of opposition during the revolution, had not expected veiling to become mandatory, and when the veil was first made mandatory in February 1979 it was met with protests and demonstrations by liberal and leftist women, and thousands of women participated in a women's march on International Women's Day, 8 March 1979, in protest against mandatory veiling. The protests resulted in the temporary retraction of mandatory veiling. When the left and the liberals were eliminated and the conservatives secured solitary control, however, veiling was enforced on all women. This began with the 'Islamification of offices' in July 1980, when unveiled women were refused entry to government offices and public buildings, and banned from appearing unveiled at their work places under the risk of being fired. On the streets, unveiled women were attacked by revolutionaries, and two slogans of the revolution were: "Wear a veil, or we will punch your head" and "Death to the unveiled". In July 1981, an edict of mandatory veiling in public was introduced, which was followed in 1983 by an Islamic Punishment Law, introducing a punishment of 74 lashes on unveiled women. The law was enforced by members of the Islamic Revolution Committees patrolling the streets, and later by the Guidance Patrols, also called the Morality Police. Khamenei's era After Khomeini's death, women put pressure on the government to grant more rights to women. Ali Khamenei, who followed Khomeini, took a more liberal approach and enabled women's advancement by reopening the women's centers and restoring many of the laws that were repealed after the revocation of Family Protection Laws. In the May 1997 Iranian presidential election, the overwhelming majority of women voted for Mohammad Khatami, a reformist cleric who promised more political freedoms. His election brought a period during which women became increasingly bold in expressing ideas, demands, and criticisms. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights and women's rights activist, further emboldened women's rights activists in Iran and fixed their relationships with Iranian feminists abroad. During the Sixth Parliament, some of Iran's strongest advocates of women's rights emerged. Almost all of the 11 female lawmakers of the then-270-seat Majlis tried to change some of Iran's more conservative laws. During the elections for the Seventh Majlis, however, the all-male Council of Guardians banned the 11 women from running for office and only conservative females were allowed to run. The Seventh Majlis