother had responsibilities such as organizing the different foods, cleaning, preparing meals, maintaining clothing, and educating children in proper manners.
One of the most enjoyable activities for women was the trip to the bathhouse. In a bathhouse, a woman could relax, discuss her life, share ideas, hear news, and tell stories. In Tihran alone, there were over one hundred and forty bathhouses by the mid-19th century.
Women changed from inside to outside clothes for the trip to the bathhouse. All women wore some form of veil or head scarf out of modesty.
Ancient Greece, women, and the veil
The wearing of veils was an ancient practice throughout the near East, possibly originating in ancient Mesopotamia or with the Assyrians; according to their ancient law code:
“§ 40. A wife-of-a-man, or [widows], or [Assyrian] women who go out into the main thoroughfare [shall not have] their heads [bare]. [...] A prostitute shall not veil herself, her head shall be bare. Whoever sees a veiled prostitute shall seize her, secure witnesses, and bring her to the palace entrance. They shall not take her jewelry; he who has seized her shall take her clothing; they shall strike her 50 blows with rods; they shall pour hot pitch over her head.”
The veil seems to have been used as a way of distinguishing women of high birth from slave women and prostitutes.
The veil did not originate with either Persia or Islam but rather in local tribal customs so there was a great deal of variation in its use throughout these regions. Though it became a sign of religious purity, it also served as a means of secluding and owning women.
Women in Ancient Athens and Sparta
Women and tradition in the Islamic world today