Throughout history, women in Iran have played numerous roles, and contributed in many ways, to Iranian society. Historically, tradition maintained that women be confined to their homes so that they could manage the household and raise children. During the Pahlavi era, there was a drastic social change towards women's desegregation: ban of the veil, right to vote, right to education, equal salaries for men and women, and the right to hold public office. Women were active participants in the Islamic Revolution. Iran's constitution, adopted after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, proclaims equality for men and women under Article 20, while mandating legal code adhering to Sharia law. Article 21 of the constitution as well as a few parliament-passed laws give women rights such as women are allowed to drive, hold public office, and attend university but not wearing a veil in public can be punished by law; and when in public, all hair and skin except the face and hands must be covered. However, this is not practiced effectively; particularly in recent years, Iranian women have created many movements to fight back against the restrictive laws by the government and gain back their rights and freedom. History Ancient Iran Archaeological excavations at Shahr-e Sukhteh ("Burnt City"), a prehistoric settlement in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of southeastern Iran, have revealed that women in the region during the 4th to 3rd millennium BC possessed high status. Of the seals discovered in graves there, 90% were in possession of women, who made up over 60% of the population. The distribution of these seals – instruments of trade and government which represented economic and administrative control – revealed these women to have been a powerful group in their prehistoric society. The early Achaemenid-era Persepolis fortification and treasury tablets refers to women in three different terms: mutu, irti and duksis. The first refers to ordinary (non-royal) women; the second to unmarried members of the royal family; and the last duksis to married women of royalty. Such differentiated terminology shows the significance of marital status and of a woman's relationship to the king. The tablets also reveal that women of the royal household traveled extensively and often personally administered their own estates. The queen consort and her ladies-in-waiting are known to have played polo against the emperor and his courtiers. The only limits on the extent of the authority exercised by the king's mother were set by