was the first time a member had been expelled over its treatment of women in the history of the commission. Legal rights history Voting rights Most initiatives concerning women's rights during the Pahlavi dynasty began with the White Revolution in 1962, which led to the enfranchisement of women by the Prime Minister Asadollah Alam. A law that gave women limited voting rights, allowing them to vote in local elections, was passed. Khomeini believed this right was state propaganda to hide its dictatorial and fascist nature with democracy and liberalism. According to Khomeini, this law "serves only to mislead the uninformed masses and to cover its crimes". Khomeini also believed that such power for women was comparable to prostitution. Khomeini led protests about women's voting rights that resulted in the repeal of the law. Since the women's voting rights law was repealed, women were forbidden to participate in a referendum held during the White Revolution. The Minister of Agriculture, however, suggested women's movement leaders set up a voting booth to voice their suggestions. Though their votes did not count, the high number of women voting persuaded Mohammad Reza Shah to grant women voting rights soon after the referendum. Six women were elected to the parliament in the September 1963 parliamentary election and the Shah appointed two women to serve in the Senate. After the 1979 Islamic revolution, Khomeini said, "Women have the right to intervene in politics. It is their duty, Islam is a political religion". Hijab The hijab is a veil worn by many Muslim women when interacting with males outside of their immediate families. Before the foundation of the Islamic Republic, women were not required to wear a veil. In 1935, Reza Shah mandated that women should no longer be veiled in public; because of that, a significant number of conservative women became isolated in their houses because they felt going outside without hijab was equivalent to being naked. Conservative women's dependency grew during this period because they relied on others to run errands. Compulsory wearing of the hijab was reinstated for Iranian state employees after the 1979 revolution; this was followed by a law requiring the wearing of the hijab in all public spaces in 1983. Non-conservative women, who had worn the veil as a symbol of opposition during the revolution, had not expected veiling to become mandatory, and when the veil was first made mandatory in February